Redefining the learning companion: the past, present, and future of educational agents

Abstract

The development of intelligent tutoring systems has long been the focus of applying artificial intelligence and cognitive science in education. A new breed of intelligent learning environments called learning companion systems was developed over a decade ago. In contrast to an intelligent tutoring system, in which a computer mimics an intelligent tutor, the learning companion system assumes two roles, one as an intelligent tutor and another as a learning companion. Motivated by recent interest in agent research and other technologies, this learning companion field has received increasing attention. This study addresses issues that arise from different perspectives on this research effort. With a view to future networked learning environments, the learning companion is redefined for application to a wide spectrum of educational agent research. Accordingly, several subjects that relate to educational agents, and hence learning companions, are identified. #

Towards the Use of Dialog Systems to Facilitate Inclusive Education

“…Dialog and anthropomorphic characteristics of pedagogical and dialog systems may help support the social dimension of e-learning activities, and the social context has been argued to catalyze the cultivation and motivation for knowledge (Chou et al, 2003).…”

Evaluating the Embodied Agent Effect in an English as a Foreign Language Learning Environment

“…APAs can exhibit various types of life-like behaviours, such as speech, emotions, gestures and eye, head and body movements [Dehn and van Mulken 2000]. Such characters can serve numerous pedagogical roles, such as instructors, coaches, tutors, and learning companions [Chou et al 2003, Baylor and Kim 2005, Haake and Gulz 2009.…”

Interactive Multimedia Module with Pedagogical Agent in Electrochemistry

“…Students as novice learners do not always make connections with prior knowledge or everyday experiences in ways that are productive for learning (Land, 2000). As a result, Pedagogical Agents (PAs) are designed to facilitate learning in computer-mediated learning environments (Chou et al, 2003;Craig et al, 2002;Johnson et al, 2000;Moundridou & Virvou, 2002;Predinger et al, www.intechopen.com n.d., Slater, 2000). The use of PAs in the interactive multimedia module in this study makes the module different from the modules already available in the market.…”

“…The appearance of PAs is varied in terms of gender (male or female), realism (cartoon and realistic) and ethnicity (African-American and Caucasian) (Baylor, 2005). Normally, PAs are designed as experts (Baylor, 2005;Baylor & Kim, 2004;Chou et al, 2003;Hayes-Roth et al, 2002;Kim et al, 2006;Kizilkaya & Askar, 2008;Moreno & Mayer, 2005) who are knowledgeable in specific areas in order to provide guidance to students. However, there are also PAs which act as co-learners (Chou et al, 2003;Kim et al, 2006;Maldonado & Hayes-Roth, 2004;Maldonado et al, 2005;Xiao et al, 2004) or motivators (Baylor, 2005;Baylor & Kim, 2004;Kizilkaya & Askar, 2008).…”