e-School: an e-Learning system using life-like agents

1. e-School: an e-Learning system using life-like agents Omron Corporation, in partnership with Media X

2. Hiroshi Nakajima <nak@ari.ncl.omron.co.jp> Ryota Yamada <ryamada@stanford.edu> Kimihiko Iwamura <kiwamura@oas.net> Yasunori Morishima <morishima@icu.ac.jp > TK <tk@oas.net> Shigeyasu Kawaji <kawaji@cs.kumamoto-u.ac.> Dusan Jevtic <DusanJevtic@oas.net> Masaki Aarao <masaki_arao@omron.co.jp> Prof. Cliff Nass <nass@stanford.edu> Scott Brave <brave@stanford.edu>, Heidy Maldonado <heidym@CS.Stanford.EDU> Roselyn Lee <jroselyn@stanford.edu> Wendy Ju <wendyju@stanford.edu> With additional support from: Hideki Kunii, Taisuke Tateishi, Yuriko Iwashita, Garry Tan, Wataru Hasegawa, and others. Team: Omron Corporation, in partnership with Media X

3. eSchool: Overview • Collaborative learning system provides virtual spaces in which students can study anytime, anywhere. • Patent-pending architecture designed for emotionally engaging mobile learning: • supports interruptions and returns, • client-server data exchange, • context-independent social intelligence allows for complex interactions, • modular application-specific content (lessons, graphics) makes customization easy. • Students are represented by an avatar, co-learners may be avatars driven by other students, or autonomous agents.

4. eSchool currently: v.1.3f • Most online training/tutoring systems are based on 1:1 relationship between teacher or coach and human learner. Some include conversation partner character, but none include colearner. • Colearner answers same question as human learner, may be avatar (representing another colearner online but situated miles away) or fully autonomous synthetic character. Goal is for human learner never to realize difference. • Teacher is always fully autonomous synthetic character • Both student and co-learner character may be called on by teacher at any point in the interaction. • Teacher and co-learner support learning process with supplemental explanations.

5. eSchool: Screen Overview v1.3f Teacher character Blackboard area where answer choices are presented Student’s avatar Competitive co-learner character Student’s mood control buttons

6. eSchool: Validation • Testbed application: English idioms for ESL college students, medium/advanced level. • Single lesson sequence: diagnostic, basic and/or advanced. • Lessons consist on question-explanation (and explanation-question) pairs. • Content delivered through teacher character and demonstrative video. • Implemented in Java in a PC, 12 distinct avatars available. • Experiment conducted in Japan on college students with three conditions: • colearner with emotional model and expression, • colearner without emotional model, • wihtout colearner. • Conditions: co-learner avatar could be absent or present. • Post-experience questionnaire measures attitudinal responses to software, as well as recall and recognition of idioms explained (multiple choice, fill-in the blank questions). • Results in the US show support for co-learner presence: people learn better when they are learning along with others!

7. eSchool: Sample Interaction v.1.3f

8. Sample Diagnostic Question • Instructions: “What do you think the following statement means:” • Statement: “Lucy is a pain in the neck!” • Possible Interpretations: • a) “Lucy hurt her neck.” • b) “Lucy makes my neck hurt.” • c) “Lucy is annoying.” • d) I don’t know. • Follow up: Teacher Agent Says: • “Calling someone a pain in the neck is not very nice – and something people tend to say only when the “pain in the neck” person is not present. It means they are annoying or troublesome to you, perhaps because they ask too many questions or put too many demands on your time.”

9. eSchool: Sample Interaction v.1.3f

10. eSchool: Sample Interaction v.1.3f Please note emotional response to feedback from both student avatar and co-learner character

11. Sample Advanced Question • Teacher Agent Says:“Now that you have watched the video, let’s discuss some of the expressions used in similar situations.” • Instructions: “We are going to try something different now. One of the alternatives presented as a possible interpretation for the sentence below is an incorrect interpretation. Your task is to select this wrong interpretation:” • Statement:“I’m going to have to pull an all-nighter!” • Possible Interpretations: • a) “I have to work hard tonight.” • b) “I will not get any sleep tonight.” • c) “I will be putting on my pajamas tonite.” • d) I don’t know. • Follow up: Teacher Agent Says: “Pulling an all-nighter is an expression often used by American college students when they do not sleep throughout the night in an attempt to cram for an exam or complete their assignments for the next day. Similar expressions are “to stay up” and “to burn the midnight oil,” although this midnight oil expression may imply that the student slept some reduced number of hours. “Staying up” does not imply that you were on your feet the whole night, but that you did not lay down in bed.”

12. Diagnostic Questions Video Presentation Lower Scores Higher Scores Advanced Questions Learning Evaluation Lesson Flow Basic Questions