Interactive Pathway Design for Learning through Agent and Library Augmented Shared Knowledge Areas (ALASKA)

Eric HamiltonHiroshima UniversityUS Air Force AcademyPerEL05 Workshop, Kauai

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Japan …

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The “SlateMate” Vision

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USAFA project on collaboration systems

“What you see is what I see” Powerful model for classroom interaction In our current research, uses Smart

SynchronEyes and Acer TabletPCs

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Engagement: a simple pathway

Disciplinary content needs to fall within a “proximal development zone” for engagement to be meaningful and the learners must have sufficient motivation to focus their attention. These are limiting factors.

Here is a simple taxonomy

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Asking learners what they are doing

LevelEngagement Level Description

Level 1What I am doing has nothing directly to do with the subject matter learning and it is

unrelated to the teacher's lesson.

Level 2What I am doing has nothing to do with subject matter learning but is related to the

teacher's lesson, or is something I need to do for the lesson.

Level 3What I am doing is related to the subject matter and to the specific material for the class,

but I am not learning very much from it because the work is too trivial or easy, or else it is too hard.

Level 4What I am doing is in the subject area and it is related to the lesson, and the level of

difficulty is just about right for me, but I am really not interested and am not very engaged in it.

Level 5What I am doing is in the subject matter and it is related to the lesson, and the level of

difficulty is just about right for me, and I am working at it and am really engaged in it.

Other (How would you define?)

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Self-Reporting of Learner Engagement in Third Year Modeling and Differential Equation Course

n

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Other

Freshman Class 308

10.3 8.4 26.8 21.6 27.6 5.4

Treatment Pre 15 6.9 7.7 34.0 20.9 29.1 1.3

Treatment Post 174.6 8.8 28.1 21.2 36.4 0.9

Change-2.3 1.1 -5.9 0.2 7.3 -0.5

Control Pre 19 2.2 4.1 36.6 16.0 37.6 3.6

Control Post 20 5.8 6.5 28.8 22.0 28.5 8.5

Change

3.6 2.4 -7.8 6.0 -9.1

Table 2:

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ALASKA

ALASKA: Agent and Library Augmented Shared Knowledge Areas, integrates three technologies: shared collaborative spaces, animated agents, and digital libraries

Question: Can networks that endow and engage virtual humans help propel richer, deeper and more meaningful interaction between real humans?

Hope to have a prototype this year, looking for potential test sites. “Miriam scenario” gives the clearest vision for what we are trying to do in it, and shows the 3D metaphor most clearly.

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ALASKA Schematic

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Initial Goals

Build the ALASKA Platform Pairwise integration of the platform elements

Collaborative SpacesPedagogical AgentsDigital Libraries

Embed Domain Expertise Embed Platform Extensibility To enable a research agenda

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Research Questions And Extended Research Agenda

Learning Effects Extensibility and scalability “Interactional bandwidth” Shifting task load over the network to increase

human performance Changing the teacher’s role

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Learning Flow

Often studied in context of creativity or occupational performance“Optimal performance under challenging circumstances” - Csikszentmihalyi

Engagement, enjoyment, loss of sense of time May also be viewed through a learning lens: can

learners experience classroom learning as “flow” Impossible with chronic distractions Can ALASKA and other approaches routinely

contribute to a group flow concept?