View
229
Download
0
Category
Tags:
Preview:
Citation preview
QuizMASter – A Multi-Agent Game-Style
Learning Activity
Edutainment 2009 Banff, Canada August 9-11, 2009
Presented by: Dr. Fuhua (Oscar) Lin
Some Problems in Game-based Learning
Okonkwo & Vassileva (2001) showed that while educational games can be successful at motivating students to play them, their effect on actual learning might be small.
Kirriemuir et al. (2004): among other reasons, educational games often fail because they are too simplistic when compared with commercial video games, too repetitive, and the tasks do not support progressive understanding.
Okonkwo & Vassileva (2001) showed that while educational games can be successful at motivating students to play them, their effect on actual learning might be small.
Kirriemuir et al. (2004): among other reasons, educational games often fail because they are too simplistic when compared with commercial video games, too repetitive, and the tasks do not support progressive understanding.
EduTainment 2009 2Athabasca University
Our Research Goal
To study how to to construct effective educational games with TV-show style for e-learning through using the multi-agent systems (MAS) approach.
EduTainment 2009 3Athabasca University
Related WorkMCOE (Multiagent Co-operative Environment)
(Giraffa et al., 1998)simulates a lake environment.learners learn the effects of pollution & try
to control it.Includes
reactive agents such as fish and plants, and
cognitive agents including a tutoring agent & a virtual ‘ecologist’.
EduTainment 2009 4Athabasca University
Related Work (Contd..)REAL (Reflective Agent Learning Environment)
(Bai & Black, 2006) is an agent-based learning environment provides a framework for simulation game scenarios, providing an Expert agent that contains the knowledge
about the system being simulated a Reflective agent to model what the learner
‘knows’ about his or her environment a Pedagogical agent compares the Reflective
agent’s knowledge with that of the Expert agent’s and adjusts it teaching strategy.
EduTainment 2009 5Athabasca University
Our Approach in QuizMASter
Multi-Agent System-based educational game that would help students learn their course material through friendly competition
Use Pedagogical Agents to provide feedback & motivationto assess learners’ emotional states
through examining learner’s standing, response timing, and history, and banter; and
to provide appropriate feedback to students in order to motivate them
EduTainment 2009 6Athabasca University
QuizMASter’s Functional Requirements
Similar to a TV game show, where a small group of contestants compete by answering questions presented by the game show host.
Contestants score points by correctly answering questions before their opponents do.
Questions are drawn from a learning management system database and presented to player’s one question at a time.
The answer given, the length of time taken to respond are transmitted back to a central agent.
Scores will be tallied, and the feedback on a player’s standing will be provided to motivate the player.
EduTainment 2009 7Athabasca University
The Architectural Design
EduTainment 2009 8Athabasca University
Player Agent
Host Agent
Banter Session
Bonding
Scoring Subsystem
Tasks of AgentsCalculating Contestant Standing:
Assumption:a contestant that is winning is sufficiently engaged, and that those in last place are somewhat unhappy with, or
uninterested in their performance in the game. Based on such assumptions we use the contestant’s
current standing as a factor when calculating their attitude
Recording Response Timing and History that then be analyzed and compared with the other players.
Examining the interaction between the host and the player during what we call ‘banter’ sessions to infer a user’s state from their conversations.
EduTainment 2009 9Athabasca University
Player AgentThe responsibilities of the Player agent:
Assess and maintain the contestant’s emotional state
Receive and display questionsCalculate response timingSend Response objects back to the
Host agent
EduTainment 2009 10Athabasca University
The Player Agent
EduTainment 2009 11Athabasca University
The Host Agent -- Responsibilities
Present questions
Provide feedback to the contestants
Engage in banter sessions with contestants
Attempt to ‘bond’ with the contestant, by displaying appropriate emotion.
Maintain an high level of interest/excitement
Scorekeeping
EduTainment 2009 12Athabasca University
The Host Agent --- Banter Session
Periodically throughout the game (typically after every 2-3 questions) the Host agent will engage in ‘banter’ with a contestant.
The contestant is chosen based on:The contestant with the lowest ‘emotion’
factorThe winner after the current ‘round’ of
playRandom selection when no clear data is
availableEduTainment 2009 13Athabasca University
The Host Agent -- Bonding
Each Host agent attempts to bond with its contestant by celebrating their success ‘sharing the pain’ of an incorrect
response.
This is accomplished by presenting an appropriate face to the contestant. In an attempt to maintain a positive attitude, the Host agent will normally display a ‘happy’ face.
EduTainment 2009 14Athabasca University
The Host Agent – Scoring
is responsible for processing response objects:
the answerstiming emotional state information.
calculating scores standings for current game
EduTainment 2009 15Athabasca University
Host Agent Interface
EduTainment 2009 16Athabasca University
ConclusionsAgent autonomy is the principle reason
for choosing MAS as the game control system (Aylett and Luck, 2000)
The current version of QuizMASter provides basic perception and feedback systems to assess a player’s attitude during game-play and provide appropriate responses. It has allowed us to identify and study several implementation issues.
EduTainment 2009 17Athabasca University
Future WorkVoice recognition:
Currently our prototype Host agent provides text-only interactions.
FreeTTS3 speech synthesis software and Sphinx-44 voice recognition software are being considered to provide natural language communications between contestants and the QuizMASter host.
This would provide a less distracting interface for contestants, while permitting QuizMASter to identify keywords directly from the contestant’s speech.
EduTainment 2009 18Athabasca University
Future Work (Contd..)Emotion: Software is currently available
that is able to detect emotions based on facial recognition. Software such as this could supplement the conversation-based perception subsystem used by the current version
Implement QuizMASter in Sun’s Wonderland 3D virtual environment. The Wonderland environment will improve our system substantially by adding graphics, animation, and sound elements.
Incorporating Adaptive Features into QuizMASter.
EduTainment 2009 19Athabasca University
MAS for adaptive immersive GBL
EduTainment 2009Athabasca University 20
Thank You!
Intelligent Educational Systems Research Group (IESRG)
Athabasca University, Canada
http://oscar.athabascau.ca
EduTainment 2009 21Athabasca University
Recommended