Working With Pedagogical Agents: Understanding the "Back End" of an Intelligent Tutoring System
Abstract
Students in an undergraduate psychology course on Learning and Cognition used SKO (formerly AutoTutor Lite), an Intelligent Tutoring System, to create interactive lessons in which a pedagogic agent (animated avatar) engages users in a tutorial dialogue. After briefly describing the technology and underlying psychological theory, data from an anonymous student survey and confidential focus group are presented. Results indicate that students successfully met established criteria for the assignment. Students rated the assignment highly and reported high levels of understanding resulting from the experience. Results are discussed in the context of learning experiences to help students gain an intuitive feel for complex phenomena.
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