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DiNinni, Richard; Rizzo, Albert
Sensing Human Signals of Motivation Processes During STEM Tasks Inproceedings
In: Rodrigo, Maria Mercedes; Matsuda, Noburu; Cristea, Alexandra I.; Dimitrova, Vania (Ed.): Artificial Intelligence in Education. Posters and Late Breaking Results, Workshops and Tutorials, Industry and Innovation Tracks, Practitioners’ and Doctoral Consortium, pp. 163–167, Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2022, ISBN: 978-3-031-11647-6.
@inproceedings{dininni_sensing_2022,
title = {Sensing Human Signals of Motivation Processes During STEM Tasks},
author = {Richard DiNinni and Albert Rizzo},
editor = {Maria Mercedes Rodrigo and Noburu Matsuda and Alexandra I. Cristea and Vania Dimitrova},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-11647-6_28},
isbn = {978-3-031-11647-6},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-01-01},
booktitle = {Artificial Intelligence in Education. Posters and Late Breaking Results, Workshops and Tutorials, Industry and Innovation Tracks, Practitioners’ and Doctoral Consortium},
pages = {163--167},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
address = {Cham},
series = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science},
abstract = {This paper outlines the linking of a multi-modal sensing platform with an Intelligent Tutoring System to perceive the motivational state of the learner during STEM tasks. Motivation is a critical element to learning but receives little attention in comparison to strategies related to cognitive processes. The EMPOWER project has developed a novel platform that offers researchers an opportunity to capture a learner’s multi-modal behavioral signals to develop models of motivation problems that can be used to develop best practice strategies for instructional systems.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Liu, Lixing; Gurney, Nikolos; McCullough, Kyle; Ustun, Volkan
Graph Neural Network Based Behavior Prediction to Support Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning in Military Training Simulations Inproceedings
In: 2021 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC), pp. 1–12, IEEE, Phoenix, AZ, USA, 2021, ISBN: 978-1-66543-311-2.
@inproceedings{liu_graph_2021,
title = {Graph Neural Network Based Behavior Prediction to Support Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning in Military Training Simulations},
author = {Lixing Liu and Nikolos Gurney and Kyle McCullough and Volkan Ustun},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9715433/},
doi = {10.1109/WSC52266.2021.9715433},
isbn = {978-1-66543-311-2},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-12-01},
urldate = {2022-09-21},
booktitle = {2021 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC)},
pages = {1--12},
publisher = {IEEE},
address = {Phoenix, AZ, USA},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Adami, Pooya; Rodrigues, Patrick B.; Woods, Peter J.; Becerik-Gerber, Burcin; Soibelman, Lucio; Copur-Gencturk, Yasemin; Lucas, Gale
Effectiveness of VR-based training on improving construction workers’ knowledge, skills, and safety behavior in robotic teleoperation Journal Article
In: Advanced Engineering Informatics, vol. 50, pp. 101431, 2021, ISSN: 14740346.
@article{adami_effectiveness_2021,
title = {Effectiveness of VR-based training on improving construction workers’ knowledge, skills, and safety behavior in robotic teleoperation},
author = {Pooya Adami and Patrick B. Rodrigues and Peter J. Woods and Burcin Becerik-Gerber and Lucio Soibelman and Yasemin Copur-Gencturk and Gale Lucas},
url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S147403462100183X},
doi = {10.1016/j.aei.2021.101431},
issn = {14740346},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-10-01},
urldate = {2022-09-26},
journal = {Advanced Engineering Informatics},
volume = {50},
pages = {101431},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Adami, Pooya; Becerik-Gerber, Burcin; Soibelman, Lucio; Doleck, Tenzin; Copur-Gencturk, Yasemin; Lucas, Gale
An Immersive Virtual Learning Environment for Worker-Robot Collaboration on Construction Sites Inproceedings
In: 2020 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC), pp. 2400–2411, IEEE, Orlando, FL, USA, 2020, ISBN: 978-1-72819-499-8.
@inproceedings{adami_immersive_2020,
title = {An Immersive Virtual Learning Environment for Worker-Robot Collaboration on Construction Sites},
author = {Pooya Adami and Burcin Becerik-Gerber and Lucio Soibelman and Tenzin Doleck and Yasemin Copur-Gencturk and Gale Lucas},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9383944/},
doi = {10.1109/WSC48552.2020.9383944},
isbn = {978-1-72819-499-8},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-12-01},
urldate = {2022-10-24},
booktitle = {2020 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC)},
pages = {2400--2411},
publisher = {IEEE},
address = {Orlando, FL, USA},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Nye, Benjamin D.; Davis, Dan M.; Rizvi, Sanad Z.; Carr, Kayla; Swartout, William; Thacker, Raj; Shaw, Kenneth
Feasibility and usability of MentorPal, a framework for rapid development of virtual mentors Journal Article
In: Journal of Research on Technology in Education, pp. 1–23, 2020, ISSN: 1539-1523, 1945-0818.
@article{nye_feasibility_2020,
title = {Feasibility and usability of MentorPal, a framework for rapid development of virtual mentors},
author = {Benjamin D. Nye and Dan M. Davis and Sanad Z. Rizvi and Kayla Carr and William Swartout and Raj Thacker and Kenneth Shaw},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15391523.2020.1771640},
doi = {10.1080/15391523.2020.1771640},
issn = {1539-1523, 1945-0818},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-07-01},
journal = {Journal of Research on Technology in Education},
pages = {1--23},
abstract = {One-on-one mentoring is an effective method to help novices with career development. However, traditional mentoring scales poorly. To address this problem, MentorPal emulates conversations with a panel of virtual mentors based on recordings of real STEM professionals. Students freely ask questions as they might in a career fair, while machine learning algorithms attempt to provide the best answers. MentorPal has developed strategies for the rapid development of new virtual mentors, where training data will be sparse. In a usability study, 31 high school students self-reported a) increased career knowledge and confidence, b) positive ease-of-use, and that c) mentors were helpful (87%) but often did not cover their preferred career (29%). Results demonstrate the feasibility of scalable virtual mentoring, but efficacy studies are needed to evaluate the impact of virtual mentors, particularly for groups with limited STEM opportunities.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Davis, Dan M; Guizani, Skander; Jaksha, Evan
Establishing Metrics and Creating Standards: Quantifying Efficacy of Battlefield Simulations Journal Article
In: SISO Simulation Innovation Workshop, no. 2020_SIW_52, pp. 11, 2020.
@article{davis_establishing_2020,
title = {Establishing Metrics and Creating Standards: Quantifying Efficacy of Battlefield Simulations},
author = {Dan M Davis and Skander Guizani and Evan Jaksha},
url = {https://www.sisostds.org/Default.aspx?tabid=105&EntryId=51197},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-04-01},
journal = {SISO Simulation Innovation Workshop},
number = {2020_SIW_52},
pages = {11},
abstract = {This paper asserts that quantification and verification of Battlefield simulations is necessary to assess, verify, and guide the researchers, military commanders, and users in both the simulations’ development and their implementation. The authors present their observations on previous development activities that were hampered by lack of effective metrics and present their arguments that much of this was driven by a lack of standards. Tracing back using commonly accepted System Engineering practices, they show how lack of such standards makes even to the development of effective metrics problematic. The paper documents the experiences and enumerates the potential pitfalls of these shortcomings. Both the authors' experiences in military service and the technical literature supporting their theses are adduced to support their analysis of the current technical research and development environment. Then the paper evaluates several System Engineering tools to further investigate and establish the ultimate goals of these formalized processes. Using their current project in establishing virtual on-line mentors as an exemplar of the way such tools would be effective, the authors make a case for the needs for metrics standards that both are accepted by consensus and are ultimately directed at providing the warfighter with all of the training possible before putting that warfighters in harm's way and imperiling the missions for which they are putting themselves at risk. Examples of the nature and reaction to simulator training, virtual human interaction, computer agent interfaces and implementation issues are given to further illuminate for the reader the possible extensions of these approaches into the reader's own research as well as calling for a more community-wide recognition of the needs for standards both for implementation and for metrics to assess Battlefield Simulation utility to the warfighter. Future investigations, analysis and action are considered and evaluated},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Davis, Dan M; Rosenberg, Milton; Davis, Mark C
Proactive Natural Language Processing: Addressing Terminology Disparity and Team Coalescence Journal Article
In: SISO Simulation Innovation Workshop, no. 2020_SIW_39, pp. 11, 2020.
@article{davis_proactive_2020,
title = {Proactive Natural Language Processing: Addressing Terminology Disparity and Team Coalescence},
author = {Dan M Davis and Milton Rosenberg and Mark C Davis},
url = {https://www.sisostds.org/Default.aspx?tabid=105&EntryId=51197},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-04-01},
journal = {SISO Simulation Innovation Workshop},
number = {2020_SIW_39},
pages = {11},
abstract = {There is a continuing need for battlefield simulations and virtual humans. Most recently, the authors have been focused on the creation of virtual conversation environments to leverage the mentoring skills of selected individuals by creating large libraries of short video clips of advice which are then presented to the user in response to their questions. In these endeavors two issues have arisen; the inconsistency of the definitions used and the need to ameliorate the impacts of short-tour intervals on team formation. This paper will address both of these issues, review existing research, document some early research into these impediments, and discuss the similarities of these issues to those faced by the standards community writ large. They will cite and review the work of Professor Bruce Tuckman: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. The benefits of using virtual humans to enhance these processes are outlined. The need for and design of proactive Natural Language Processing-enabled virtual humans and computer agents is set forth and analyzed. The paper will lay out the research goals, identify the semantic differences, and report on the potential impacts of those differences. In its totality, this paper intends to demonstrate that, in addition to the need to evangelize about the necessity of standards, this community has a lot to contribute to researchers, developers, and implementers faced with destructive differences in terminology, understanding and practice. All of this data and analysis will be presented in a way that should make sure that the insights garnered therefrom are accessible by members of this and other communities and they can be implemented and modified, as is most effective. Future advances now in development are discussed, along with the utility of these new capabilities and approaches.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Georgila, Kallirroi; Core, Mark G; Nye, Benjamin D; Karumbaiah, Shamya; Auerbach, Daniel; Ram, Maya
Using Reinforcement Learning to Optimize the Policies of an Intelligent Tutoring System for Interpersonal Skills Training Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems, pp. 9, IFAAMAS, Montreal, Canada, 2019.
@inproceedings{georgila_using_2019,
title = {Using Reinforcement Learning to Optimize the Policies of an Intelligent Tutoring System for Interpersonal Skills Training},
author = {Kallirroi Georgila and Mark G Core and Benjamin D Nye and Shamya Karumbaiah and Daniel Auerbach and Maya Ram},
url = {http://www.ifaamas.org/Proceedings/aamas2019/pdfs/p737.pdf},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-05-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems},
pages = {9},
publisher = {IFAAMAS},
address = {Montreal, Canada},
abstract = {Reinforcement Learning (RL) has been applied successfully to Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) in a limited set of well-defined domains such as mathematics and physics. This work is unique in using a large state space and for applying RL to tutoring interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills are increasingly recognized as critical to both social and economic development. In particular, this work enhances an ITS designed to teach basic counseling skills that can be applied to challenging issues such as sexual harassment and workplace conflict. An initial data collection was used to train RL policies for the ITS, and an evaluation with human participants compared a hand-crafted ITS which had been used for years with students (control) versus the new ITS guided by RL policies. The RL condition differed from the control condition most notably in the strikingly large quantity of guidance it provided to learners. Both systems were effective and there was an overall significant increase from pre- to post-test scores. Although learning gains did not differ significantly between conditions, learners had a significantly higher self-rating of confidence in the RL condition. Confidence and learning gains were both part of the reward function used to train the RL policies, and it could be the case that there was the most room for improvement in confidence, an important learner emotion. Thus, RL was successful in improving an ITS for teaching interpersonal skills without the need to prune the state space (as previously done).},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Davis, Dan M; Phelps, Christi L; Stassi, Frederica J
Pedagogical Tools to Enhance Analytic Skills: Interactive Virtual Tutorial Environments Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of MODSIM World 2019, pp. 12, Norfolk, VA, 2019.
@inproceedings{davis_pedagogical_2019,
title = {Pedagogical Tools to Enhance Analytic Skills: Interactive Virtual Tutorial Environments},
author = {Dan M Davis and Christi L Phelps and Frederica J Stassi},
url = {http://www.modsimworld.org/conference-papers/2019},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-04-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of MODSIM World 2019},
pages = {12},
address = {Norfolk, VA},
abstract = {This paper examines the use of literature studies to enhance communication and critical thinking skills in technical students through the application of emerging Virtual Reality (VR) technologies to enable that pedagogical approach. The current state of analytic skills among students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) tracks are outlined, focusing on the critical years in secondary schools. Their prospective needs as they advance into tertiary education and the needs of the technical community for improvement are presented. The requirements flowing from that analysis will be discussed in the light of programs implemented at the Sato Academy, with reports of both successes and missteps. In some detail, the use of the study of literature is described and discussed. The authors present their case for constructivist and Socratic approaches to fully engage and effectively inculcate communication proficiency, including conformance with standards, e.g. Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). These results are then compared to the demands of college and professional leaders who are currently being burdened with having to provide disruptive remedial efforts. The methods found to be successful are considered, both in terms of their application and their extensibility to other fields. Also highlighted will be areas in which time and personnel constraints hindered achievement. A number of possible responses to these impediments will be presented, evaluating the feasibility of each. The paper will then focus on the advances in virtual humans and conversational avatars. Recent research into using large libraries of video-clips to create engaging on-line virtual tutorial conversations will be presented. Data as to the receptivity of students to conversing with computer-generated interlocutors is presented, along with a discussion as to how this technology is applicable to teaching the analysis of literature. The benefits of and the barriers to virtual tutorial environments are outlined and analyzed.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Davis, Dan M; Young, Nancy L H; Davis, Mark C; Carolina, North
Enhancements for Homeschooling and ADL: Virtual Humans, Technologies and Insights Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of MODSIM World 2019, pp. 12, Norfolk, VA, 2019.
@inproceedings{davis_enhancements_2019,
title = {Enhancements for Homeschooling and ADL: Virtual Humans, Technologies and Insights},
author = {Dan M Davis and Nancy L H Young and Mark C Davis and North Carolina},
url = {http://www.modsimworld.org/conference-papers/2019},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-04-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of MODSIM World 2019},
pages = {12},
address = {Norfolk, VA},
abstract = {Homeschooling and DoD Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) have many goals in common, so increasing the collaborative research and collegial information exchange between their respective communities would be mutually advantageous. The emerging capabilities of virtual humans provide a useful prototype of how both homeschooling and ADL can benefit from emerging technological advances. This paper begins with an examination of the home schooling movement in the United States, including a review of its foundations, demographics, results and trends. In examining the goals of homeschooling parents, the four major reasons cited by at least half of those parents are considered and explicated: desire to find environment most compatible to users, provision of ethics foundations, inclusion of accountability instruction and dissatisfaction with other pedagogical approaches. Also meriting review are the hurdles faced by homeschool teachers and students, followed by an item-by-item comparison with analogous challenges for ADL provisioners and learners. A short analysis of the constraints on the two communities focuses on similarities and differences between family limitations and defense organization restrictions. The authors then present data on the current scope, instantiations, and achievements of the two efforts. Many of the technologies currently in use are reviewed and discussed, concentrating on computer-aided education and distributed learning. Emerging technologies based on artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and virtual humans are described and considered. Their uses in various contexts provide sufficient data to quantify the impact on subjects and the authors adduce findings from research to support their thesis that increased use of these technologies would be beneficial both to homeschooled students and to DoD Learners. The paper closes with an evaluation of the arc of current research, the recognition of prenascent capabilities (e.g. quantum computing), the burgeoning needs of both communities, and the need to nurture a synergistic exchange between homeschool advocates and ADL architects.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Goldberg, Benjamin; Nye, Benjamin; Lane, H Chad; Guadagnoli, Mark
Team Assessment and Pedagogy as Informed by Sports Coaching and Assessment Incollection
In: Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 6-Team Modeling, pp. 105–119, US Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Orlando, Florida, 2018, ISBN: 978-0-9977257-4-2.
@incollection{goldberg_team_2018,
title = {Team Assessment and Pedagogy as Informed by Sports Coaching and Assessment},
author = {Benjamin Goldberg and Benjamin Nye and H Chad Lane and Mark Guadagnoli},
url = {https://gifttutoring.org/attachments/download/3029/Design%20Recommendations%20for%20ITS_Volume%206%20-%20Team%20Tutoring_final.pdf},
isbn = {978-0-9977257-4-2},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-08-01},
booktitle = {Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 6-Team Modeling},
pages = {105--119},
publisher = {US Army Research Laboratory (ARL)},
address = {Orlando, Florida},
abstract = {In this chapter, we consider pedagogical insights offered by three different sources of information from sports coaching and assessment: published reports of sports training, first-hand accounts of team training, and a review of assessment approaches for measuring team performance. These issues are considered in the context of an integrated taxonomy of feedback that considers when feedback was given, who it was given to (e.g., individual vs. team), the type of feedback (e.g., positive vs. negative), and the specificity of feedback (e.g., detailed issues vs. brief note). The goal of this work is to consider how these patterns might generalize to a wider range of learning tasks, to improve both learning and assessment of team performance.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
Nye, Benjamin D.; Karumbaiah, Shamya; Tokel, S. Tugba; Core, Mark G.; Stratou, Giota; Auerbach, Daniel; Georgila, Kallirroi
Engaging with the Scenario: Affect and Facial Patterns from a Scenario-Based Intelligent Tutoring System Inproceedings
In: Proceeding of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, pp. 352–366, Springer International Publishing, London, UK, 2018, ISBN: 978-3-319-93842-4 978-3-319-93843-1.
@inproceedings{nye_engaging_2018,
title = {Engaging with the Scenario: Affect and Facial Patterns from a Scenario-Based Intelligent Tutoring System},
author = {Benjamin D. Nye and Shamya Karumbaiah and S. Tugba Tokel and Mark G. Core and Giota Stratou and Daniel Auerbach and Kallirroi Georgila},
url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-93843-1_26},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-93843-1_26},
isbn = {978-3-319-93842-4 978-3-319-93843-1},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-06-01},
booktitle = {Proceeding of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education},
volume = {10947},
pages = {352--366},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
address = {London, UK},
abstract = {Facial expression trackers output measures for facial action units (AUs), and are increasingly being used in learning technologies. In this paper, we compile patterns of AUs seen in related work as well as use factor analysis to search for categories implicit in our corpus. Although there was some overlap between the factors in our data and previous work, we also identified factors seen in the broader literature but not previously reported in the context of learning environments. In a correlational analysis, we found evidence for relationships between factors and self-reported traits such as academic effort, study habits, and interest in the subject. In addition, we saw differences in average levels of factors between a video watching activity, and a decision making activity. However, in this analysis, we were not able to isolate any facial expressions having a significant positive or negative relationship with either learning gain, or performance once question difficulty and related factors were also considered. Given the overall low levels of facial affect in the corpus, further research will explore different populations and learning tasks to test the possible hypothesis that learners may have been in a pattern of “Over-Flow” in which they were engaged with the system, but not deeply thinking about the content or their errors.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Hampton, Andrew J.; Nye, Benjamin D.; Pavlik, Philip I.; Swartout, William R.; Graesser, Arthur C.; Gunderson, Joseph
Mitigating Knowledge Decay from Instruction with Voluntary Use of an Adaptive Learning System Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, pp. 119–133, Springer International Publishing, London, UK, 2018, ISBN: 978-3-319-93845-5 978-3-319-93846-2.
@inproceedings{hampton_mitigating_2018,
title = {Mitigating Knowledge Decay from Instruction with Voluntary Use of an Adaptive Learning System},
author = {Andrew J. Hampton and Benjamin D. Nye and Philip I. Pavlik and William R. Swartout and Arthur C. Graesser and Joseph Gunderson},
url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-93846-2_23},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-93846-2_23},
isbn = {978-3-319-93845-5 978-3-319-93846-2},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-06-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education},
volume = {10948},
pages = {119--133},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
address = {London, UK},
abstract = {Knowledge decays across breaks in instruction. Learners lack the metacognition to self-assess their knowledge decay and effectively self-direct review, as well as lacking interactive exercises appropriate to their individual knowledge level. Adaptive learning systems offer the potential to mitigate these issues, by providing open learner models to facilitate learner’s understanding of their knowledge levels and by presenting personalized practice exercises. The current study analyzes differences in knowledge decay between learners randomly assigned to an intervention where they could use an adaptive system during a long gap between courses, compared with a control condition. The experimental condition used the Personal Assistant for Life-Long Learning (PAL3), a tablet-based adaptive learning system integrating multiple intelligent tutoring systems and conventional learning resources. It contained electronics content relevant to the experiment participants, Navy sailors who graduated from apprentice electronics courses (A-School) awaiting assignment to their next training (C-School). The study was conducted over one month, collecting performance data with a counterbalanced pre-, mid-, and post-test. The control condition exhibited the expected decay. The PAL3 condition showed a significant difference from the control, with no significant knowledge decay in their overall knowledge, despite substantial variance in usage for PAL3 (e.g., most of overall use in the first week, with fewer participants engaging as time went on). Interestingly, while overall decay was mitigated in PAL3, this result was primarily through gains in some knowledge offsetting losses in other knowledge. Overall, these results indicate that adaptive study tools can help prevent knowledge decay, even with voluntary usage.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Nye, Benjamin D; Kaimakis, Nicholas J; Krishnamachari, Madhusudhan; Swartout, William; Campbell, Julia; Anderson, Clinton; Davis, Dan M
MentorPal: Interactive Virtual Mentors Based on Real-Life STEM Professionals Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2017, a2z, Inc., Orlando, Florida, 2017.
@inproceedings{nye_mentorpal_2017,
title = {MentorPal: Interactive Virtual Mentors Based on Real-Life STEM Professionals},
author = {Benjamin D Nye and Nicholas J Kaimakis and Madhusudhan Krishnamachari and William Swartout and Julia Campbell and Clinton Anderson and Dan M Davis},
url = {http://www.iitsecdocs.com/search},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-11-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2017},
publisher = {a2z, Inc.},
address = {Orlando, Florida},
abstract = {In an ideal world, all students could meet STEM role models as they explore different careers. However, events such as career fairs do not scale well: professionals have limited time and effective mentors are not readily available in all fields. The result is that students’ understanding is minimal about what professionals in STEM fields do every day, what education is needed, and even what STEM fields exist. Moreover, since in-person interactions rely on finding people engaged in current STEM careers, students may form career goals for stagnant fields rather than growing fields (e.g., projected workforce needs). To address this problem, we are designing a scalable tablet-based app that gives students the opportunity to converse with interactive recordings of real-life STEM professionals. These conversational virtual agents will emulate a question-and-answer session with STEM professionals who have Navy ties and who are engaging, enthusiastic, and effective mentors. These interactions will allow students to have a lifelike informational interview with a virtual agent whose responses are directly drawn from a specific real professional’s video-recorded interview. This work differs from prior research on career guides by capturing the experiences of a collection of unique mentors, which should be more authentic and engaging than a generic agent or resource which speaks only about the average experience. This paper will discuss the process of creating the first such virtual STEM mentor prototype, including the development of an extensive mentoring question bank (approximately 500 questions); key mentoring topics that intersect STEM, DoD, and civilian life; techniques for cost-effective recording of remote mentors; and the process of training and verifying a natural language dialogue model for answering and suggesting career questions. Finally, we conclude with implications, strengths, and drawbacks of virtualizing the experience of talking with specific mentors, from the perspectives of efficacy, scalability, and maintainability.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Nye, Benjamin D.; Mitros, Piotr; Schunn, Christian; Foltz, Peter W.; Gasevic, Dragan; Katz, Irvin R.
Why Assess? The Role of Assessment in Learning Science and Society Incollection
In: Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 5- Assessment, vol. 5, pp. 189–202, US Army Research Laboratory, Orlando, FL, 2017, ISBN: 978-0-9977257-2-8.
@incollection{benjamin_d_nye_why_2017,
title = {Why Assess? The Role of Assessment in Learning Science and Society},
author = {Benjamin D. Nye and Piotr Mitros and Christian Schunn and Peter W. Foltz and Dragan Gasevic and Irvin R. Katz},
url = {https://books.google.com/books?id=5tsyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA189&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false},
isbn = {978-0-9977257-2-8},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-08-01},
booktitle = {Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 5- Assessment},
volume = {5},
pages = {189--202},
publisher = {US Army Research Laboratory},
address = {Orlando, FL},
abstract = {Even though assessment often is imperfect, it provides valuable input to the process of teaching, learning, and educational resource design. However, narrow assessment, especially used in high-stakes settings, can lead to worse educational outcomes (e.g., performance in later courses, workplace, or social settings; Hout & Elliott, 2011). Teachers may have a strong incentive to teach to the test, leading to a strong focus on memorization and rote procedural knowledge, while compromising key skills such as empathy, groupwork, mathematical maturity, and analytical reasoning. These are thorny problems – education shapes the skills1 that shape society, so these questions have broad implications. With that said, by constraining the discussion to the kinds of constructs considered when building learning experiences, the goals of assessment become more tractable.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
Fang, Ying; Xu, Yonghong Jade; Nye, Benjamin; Graesser, Arthur; Pavlik, Philip; Hu, Xiangen
Online Learning Persistence and Academic Achievement Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of Educational Data Mining (EDM) 2017, pp. 312 – 317, EDM 2017, Wuhan, China, 2017.
@inproceedings{fang_online_2017,
title = {Online Learning Persistence and Academic Achievement},
author = {Ying Fang and Yonghong Jade Xu and Benjamin Nye and Arthur Graesser and Philip Pavlik and Xiangen Hu},
url = {http://educationaldatamining.org/EDM2017/proc_files/papers/paper_114.pdf},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-06-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of Educational Data Mining (EDM) 2017},
pages = {312 -- 317},
publisher = {EDM 2017},
address = {Wuhan, China},
abstract = {Student persistence in online learning environments has typically been studied at the macro-level (e.g., completion of an online course, number of academic terms completed, etc.). The current examines student persistence in an adaptive learning environment, ALEKS (Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces). Specifically, the study explores the relationship between students' academic achievement and their persistence during learning. By using archived data that included their math learning log data and performance on two standardized tests, we first explored student learning behavior patterns with regard to their persistence during learning. Clustering analysis identified three distinctive patterns of persistence-related learning behaviors: (1) High persistence and rare topic shifting; (2) Low persistence and frequent topic shifting; and (3) Moderate persistence and moderate topic shifting. We further explored the association between persistence and academic achievement. No significant differences were observed between academic achievement and the different learning patterns. We interpret this result in addition to a preliminary exploration of topic mastery trends, to suggest that wheel-spinning" behaviors coexist with persistence, and is ultimately not beneficial to learning.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Nye, Benjamin; Karumbaiah, Shamya; Tokel, S. Tugba; Core, Mark G.; Stratou, Giota; Auerbach, Daniel; Georgila, Kallirroi
Analyzing Learner Affect in a Scenario-Based Intelligent Tutoring System Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, pp. 544–547, Springer, Wuhan, China, 2017, ISBN: 978-3-319-61425-0.
@inproceedings{nye_analyzing_2017,
title = {Analyzing Learner Affect in a Scenario-Based Intelligent Tutoring System},
author = {Benjamin Nye and Shamya Karumbaiah and S. Tugba Tokel and Mark G. Core and Giota Stratou and Daniel Auerbach and Kallirroi Georgila},
url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-61425-0_60},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61425-0_60},
isbn = {978-3-319-61425-0},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-06-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education},
pages = {544--547},
publisher = {Springer},
address = {Wuhan, China},
abstract = {Scenario-based tutoring systems influence affective states due to two distinct mechanisms during learning: 1) reactions to performance feedback and 2) responses to the scenario context or events. To explore the role of affect and engagement, a scenario-based ITS was instrumented to support unobtrusive facial affect detection. Results from a sample of university students showed relatively few traditional academic affective states such as confusion or frustration, even at decision points and after poor performance (e.g., incorrect responses). This may show evidence of över-flow," with a high level of engagement and interest but insufficient confusion/disequilibrium for optimal learning.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Nye, Benjamin D.; Auerbach, Daniel; Mehta, Tirth R.; Hartholt, Arno
Building a Backbone for Multi-Agent Tutoring in GIFT (Work in Progress) Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of the GIFTSym5, pp. 23–35, ARL, Orlando, Florida, 2017.
@inproceedings{nye_building_2017,
title = {Building a Backbone for Multi-Agent Tutoring in GIFT (Work in Progress)},
author = {Benjamin D. Nye and Daniel Auerbach and Tirth R. Mehta and Arno Hartholt},
url = {https://books.google.com/books?id=PwMtDwAAQBAJ&printsec=copyright&source=gbs_pub_info_r#v=onepage&q&f=false},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-05-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the GIFTSym5},
pages = {23--35},
publisher = {ARL},
address = {Orlando, Florida},
abstract = {As intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) increasingly need to interoperate and co-exist, emerging systems have transitioned toward service-oriented designs to enable modularity and composability of tutoring components made and/or maintained by different research and development groups. However, as a research community, we have still not reached a point where it is trivial for a new service to be added into a system like the Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT; Sottilare, Goldberg, Brawner, & Holden, 2012). In an early paper considering this issue with respect to the GIFT architecture (Nye & Morrison, 2013), we proposed addressing this issue by building toward a lightweight multi-agent archi-tecture where certain services act as autonomous agents: “a system situated within and a part of an environment that senses that environment and acts on it, over time, in pursuit of its own agenda and so as to affect what it senses in the future” (Franklin & Graesser, 1997; p. 25). In our work in progress described here, we discuss how we are approaching the opportunity to build such capabilities into GIFT. The high level goals of our work are targeting two core goals for GIFT: A) to be a lightweight framework that will expand access to and use of ITS and B) to help GIFT to increase the intelligence and effectiveness of its services based on data over time. We are currently targeting the first goal, which will underpin the second goal. However, what does it mean to be a lightweight framework? In this context, a “lightweight framework” is framed as minimizing the following criteria: (1) hardware requirements, (2) software expertise to design services, (3) software expertise to use existing services, (4) software expertise to stand up the message-passing layer between agents, and (5) a minimal working message ontology (Nye & Morrison, 2013). Since our original paper four years ago, GIFT has made significant strides in reducing barriers related to hardware by building a cloud-based version and software expertise to use GIFT services through authoring tools. It has also developed a growing ontology of messages (e.g., https://gifttutoring.org/projects/gift/wiki/Interface_Control_Document_2016-1). With that said, despite now-extensive documentation, designing new services for GIFT is still not trivial and strong expertise is required to pass messages between GIFT modules and agents (either internal or external). To address these issues, the Building a Backbone project is working toward agent-oriented designs that build on GIFT's existing service-oriented framework. By moving from services toward agents, modules will be able to act more autonomously, enabling capabilities such as plug-and-play, hotswapping, and selecting between multiple services providing the same capabilities. These new capabilities are intended to reduce barriers to building new GIFT-compatible services and also to integrating GIFT with other service-oriented ecosystems. The first steps toward these capabilities are an ontology mapping service and an initial integration that combines GIFT, the Virtual Human Toolkit core framework for agents, and the SuperGLU framework for adding agent-oriented capabilities for coordinating services. This paper reports on work to date, with an emphasis on target capabilities, design decisions, challenges, and open research questions for this work.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Core, Mark G.; Georgila, Kallirroi; Nye, Benjamin D.; Auerbach, Daniel; Liu, Zhi Fei; DiNinni, Richard
Learning, Adaptive Support, Student Traits, and Engagement in Scenario-Based Learning Inproceedings
In: Proceedings from the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2016, National Training and Simulation Association, Orlando, FL, 2016.
@inproceedings{core_learning_2016,
title = {Learning, Adaptive Support, Student Traits, and Engagement in Scenario-Based Learning},
author = {Mark G. Core and Kallirroi Georgila and Benjamin D. Nye and Daniel Auerbach and Zhi Fei Liu and Richard DiNinni},
url = {http://www.iitsecdocs.com/search},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-11-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings from the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2016},
publisher = {National Training and Simulation Association},
address = {Orlando, FL},
abstract = {Scenario-based training systems pose an especially difficult challenge for an intelligent tutoring system (ITS). In addition to the basic problems of deciding when to intervene and what guidance to provide, the ITS must decide whether to give guidance directly (e.g., a hint message), indirectly through positive/negative results in the scenario, or to delay guidance until a post-scenario review session. There are a number of factors that an adaptive ITS should consider and we use self-report survey instruments to investigate the relationship between traits, learning strategies, expectations, learner behaviors derived from log files, post-use perceptions of the system, and pre-test and post-test results. We use the ELITE Lite Counseling training system as a testbed for our experiments. This system uses virtual role players to allow learners to practice leadership counseling skills, and is in use at the United States Military Academy (USMA). This paper analyzes two data sets. We collected data from local university students, a non-military population of roughly the same age as USMA Cadets using the system. For these local participants, we could administer surveys and pre-tests and post-tests, and collect log files recording clicks made while using ELITE Lite. The second data set comes from USMA itself but is limited to log files. In both populations, the ITS’s hints are effective at boosting scenario performance, and for the university students, the overall experience promoted learning, and survey results suggest that higher levels of organization in study habits may lead to greater learning with ELITE Lite. For the USMA Cadets, ELITE Lite is part of their Military Leadership course rather than an experiment, which could explain why we found higher scenario performance on average than the non-military population, and more use of the post-scenario review feature.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
McAlinden, Ryan; Kang, Sin-Hwa; Nye, Benjamin; Phillips, Artemisa; Campbell, Julia; Goldberg, Stephan L.
Cost-Effective Strategies for Producing Engaging Online Courseware Inproceedings
In: Proceedings from the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2016, National Training and Simulation Association, Orlando, FL, 2016.
@inproceedings{mcalinden_cost-effective_2016,
title = {Cost-Effective Strategies for Producing Engaging Online Courseware},
author = {Ryan McAlinden and Sin-Hwa Kang and Benjamin Nye and Artemisa Phillips and Julia Campbell and Stephan L. Goldberg},
url = {http://www.iitsecdocs.com/search},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-11-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings from the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2016},
publisher = {National Training and Simulation Association},
address = {Orlando, FL},
abstract = {As distributed learning (dL) and computer-based training (CBT) continue to proliferate, the methods of delivery often remain unengaging and bland for participants. Though many of the leaders in commercial online learning have improved their delivery style and quality in recent years, they continue to fall short in terms of user engagement and satisfaction. PowerPoint regurgitation and video lectures are commonplace and leave end users uninspired and wanting more. This paper discusses results from an ongoing research project, Captivating Virtual Instruction for Training (CVIT), which is aimed at understanding and improving dL through a series of recommendations and best practices for promoting and enhancing student engagement online. Though the central focus is on engagement, and how that translates to learning potential, a third variable (cost) has been examined to understand the financial and resource impacts on making content more interesting (i.e. the return on investment, or ROI). The paper presents findings from a 3-year long experiment comparing existing dL methods and techniques both within and outside of the Army. The project developed two dL versions of an existing Army course (Advanced Situational Awareness-Basic (ASA-B)) – the first was designed around producing material that was as engaging and as immersive as possible within a target budget; the second was a scaled-down version using more traditional, yet contemporary dL techniques (PowerPoint recital, video lectures). The two were then compared along three dimensions– engagement, learning and cost. The findings show that improved engagement in distributed courseware is possible without breaking the bank, though the returns on learning with these progressive approaches remain inconclusive. More importantly, it was determined that the quality and experience of the designers, production staff, writers, animators, programmers, and others cannot be underestimated, and that the familiar phrase – ‘you get what you pay for’ is as true with online learning as it is with other areas of content design and software development.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Filter
2022
DiNinni, Richard; Rizzo, Albert
Sensing Human Signals of Motivation Processes During STEM Tasks Inproceedings
In: Rodrigo, Maria Mercedes; Matsuda, Noburu; Cristea, Alexandra I.; Dimitrova, Vania (Ed.): Artificial Intelligence in Education. Posters and Late Breaking Results, Workshops and Tutorials, Industry and Innovation Tracks, Practitioners’ and Doctoral Consortium, pp. 163–167, Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2022, ISBN: 978-3-031-11647-6.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: DTIC, Learning Sciences
@inproceedings{dininni_sensing_2022,
title = {Sensing Human Signals of Motivation Processes During STEM Tasks},
author = {Richard DiNinni and Albert Rizzo},
editor = {Maria Mercedes Rodrigo and Noburu Matsuda and Alexandra I. Cristea and Vania Dimitrova},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-11647-6_28},
isbn = {978-3-031-11647-6},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-01-01},
booktitle = {Artificial Intelligence in Education. Posters and Late Breaking Results, Workshops and Tutorials, Industry and Innovation Tracks, Practitioners’ and Doctoral Consortium},
pages = {163--167},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
address = {Cham},
series = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science},
abstract = {This paper outlines the linking of a multi-modal sensing platform with an Intelligent Tutoring System to perceive the motivational state of the learner during STEM tasks. Motivation is a critical element to learning but receives little attention in comparison to strategies related to cognitive processes. The EMPOWER project has developed a novel platform that offers researchers an opportunity to capture a learner’s multi-modal behavioral signals to develop models of motivation problems that can be used to develop best practice strategies for instructional systems.},
keywords = {DTIC, Learning Sciences},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
2021
Liu, Lixing; Gurney, Nikolos; McCullough, Kyle; Ustun, Volkan
Graph Neural Network Based Behavior Prediction to Support Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning in Military Training Simulations Inproceedings
In: 2021 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC), pp. 1–12, IEEE, Phoenix, AZ, USA, 2021, ISBN: 978-1-66543-311-2.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: DTIC, Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans
@inproceedings{liu_graph_2021,
title = {Graph Neural Network Based Behavior Prediction to Support Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning in Military Training Simulations},
author = {Lixing Liu and Nikolos Gurney and Kyle McCullough and Volkan Ustun},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9715433/},
doi = {10.1109/WSC52266.2021.9715433},
isbn = {978-1-66543-311-2},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-12-01},
urldate = {2022-09-21},
booktitle = {2021 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC)},
pages = {1--12},
publisher = {IEEE},
address = {Phoenix, AZ, USA},
keywords = {DTIC, Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Adami, Pooya; Rodrigues, Patrick B.; Woods, Peter J.; Becerik-Gerber, Burcin; Soibelman, Lucio; Copur-Gencturk, Yasemin; Lucas, Gale
Effectiveness of VR-based training on improving construction workers’ knowledge, skills, and safety behavior in robotic teleoperation Journal Article
In: Advanced Engineering Informatics, vol. 50, pp. 101431, 2021, ISSN: 14740346.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: DTIC, Learning Sciences, UARC, VR
@article{adami_effectiveness_2021,
title = {Effectiveness of VR-based training on improving construction workers’ knowledge, skills, and safety behavior in robotic teleoperation},
author = {Pooya Adami and Patrick B. Rodrigues and Peter J. Woods and Burcin Becerik-Gerber and Lucio Soibelman and Yasemin Copur-Gencturk and Gale Lucas},
url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S147403462100183X},
doi = {10.1016/j.aei.2021.101431},
issn = {14740346},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-10-01},
urldate = {2022-09-26},
journal = {Advanced Engineering Informatics},
volume = {50},
pages = {101431},
keywords = {DTIC, Learning Sciences, UARC, VR},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
2020
Adami, Pooya; Becerik-Gerber, Burcin; Soibelman, Lucio; Doleck, Tenzin; Copur-Gencturk, Yasemin; Lucas, Gale
An Immersive Virtual Learning Environment for Worker-Robot Collaboration on Construction Sites Inproceedings
In: 2020 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC), pp. 2400–2411, IEEE, Orlando, FL, USA, 2020, ISBN: 978-1-72819-499-8.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences
@inproceedings{adami_immersive_2020,
title = {An Immersive Virtual Learning Environment for Worker-Robot Collaboration on Construction Sites},
author = {Pooya Adami and Burcin Becerik-Gerber and Lucio Soibelman and Tenzin Doleck and Yasemin Copur-Gencturk and Gale Lucas},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9383944/},
doi = {10.1109/WSC48552.2020.9383944},
isbn = {978-1-72819-499-8},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-12-01},
urldate = {2022-10-24},
booktitle = {2020 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC)},
pages = {2400--2411},
publisher = {IEEE},
address = {Orlando, FL, USA},
keywords = {Learning Sciences},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Nye, Benjamin D.; Davis, Dan M.; Rizvi, Sanad Z.; Carr, Kayla; Swartout, William; Thacker, Raj; Shaw, Kenneth
Feasibility and usability of MentorPal, a framework for rapid development of virtual mentors Journal Article
In: Journal of Research on Technology in Education, pp. 1–23, 2020, ISSN: 1539-1523, 1945-0818.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, Virtual Humans
@article{nye_feasibility_2020,
title = {Feasibility and usability of MentorPal, a framework for rapid development of virtual mentors},
author = {Benjamin D. Nye and Dan M. Davis and Sanad Z. Rizvi and Kayla Carr and William Swartout and Raj Thacker and Kenneth Shaw},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15391523.2020.1771640},
doi = {10.1080/15391523.2020.1771640},
issn = {1539-1523, 1945-0818},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-07-01},
journal = {Journal of Research on Technology in Education},
pages = {1--23},
abstract = {One-on-one mentoring is an effective method to help novices with career development. However, traditional mentoring scales poorly. To address this problem, MentorPal emulates conversations with a panel of virtual mentors based on recordings of real STEM professionals. Students freely ask questions as they might in a career fair, while machine learning algorithms attempt to provide the best answers. MentorPal has developed strategies for the rapid development of new virtual mentors, where training data will be sparse. In a usability study, 31 high school students self-reported a) increased career knowledge and confidence, b) positive ease-of-use, and that c) mentors were helpful (87%) but often did not cover their preferred career (29%). Results demonstrate the feasibility of scalable virtual mentoring, but efficacy studies are needed to evaluate the impact of virtual mentors, particularly for groups with limited STEM opportunities.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, Virtual Humans},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Davis, Dan M; Guizani, Skander; Jaksha, Evan
Establishing Metrics and Creating Standards: Quantifying Efficacy of Battlefield Simulations Journal Article
In: SISO Simulation Innovation Workshop, no. 2020_SIW_52, pp. 11, 2020.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC
@article{davis_establishing_2020,
title = {Establishing Metrics and Creating Standards: Quantifying Efficacy of Battlefield Simulations},
author = {Dan M Davis and Skander Guizani and Evan Jaksha},
url = {https://www.sisostds.org/Default.aspx?tabid=105&EntryId=51197},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-04-01},
journal = {SISO Simulation Innovation Workshop},
number = {2020_SIW_52},
pages = {11},
abstract = {This paper asserts that quantification and verification of Battlefield simulations is necessary to assess, verify, and guide the researchers, military commanders, and users in both the simulations’ development and their implementation. The authors present their observations on previous development activities that were hampered by lack of effective metrics and present their arguments that much of this was driven by a lack of standards. Tracing back using commonly accepted System Engineering practices, they show how lack of such standards makes even to the development of effective metrics problematic. The paper documents the experiences and enumerates the potential pitfalls of these shortcomings. Both the authors' experiences in military service and the technical literature supporting their theses are adduced to support their analysis of the current technical research and development environment. Then the paper evaluates several System Engineering tools to further investigate and establish the ultimate goals of these formalized processes. Using their current project in establishing virtual on-line mentors as an exemplar of the way such tools would be effective, the authors make a case for the needs for metrics standards that both are accepted by consensus and are ultimately directed at providing the warfighter with all of the training possible before putting that warfighters in harm's way and imperiling the missions for which they are putting themselves at risk. Examples of the nature and reaction to simulator training, virtual human interaction, computer agent interfaces and implementation issues are given to further illuminate for the reader the possible extensions of these approaches into the reader's own research as well as calling for a more community-wide recognition of the needs for standards both for implementation and for metrics to assess Battlefield Simulation utility to the warfighter. Future investigations, analysis and action are considered and evaluated},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Davis, Dan M; Rosenberg, Milton; Davis, Mark C
Proactive Natural Language Processing: Addressing Terminology Disparity and Team Coalescence Journal Article
In: SISO Simulation Innovation Workshop, no. 2020_SIW_39, pp. 11, 2020.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC
@article{davis_proactive_2020,
title = {Proactive Natural Language Processing: Addressing Terminology Disparity and Team Coalescence},
author = {Dan M Davis and Milton Rosenberg and Mark C Davis},
url = {https://www.sisostds.org/Default.aspx?tabid=105&EntryId=51197},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-04-01},
journal = {SISO Simulation Innovation Workshop},
number = {2020_SIW_39},
pages = {11},
abstract = {There is a continuing need for battlefield simulations and virtual humans. Most recently, the authors have been focused on the creation of virtual conversation environments to leverage the mentoring skills of selected individuals by creating large libraries of short video clips of advice which are then presented to the user in response to their questions. In these endeavors two issues have arisen; the inconsistency of the definitions used and the need to ameliorate the impacts of short-tour intervals on team formation. This paper will address both of these issues, review existing research, document some early research into these impediments, and discuss the similarities of these issues to those faced by the standards community writ large. They will cite and review the work of Professor Bruce Tuckman: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. The benefits of using virtual humans to enhance these processes are outlined. The need for and design of proactive Natural Language Processing-enabled virtual humans and computer agents is set forth and analyzed. The paper will lay out the research goals, identify the semantic differences, and report on the potential impacts of those differences. In its totality, this paper intends to demonstrate that, in addition to the need to evangelize about the necessity of standards, this community has a lot to contribute to researchers, developers, and implementers faced with destructive differences in terminology, understanding and practice. All of this data and analysis will be presented in a way that should make sure that the insights garnered therefrom are accessible by members of this and other communities and they can be implemented and modified, as is most effective. Future advances now in development are discussed, along with the utility of these new capabilities and approaches.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
2019
Georgila, Kallirroi; Core, Mark G; Nye, Benjamin D; Karumbaiah, Shamya; Auerbach, Daniel; Ram, Maya
Using Reinforcement Learning to Optimize the Policies of an Intelligent Tutoring System for Interpersonal Skills Training Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems, pp. 9, IFAAMAS, Montreal, Canada, 2019.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans
@inproceedings{georgila_using_2019,
title = {Using Reinforcement Learning to Optimize the Policies of an Intelligent Tutoring System for Interpersonal Skills Training},
author = {Kallirroi Georgila and Mark G Core and Benjamin D Nye and Shamya Karumbaiah and Daniel Auerbach and Maya Ram},
url = {http://www.ifaamas.org/Proceedings/aamas2019/pdfs/p737.pdf},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-05-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems},
pages = {9},
publisher = {IFAAMAS},
address = {Montreal, Canada},
abstract = {Reinforcement Learning (RL) has been applied successfully to Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) in a limited set of well-defined domains such as mathematics and physics. This work is unique in using a large state space and for applying RL to tutoring interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills are increasingly recognized as critical to both social and economic development. In particular, this work enhances an ITS designed to teach basic counseling skills that can be applied to challenging issues such as sexual harassment and workplace conflict. An initial data collection was used to train RL policies for the ITS, and an evaluation with human participants compared a hand-crafted ITS which had been used for years with students (control) versus the new ITS guided by RL policies. The RL condition differed from the control condition most notably in the strikingly large quantity of guidance it provided to learners. Both systems were effective and there was an overall significant increase from pre- to post-test scores. Although learning gains did not differ significantly between conditions, learners had a significantly higher self-rating of confidence in the RL condition. Confidence and learning gains were both part of the reward function used to train the RL policies, and it could be the case that there was the most room for improvement in confidence, an important learner emotion. Thus, RL was successful in improving an ITS for teaching interpersonal skills without the need to prune the state space (as previously done).},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Davis, Dan M; Phelps, Christi L; Stassi, Frederica J
Pedagogical Tools to Enhance Analytic Skills: Interactive Virtual Tutorial Environments Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of MODSIM World 2019, pp. 12, Norfolk, VA, 2019.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences
@inproceedings{davis_pedagogical_2019,
title = {Pedagogical Tools to Enhance Analytic Skills: Interactive Virtual Tutorial Environments},
author = {Dan M Davis and Christi L Phelps and Frederica J Stassi},
url = {http://www.modsimworld.org/conference-papers/2019},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-04-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of MODSIM World 2019},
pages = {12},
address = {Norfolk, VA},
abstract = {This paper examines the use of literature studies to enhance communication and critical thinking skills in technical students through the application of emerging Virtual Reality (VR) technologies to enable that pedagogical approach. The current state of analytic skills among students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) tracks are outlined, focusing on the critical years in secondary schools. Their prospective needs as they advance into tertiary education and the needs of the technical community for improvement are presented. The requirements flowing from that analysis will be discussed in the light of programs implemented at the Sato Academy, with reports of both successes and missteps. In some detail, the use of the study of literature is described and discussed. The authors present their case for constructivist and Socratic approaches to fully engage and effectively inculcate communication proficiency, including conformance with standards, e.g. Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). These results are then compared to the demands of college and professional leaders who are currently being burdened with having to provide disruptive remedial efforts. The methods found to be successful are considered, both in terms of their application and their extensibility to other fields. Also highlighted will be areas in which time and personnel constraints hindered achievement. A number of possible responses to these impediments will be presented, evaluating the feasibility of each. The paper will then focus on the advances in virtual humans and conversational avatars. Recent research into using large libraries of video-clips to create engaging on-line virtual tutorial conversations will be presented. Data as to the receptivity of students to conversing with computer-generated interlocutors is presented, along with a discussion as to how this technology is applicable to teaching the analysis of literature. The benefits of and the barriers to virtual tutorial environments are outlined and analyzed.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Davis, Dan M; Young, Nancy L H; Davis, Mark C; Carolina, North
Enhancements for Homeschooling and ADL: Virtual Humans, Technologies and Insights Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of MODSIM World 2019, pp. 12, Norfolk, VA, 2019.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences
@inproceedings{davis_enhancements_2019,
title = {Enhancements for Homeschooling and ADL: Virtual Humans, Technologies and Insights},
author = {Dan M Davis and Nancy L H Young and Mark C Davis and North Carolina},
url = {http://www.modsimworld.org/conference-papers/2019},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-04-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of MODSIM World 2019},
pages = {12},
address = {Norfolk, VA},
abstract = {Homeschooling and DoD Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) have many goals in common, so increasing the collaborative research and collegial information exchange between their respective communities would be mutually advantageous. The emerging capabilities of virtual humans provide a useful prototype of how both homeschooling and ADL can benefit from emerging technological advances. This paper begins with an examination of the home schooling movement in the United States, including a review of its foundations, demographics, results and trends. In examining the goals of homeschooling parents, the four major reasons cited by at least half of those parents are considered and explicated: desire to find environment most compatible to users, provision of ethics foundations, inclusion of accountability instruction and dissatisfaction with other pedagogical approaches. Also meriting review are the hurdles faced by homeschool teachers and students, followed by an item-by-item comparison with analogous challenges for ADL provisioners and learners. A short analysis of the constraints on the two communities focuses on similarities and differences between family limitations and defense organization restrictions. The authors then present data on the current scope, instantiations, and achievements of the two efforts. Many of the technologies currently in use are reviewed and discussed, concentrating on computer-aided education and distributed learning. Emerging technologies based on artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and virtual humans are described and considered. Their uses in various contexts provide sufficient data to quantify the impact on subjects and the authors adduce findings from research to support their thesis that increased use of these technologies would be beneficial both to homeschooled students and to DoD Learners. The paper closes with an evaluation of the arc of current research, the recognition of prenascent capabilities (e.g. quantum computing), the burgeoning needs of both communities, and the need to nurture a synergistic exchange between homeschool advocates and ADL architects.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
2018
Goldberg, Benjamin; Nye, Benjamin; Lane, H Chad; Guadagnoli, Mark
Team Assessment and Pedagogy as Informed by Sports Coaching and Assessment Incollection
In: Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 6-Team Modeling, pp. 105–119, US Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Orlando, Florida, 2018, ISBN: 978-0-9977257-4-2.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: ARL, DoD, Learning Sciences, UARC
@incollection{goldberg_team_2018,
title = {Team Assessment and Pedagogy as Informed by Sports Coaching and Assessment},
author = {Benjamin Goldberg and Benjamin Nye and H Chad Lane and Mark Guadagnoli},
url = {https://gifttutoring.org/attachments/download/3029/Design%20Recommendations%20for%20ITS_Volume%206%20-%20Team%20Tutoring_final.pdf},
isbn = {978-0-9977257-4-2},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-08-01},
booktitle = {Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 6-Team Modeling},
pages = {105--119},
publisher = {US Army Research Laboratory (ARL)},
address = {Orlando, Florida},
abstract = {In this chapter, we consider pedagogical insights offered by three different sources of information from sports coaching and assessment: published reports of sports training, first-hand accounts of team training, and a review of assessment approaches for measuring team performance. These issues are considered in the context of an integrated taxonomy of feedback that considers when feedback was given, who it was given to (e.g., individual vs. team), the type of feedback (e.g., positive vs. negative), and the specificity of feedback (e.g., detailed issues vs. brief note). The goal of this work is to consider how these patterns might generalize to a wider range of learning tasks, to improve both learning and assessment of team performance.},
keywords = {ARL, DoD, Learning Sciences, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
Nye, Benjamin D.; Karumbaiah, Shamya; Tokel, S. Tugba; Core, Mark G.; Stratou, Giota; Auerbach, Daniel; Georgila, Kallirroi
Engaging with the Scenario: Affect and Facial Patterns from a Scenario-Based Intelligent Tutoring System Inproceedings
In: Proceeding of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, pp. 352–366, Springer International Publishing, London, UK, 2018, ISBN: 978-3-319-93842-4 978-3-319-93843-1.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans
@inproceedings{nye_engaging_2018,
title = {Engaging with the Scenario: Affect and Facial Patterns from a Scenario-Based Intelligent Tutoring System},
author = {Benjamin D. Nye and Shamya Karumbaiah and S. Tugba Tokel and Mark G. Core and Giota Stratou and Daniel Auerbach and Kallirroi Georgila},
url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-93843-1_26},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-93843-1_26},
isbn = {978-3-319-93842-4 978-3-319-93843-1},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-06-01},
booktitle = {Proceeding of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education},
volume = {10947},
pages = {352--366},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
address = {London, UK},
abstract = {Facial expression trackers output measures for facial action units (AUs), and are increasingly being used in learning technologies. In this paper, we compile patterns of AUs seen in related work as well as use factor analysis to search for categories implicit in our corpus. Although there was some overlap between the factors in our data and previous work, we also identified factors seen in the broader literature but not previously reported in the context of learning environments. In a correlational analysis, we found evidence for relationships between factors and self-reported traits such as academic effort, study habits, and interest in the subject. In addition, we saw differences in average levels of factors between a video watching activity, and a decision making activity. However, in this analysis, we were not able to isolate any facial expressions having a significant positive or negative relationship with either learning gain, or performance once question difficulty and related factors were also considered. Given the overall low levels of facial affect in the corpus, further research will explore different populations and learning tasks to test the possible hypothesis that learners may have been in a pattern of “Over-Flow” in which they were engaged with the system, but not deeply thinking about the content or their errors.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Hampton, Andrew J.; Nye, Benjamin D.; Pavlik, Philip I.; Swartout, William R.; Graesser, Arthur C.; Gunderson, Joseph
Mitigating Knowledge Decay from Instruction with Voluntary Use of an Adaptive Learning System Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, pp. 119–133, Springer International Publishing, London, UK, 2018, ISBN: 978-3-319-93845-5 978-3-319-93846-2.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans
@inproceedings{hampton_mitigating_2018,
title = {Mitigating Knowledge Decay from Instruction with Voluntary Use of an Adaptive Learning System},
author = {Andrew J. Hampton and Benjamin D. Nye and Philip I. Pavlik and William R. Swartout and Arthur C. Graesser and Joseph Gunderson},
url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-93846-2_23},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-93846-2_23},
isbn = {978-3-319-93845-5 978-3-319-93846-2},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-06-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education},
volume = {10948},
pages = {119--133},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
address = {London, UK},
abstract = {Knowledge decays across breaks in instruction. Learners lack the metacognition to self-assess their knowledge decay and effectively self-direct review, as well as lacking interactive exercises appropriate to their individual knowledge level. Adaptive learning systems offer the potential to mitigate these issues, by providing open learner models to facilitate learner’s understanding of their knowledge levels and by presenting personalized practice exercises. The current study analyzes differences in knowledge decay between learners randomly assigned to an intervention where they could use an adaptive system during a long gap between courses, compared with a control condition. The experimental condition used the Personal Assistant for Life-Long Learning (PAL3), a tablet-based adaptive learning system integrating multiple intelligent tutoring systems and conventional learning resources. It contained electronics content relevant to the experiment participants, Navy sailors who graduated from apprentice electronics courses (A-School) awaiting assignment to their next training (C-School). The study was conducted over one month, collecting performance data with a counterbalanced pre-, mid-, and post-test. The control condition exhibited the expected decay. The PAL3 condition showed a significant difference from the control, with no significant knowledge decay in their overall knowledge, despite substantial variance in usage for PAL3 (e.g., most of overall use in the first week, with fewer participants engaging as time went on). Interestingly, while overall decay was mitigated in PAL3, this result was primarily through gains in some knowledge offsetting losses in other knowledge. Overall, these results indicate that adaptive study tools can help prevent knowledge decay, even with voluntary usage.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
2017
Nye, Benjamin D; Kaimakis, Nicholas J; Krishnamachari, Madhusudhan; Swartout, William; Campbell, Julia; Anderson, Clinton; Davis, Dan M
MentorPal: Interactive Virtual Mentors Based on Real-Life STEM Professionals Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2017, a2z, Inc., Orlando, Florida, 2017.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, MxR, UARC
@inproceedings{nye_mentorpal_2017,
title = {MentorPal: Interactive Virtual Mentors Based on Real-Life STEM Professionals},
author = {Benjamin D Nye and Nicholas J Kaimakis and Madhusudhan Krishnamachari and William Swartout and Julia Campbell and Clinton Anderson and Dan M Davis},
url = {http://www.iitsecdocs.com/search},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-11-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2017},
publisher = {a2z, Inc.},
address = {Orlando, Florida},
abstract = {In an ideal world, all students could meet STEM role models as they explore different careers. However, events such as career fairs do not scale well: professionals have limited time and effective mentors are not readily available in all fields. The result is that students’ understanding is minimal about what professionals in STEM fields do every day, what education is needed, and even what STEM fields exist. Moreover, since in-person interactions rely on finding people engaged in current STEM careers, students may form career goals for stagnant fields rather than growing fields (e.g., projected workforce needs). To address this problem, we are designing a scalable tablet-based app that gives students the opportunity to converse with interactive recordings of real-life STEM professionals. These conversational virtual agents will emulate a question-and-answer session with STEM professionals who have Navy ties and who are engaging, enthusiastic, and effective mentors. These interactions will allow students to have a lifelike informational interview with a virtual agent whose responses are directly drawn from a specific real professional’s video-recorded interview. This work differs from prior research on career guides by capturing the experiences of a collection of unique mentors, which should be more authentic and engaging than a generic agent or resource which speaks only about the average experience. This paper will discuss the process of creating the first such virtual STEM mentor prototype, including the development of an extensive mentoring question bank (approximately 500 questions); key mentoring topics that intersect STEM, DoD, and civilian life; techniques for cost-effective recording of remote mentors; and the process of training and verifying a natural language dialogue model for answering and suggesting career questions. Finally, we conclude with implications, strengths, and drawbacks of virtualizing the experience of talking with specific mentors, from the perspectives of efficacy, scalability, and maintainability.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, MxR, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Nye, Benjamin D.; Mitros, Piotr; Schunn, Christian; Foltz, Peter W.; Gasevic, Dragan; Katz, Irvin R.
Why Assess? The Role of Assessment in Learning Science and Society Incollection
In: Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 5- Assessment, vol. 5, pp. 189–202, US Army Research Laboratory, Orlando, FL, 2017, ISBN: 978-0-9977257-2-8.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC
@incollection{benjamin_d_nye_why_2017,
title = {Why Assess? The Role of Assessment in Learning Science and Society},
author = {Benjamin D. Nye and Piotr Mitros and Christian Schunn and Peter W. Foltz and Dragan Gasevic and Irvin R. Katz},
url = {https://books.google.com/books?id=5tsyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA189&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false},
isbn = {978-0-9977257-2-8},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-08-01},
booktitle = {Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 5- Assessment},
volume = {5},
pages = {189--202},
publisher = {US Army Research Laboratory},
address = {Orlando, FL},
abstract = {Even though assessment often is imperfect, it provides valuable input to the process of teaching, learning, and educational resource design. However, narrow assessment, especially used in high-stakes settings, can lead to worse educational outcomes (e.g., performance in later courses, workplace, or social settings; Hout & Elliott, 2011). Teachers may have a strong incentive to teach to the test, leading to a strong focus on memorization and rote procedural knowledge, while compromising key skills such as empathy, groupwork, mathematical maturity, and analytical reasoning. These are thorny problems – education shapes the skills1 that shape society, so these questions have broad implications. With that said, by constraining the discussion to the kinds of constructs considered when building learning experiences, the goals of assessment become more tractable.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
Fang, Ying; Xu, Yonghong Jade; Nye, Benjamin; Graesser, Arthur; Pavlik, Philip; Hu, Xiangen
Online Learning Persistence and Academic Achievement Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of Educational Data Mining (EDM) 2017, pp. 312 – 317, EDM 2017, Wuhan, China, 2017.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences
@inproceedings{fang_online_2017,
title = {Online Learning Persistence and Academic Achievement},
author = {Ying Fang and Yonghong Jade Xu and Benjamin Nye and Arthur Graesser and Philip Pavlik and Xiangen Hu},
url = {http://educationaldatamining.org/EDM2017/proc_files/papers/paper_114.pdf},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-06-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of Educational Data Mining (EDM) 2017},
pages = {312 -- 317},
publisher = {EDM 2017},
address = {Wuhan, China},
abstract = {Student persistence in online learning environments has typically been studied at the macro-level (e.g., completion of an online course, number of academic terms completed, etc.). The current examines student persistence in an adaptive learning environment, ALEKS (Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces). Specifically, the study explores the relationship between students' academic achievement and their persistence during learning. By using archived data that included their math learning log data and performance on two standardized tests, we first explored student learning behavior patterns with regard to their persistence during learning. Clustering analysis identified three distinctive patterns of persistence-related learning behaviors: (1) High persistence and rare topic shifting; (2) Low persistence and frequent topic shifting; and (3) Moderate persistence and moderate topic shifting. We further explored the association between persistence and academic achievement. No significant differences were observed between academic achievement and the different learning patterns. We interpret this result in addition to a preliminary exploration of topic mastery trends, to suggest that wheel-spinning" behaviors coexist with persistence, and is ultimately not beneficial to learning.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Nye, Benjamin; Karumbaiah, Shamya; Tokel, S. Tugba; Core, Mark G.; Stratou, Giota; Auerbach, Daniel; Georgila, Kallirroi
Analyzing Learner Affect in a Scenario-Based Intelligent Tutoring System Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, pp. 544–547, Springer, Wuhan, China, 2017, ISBN: 978-3-319-61425-0.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans
@inproceedings{nye_analyzing_2017,
title = {Analyzing Learner Affect in a Scenario-Based Intelligent Tutoring System},
author = {Benjamin Nye and Shamya Karumbaiah and S. Tugba Tokel and Mark G. Core and Giota Stratou and Daniel Auerbach and Kallirroi Georgila},
url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-61425-0_60},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61425-0_60},
isbn = {978-3-319-61425-0},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-06-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education},
pages = {544--547},
publisher = {Springer},
address = {Wuhan, China},
abstract = {Scenario-based tutoring systems influence affective states due to two distinct mechanisms during learning: 1) reactions to performance feedback and 2) responses to the scenario context or events. To explore the role of affect and engagement, a scenario-based ITS was instrumented to support unobtrusive facial affect detection. Results from a sample of university students showed relatively few traditional academic affective states such as confusion or frustration, even at decision points and after poor performance (e.g., incorrect responses). This may show evidence of över-flow," with a high level of engagement and interest but insufficient confusion/disequilibrium for optimal learning.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Nye, Benjamin D.; Auerbach, Daniel; Mehta, Tirth R.; Hartholt, Arno
Building a Backbone for Multi-Agent Tutoring in GIFT (Work in Progress) Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of the GIFTSym5, pp. 23–35, ARL, Orlando, Florida, 2017.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans
@inproceedings{nye_building_2017,
title = {Building a Backbone for Multi-Agent Tutoring in GIFT (Work in Progress)},
author = {Benjamin D. Nye and Daniel Auerbach and Tirth R. Mehta and Arno Hartholt},
url = {https://books.google.com/books?id=PwMtDwAAQBAJ&printsec=copyright&source=gbs_pub_info_r#v=onepage&q&f=false},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-05-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the GIFTSym5},
pages = {23--35},
publisher = {ARL},
address = {Orlando, Florida},
abstract = {As intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) increasingly need to interoperate and co-exist, emerging systems have transitioned toward service-oriented designs to enable modularity and composability of tutoring components made and/or maintained by different research and development groups. However, as a research community, we have still not reached a point where it is trivial for a new service to be added into a system like the Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT; Sottilare, Goldberg, Brawner, & Holden, 2012). In an early paper considering this issue with respect to the GIFT architecture (Nye & Morrison, 2013), we proposed addressing this issue by building toward a lightweight multi-agent archi-tecture where certain services act as autonomous agents: “a system situated within and a part of an environment that senses that environment and acts on it, over time, in pursuit of its own agenda and so as to affect what it senses in the future” (Franklin & Graesser, 1997; p. 25). In our work in progress described here, we discuss how we are approaching the opportunity to build such capabilities into GIFT. The high level goals of our work are targeting two core goals for GIFT: A) to be a lightweight framework that will expand access to and use of ITS and B) to help GIFT to increase the intelligence and effectiveness of its services based on data over time. We are currently targeting the first goal, which will underpin the second goal. However, what does it mean to be a lightweight framework? In this context, a “lightweight framework” is framed as minimizing the following criteria: (1) hardware requirements, (2) software expertise to design services, (3) software expertise to use existing services, (4) software expertise to stand up the message-passing layer between agents, and (5) a minimal working message ontology (Nye & Morrison, 2013). Since our original paper four years ago, GIFT has made significant strides in reducing barriers related to hardware by building a cloud-based version and software expertise to use GIFT services through authoring tools. It has also developed a growing ontology of messages (e.g., https://gifttutoring.org/projects/gift/wiki/Interface_Control_Document_2016-1). With that said, despite now-extensive documentation, designing new services for GIFT is still not trivial and strong expertise is required to pass messages between GIFT modules and agents (either internal or external). To address these issues, the Building a Backbone project is working toward agent-oriented designs that build on GIFT's existing service-oriented framework. By moving from services toward agents, modules will be able to act more autonomously, enabling capabilities such as plug-and-play, hotswapping, and selecting between multiple services providing the same capabilities. These new capabilities are intended to reduce barriers to building new GIFT-compatible services and also to integrating GIFT with other service-oriented ecosystems. The first steps toward these capabilities are an ontology mapping service and an initial integration that combines GIFT, the Virtual Human Toolkit core framework for agents, and the SuperGLU framework for adding agent-oriented capabilities for coordinating services. This paper reports on work to date, with an emphasis on target capabilities, design decisions, challenges, and open research questions for this work.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
2016
Core, Mark G.; Georgila, Kallirroi; Nye, Benjamin D.; Auerbach, Daniel; Liu, Zhi Fei; DiNinni, Richard
Learning, Adaptive Support, Student Traits, and Engagement in Scenario-Based Learning Inproceedings
In: Proceedings from the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2016, National Training and Simulation Association, Orlando, FL, 2016.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans
@inproceedings{core_learning_2016,
title = {Learning, Adaptive Support, Student Traits, and Engagement in Scenario-Based Learning},
author = {Mark G. Core and Kallirroi Georgila and Benjamin D. Nye and Daniel Auerbach and Zhi Fei Liu and Richard DiNinni},
url = {http://www.iitsecdocs.com/search},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-11-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings from the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2016},
publisher = {National Training and Simulation Association},
address = {Orlando, FL},
abstract = {Scenario-based training systems pose an especially difficult challenge for an intelligent tutoring system (ITS). In addition to the basic problems of deciding when to intervene and what guidance to provide, the ITS must decide whether to give guidance directly (e.g., a hint message), indirectly through positive/negative results in the scenario, or to delay guidance until a post-scenario review session. There are a number of factors that an adaptive ITS should consider and we use self-report survey instruments to investigate the relationship between traits, learning strategies, expectations, learner behaviors derived from log files, post-use perceptions of the system, and pre-test and post-test results. We use the ELITE Lite Counseling training system as a testbed for our experiments. This system uses virtual role players to allow learners to practice leadership counseling skills, and is in use at the United States Military Academy (USMA). This paper analyzes two data sets. We collected data from local university students, a non-military population of roughly the same age as USMA Cadets using the system. For these local participants, we could administer surveys and pre-tests and post-tests, and collect log files recording clicks made while using ELITE Lite. The second data set comes from USMA itself but is limited to log files. In both populations, the ITS’s hints are effective at boosting scenario performance, and for the university students, the overall experience promoted learning, and survey results suggest that higher levels of organization in study habits may lead to greater learning with ELITE Lite. For the USMA Cadets, ELITE Lite is part of their Military Leadership course rather than an experiment, which could explain why we found higher scenario performance on average than the non-military population, and more use of the post-scenario review feature.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
McAlinden, Ryan; Kang, Sin-Hwa; Nye, Benjamin; Phillips, Artemisa; Campbell, Julia; Goldberg, Stephan L.
Cost-Effective Strategies for Producing Engaging Online Courseware Inproceedings
In: Proceedings from the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2016, National Training and Simulation Association, Orlando, FL, 2016.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: ARL, DoD, Learning Sciences, MedVR, MxR, STG, UARC
@inproceedings{mcalinden_cost-effective_2016,
title = {Cost-Effective Strategies for Producing Engaging Online Courseware},
author = {Ryan McAlinden and Sin-Hwa Kang and Benjamin Nye and Artemisa Phillips and Julia Campbell and Stephan L. Goldberg},
url = {http://www.iitsecdocs.com/search},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-11-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings from the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2016},
publisher = {National Training and Simulation Association},
address = {Orlando, FL},
abstract = {As distributed learning (dL) and computer-based training (CBT) continue to proliferate, the methods of delivery often remain unengaging and bland for participants. Though many of the leaders in commercial online learning have improved their delivery style and quality in recent years, they continue to fall short in terms of user engagement and satisfaction. PowerPoint regurgitation and video lectures are commonplace and leave end users uninspired and wanting more. This paper discusses results from an ongoing research project, Captivating Virtual Instruction for Training (CVIT), which is aimed at understanding and improving dL through a series of recommendations and best practices for promoting and enhancing student engagement online. Though the central focus is on engagement, and how that translates to learning potential, a third variable (cost) has been examined to understand the financial and resource impacts on making content more interesting (i.e. the return on investment, or ROI). The paper presents findings from a 3-year long experiment comparing existing dL methods and techniques both within and outside of the Army. The project developed two dL versions of an existing Army course (Advanced Situational Awareness-Basic (ASA-B)) – the first was designed around producing material that was as engaging and as immersive as possible within a target budget; the second was a scaled-down version using more traditional, yet contemporary dL techniques (PowerPoint recital, video lectures). The two were then compared along three dimensions– engagement, learning and cost. The findings show that improved engagement in distributed courseware is possible without breaking the bank, though the returns on learning with these progressive approaches remain inconclusive. More importantly, it was determined that the quality and experience of the designers, production staff, writers, animators, programmers, and others cannot be underestimated, and that the familiar phrase – ‘you get what you pay for’ is as true with online learning as it is with other areas of content design and software development.},
keywords = {ARL, DoD, Learning Sciences, MedVR, MxR, STG, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Sottilare, Robert A.; Graesser, Arthur C.; Hu, Xiangen; Olney, Andrew; Nye, Benjamin; Sinatra, Anna M.
Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 4-Domain Modeling Book
US Army Research Laboratory, Orlando, FL, 2016.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: ARL, DoD, Learning Sciences, UARC
@book{sottilare_design_2016,
title = {Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 4-Domain Modeling},
author = {Robert A. Sottilare and Arthur C. Graesser and Xiangen Hu and Andrew Olney and Benjamin Nye and Anna M. Sinatra},
url = {http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=0suvDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=%22Barnes,+Behrooz+Mostafavi,+and+Michael+J.%22+%22A.+Sottilare+and+Joseph%22+%2214+%E2%80%93+Exploring+the+Diversity+of+Domain+Modeling+for+Training%22+%2213+%E2%80%92+Mining+Expertise:+Learning+New+Tricks+from+an+Old%22+&ots=6MJgp2XEWV&sig=7CHZvZIllN3Xk8uFbMHmxN7gfLw},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-07-01},
volume = {4},
publisher = {US Army Research Laboratory},
address = {Orlando, FL},
abstract = {Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) explores the impact of intelligent tutoring system design on education and training. Specifically, this volume examines “Authoring Tools and Expert Modeling Techniques”. The “Design Recommendations book series examines tools and methods to reduce the time and skill required to develop Intelligent Tutoring Systems with the goal of improving the Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT). GIFT is a modular, service-oriented architecture developed to capture simplified authoring techniques, promote reuse and standardization of ITSs along with automated instructional techniques and effectiveness evaluation capabilities for adaptive tutoring tools and methods.},
keywords = {ARL, DoD, Learning Sciences, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {book}
}
Nye, Benjamin D.; Boyce, Michael W.; Sottilare, Robert
Defining the Ill-Defined: From Abstract Principles to Applied Pedagogy Incollection
In: Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 4-Domain Modeling, vol. 4, pp. 19–37, US Army Research Laboratory, Orlando, FL, 2016, ISBN: 978-0-9893923-9-6.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: ARL, DoD, Learning Sciences, UARC
@incollection{nye_defining_2016,
title = {Defining the Ill-Defined: From Abstract Principles to Applied Pedagogy},
author = {Benjamin D. Nye and Michael W. Boyce and Robert Sottilare},
url = {https://gifttutoring.org/attachments/download/1736/Design%20Recommendations%20for%20ITS_Volume%204%20-%20Domain%20Modeling%20Book_web%20version_final.pdf},
isbn = {978-0-9893923-9-6},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-07-01},
booktitle = {Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 4-Domain Modeling},
volume = {4},
pages = {19--37},
publisher = {US Army Research Laboratory},
address = {Orlando, FL},
abstract = {Attempts to define ill-defined domains in intelligent tutoring system (ITS) research has been approached a number of times (Fournier-Viger, Nkambou, & Nguifo, 2010; Lynch, Ashley, Pinkwart, & Aleven, 2009; Mitrovic & Weerasinghe, 2009; Jacovina, Snow, Dai, & McNamara, 2015; Woods, Stensrud, Wray, Haley, & Jones, 2015). Related research has tried to determine levels of ill-definedness for a domain (Le, Loll, & Pinkwart, 2013). Despite such attempts, the field has not yet converged on common guidelines to distinguish between well-defined versus ill-defined domains. We argue that such guidelines struggle to converge because a domain is too large to meaningfully categorize: every domain contains a mixture of well-defined and ill-defined tasks. While the co-existence of well-defined and ill-defined tasks in a single domain is nearly universally-agreed upon by researchers; this key point is often quickly buried by an extensive discussion about what makes certain domain tasks ill-defined (e.g., disagreement about ideal solutions, multiple solution paths). In this chapter, we first take a step back to consider what is meant by a domain in the context of learning. Next, based on this definition for a domain, we map out the components that are in a learning domain, since each component may have ill-defined parts. This leads into a discussion about the strategies that have been used to make ill-defined domains tractable for certain types of pedagogy. Examples of ITS research that applies these strategies are noted. Finally, we conclude with practical how-to considerations and open research questions for approaching ill-defined domains. This chapter should be considered a companion piece to our chapter in the prior volume of this series (Nye, Goldberg, & Hu, 2015). This chapter focuses on how to understand and transform ill-defined parts of domains, while the prior chapter discusses commonly-used learning tasks and authoring approaches for both well-defined and ill-defined tasks. As such, this chapter is intended to help the learner understand if and how different parts of the domain are ill-defined (and what to do about them). The companion piece in the authoring tools volume discusses different categories of well and ill-defined tasks, from the standpoint of attempting to author and maintain an ITS.},
keywords = {ARL, DoD, Learning Sciences, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
Nye, Benjamin D.; Hu, Xiangen
Conceptualizing and Representing Domains to Guide Tutoring Incollection
In: Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 4-Domain Modeling, vol. 4, pp. 15–18, US Army Research Laboratory, Orlando, FL, 2016.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC
@incollection{nye_conceptualizing_2016,
title = {Conceptualizing and Representing Domains to Guide Tutoring},
author = {Benjamin D. Nye and Xiangen Hu},
url = {http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=0suvDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA15&dq=%22data.+This+chapter+presents+an+excellent+overview+of+current+research+on+Q-matrices%22+%22edge+work+on+ensemble+methods+that+achieve+state+of+the+art+performance+by+combining%22+&ots=6MJhm1XHVV&sig=i14eJyin69Cy-jms2lWIFF4K3CU},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-07-01},
booktitle = {Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 4-Domain Modeling},
volume = {4},
pages = {15--18},
publisher = {US Army Research Laboratory},
address = {Orlando, FL},
abstract = {Any discussion about how intelligent tutoring system (ITS) domains must begin with considering how ITS conceptualize and represent domains. This process requires building formal, mathematically-specifiable operationalization of the often implicit knowledge about learning domains and their pedagogy. Across different domains and pedagogical approaches, a wide variety of methods have been taken: a scope that would be better-covered by an encyclopedia rather than a single book. Since this section could not possibly cover every possible approach to domain modeling, the chapters within this section were instead chosen to cover a representative range of fundamentally-different approaches to domain modeling.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
Nye, Benjamin D.
ITS, The End of the World as We Know It: Transitioning AIED into a Service-Oriented Ecosystem Journal Article
In: International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 756–770, 2016, ISSN: 1560-4292, 1560-4306.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC
@article{nye_its_2016,
title = {ITS, The End of the World as We Know It: Transitioning AIED into a Service-Oriented Ecosystem},
author = {Benjamin D. Nye},
url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40593-016-0098-8},
doi = {10.1007/s40593-016-0098-8},
issn = {1560-4292, 1560-4306},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-06-01},
journal = {International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education},
volume = {26},
number = {2},
pages = {756--770},
abstract = {Advanced learning technologies are reaching a new phase of their evolution where they are finally entering mainstream educational contexts, with persistent user bases. However, as AIED scales, it will need to follow recent trends in service-oriented and ubiquitous computing: breaking AIED platforms into distinct services that can be composed for different platforms (web, mobile, etc.) and distributed across multiple systems. This will represent a move from learning platforms to an ecosystem of interacting learning tools. Such tools will enable new opportunities for both user-adaptation and experimentation. Traditional macro-adaptation (problem selection) and step-based adaptation (hints and feedback) will be extended by meta-adaptation (adaptive system selection) and micro-adaptation (event-level optimization). The existence of persistent and widely-used systems will also support new paradigms for experimentation in education, allowing researchers to understand interactions and boundary conditions for learning principles. New central research questions for the field will also need to be answered due to these changes in the AIED landscape.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Swartout, William; Nye, Benjamin D.; Hartholt, Arno; Reilly, Adam; Graesser, Arthur C.; VanLehn, Kurt; Wetzel, Jon; Liewer, Matt; Morbini, Fabrizio; Morgan, Brent; Wang, Lijia; Benn, Grace; Rosenberg, Milton
Designing a Personal Assistant for Life-Long Learning (PAL3) Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of The Twenty-Ninth International Flairs Conference, pp. 491–496, AAAI Press, Key Largo, FL, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-57735-756-8.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans
@inproceedings{swartout_designing_2016,
title = {Designing a Personal Assistant for Life-Long Learning (PAL3)},
author = {William Swartout and Benjamin D. Nye and Arno Hartholt and Adam Reilly and Arthur C. Graesser and Kurt VanLehn and Jon Wetzel and Matt Liewer and Fabrizio Morbini and Brent Morgan and Lijia Wang and Grace Benn and Milton Rosenberg},
url = {http://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/FLAIRS/FLAIRS16/paper/view/12793},
isbn = {978-1-57735-756-8},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-05-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of The Twenty-Ninth International Flairs Conference},
pages = {491--496},
publisher = {AAAI Press},
address = {Key Largo, FL},
abstract = {Learners’ skills decay during gaps in instruction, since they lack the structure and motivation to continue studying. To meet this challenge, the PAL3 system was designed to accompany a learner throughout their career and mentor them to build and maintain skills through: 1) the use of an embodied pedagogical agent (Pal), 2) a persistent learning record that drives a student model which estimates forgetting, 3) an adaptive recommendation engine linking to both intelligent tutors and traditional learning resources, and 4) game-like mechanisms to promote engagement (e.g., leaderboards, effort-based point rewards, unlocking customizations). The design process for PAL3 is discussed, from the perspective of insights and revisions based on a series of formative feedback and evaluation sessions.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Graesser, Arthur C; Hu, Xiangen; Nye, Benjamin D.; Sottilare, Robert A.
Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Serious Games, and the Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT) Incollection
In: Using Games and Simulations for Teaching and Assessment, pp. 58–79, Routledge, New York, NY, 2016, ISBN: 978-0-415-73787-6.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: ARL, DoD, Learning Sciences, UARC
@incollection{graesser_intelligent_2016,
title = {Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Serious Games, and the Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT)},
author = {Arthur C Graesser and Xiangen Hu and Benjamin D. Nye and Robert A. Sottilare},
url = {https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304013322_Intelligent_Tutoring_Systems_Serious_Games_and_the_Generalized_Intelligent_Framework_for_Tutoring_GIFT},
isbn = {978-0-415-73787-6},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
booktitle = {Using Games and Simulations for Teaching and Assessment},
pages = {58--79},
publisher = {Routledge},
address = {New York, NY},
abstract = {This chapter explores the prospects of integrating games with intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs). The hope is that there can be learning environments that optimize both motivation through games and deep learning through ITS technologies. Deep learning refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, strategies, and reasoning processes at the higher levels of Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy or the Knowledge-Learning-Instruction (KLI) framework (Koedinger, Corbett, & Perfetti, 2012), such as the application of knowledge to new cases, knowledge analysis and synthesis, problem solving, critical thinking, and other difficult cognitive processes. In contrast, shallow learning involves perceptual learning, memorization of explicit material, and mastery of simple rigid procedures. Shallow knowledge may be adequate for near transfer tests of knowledge/skills but not far transfer tests to new situations that have some modicum of complexity.},
keywords = {ARL, DoD, Learning Sciences, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
2015
Lane, H. Chad; Core, Mark G.; Goldberg, Benjamin S.
Lowering the Technical Skill Requirements for Building Intelligent Tutors: A Review of Authoring Tools Incollection
In: Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems, vol. 3, pp. 303 – 318, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, 2015.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: ARL, DoD, Learning Sciences, UARC
@incollection{lane_lowering_2015,
title = {Lowering the Technical Skill Requirements for Building Intelligent Tutors: A Review of Authoring Tools},
author = {H. Chad Lane and Mark G. Core and Benjamin S. Goldberg},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Lowering%20the%20Technical%20Skill%20Requirements%20for%20Building%20Intelligent%20Tutors-A%20Review%20of%20Authoring%20Tools.pdf},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-06-01},
booktitle = {Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems},
volume = {3},
pages = {303 -- 318},
publisher = {U.S. Army Research Laboratory},
abstract = {In this chapter, we focus on intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs), an instance of educational technology that is often criticized for not reaching its full potential (Nye, 2013). Researchers have debated why, given such strong empirical evidence in their favor (Anderson, Corbett, Koedinger & Pelletier, 1995; D’Mello & Graesser, 2012; VanLehn et al., 2005; Woolf, 2009), intelligent tutors are not in every classroom, on every device, providing educators with fine-grained assessment information about their students. Although many factors contribute to a lack of adoption (Nye, 2014), one widely agreed upon reason behind slow adoption and poor scalability of ITSs is that the engineering demands are simply too great. This is no surprise given that the effectiveness of ITSs is often attributable to the use of rich knowledge representations and cognitively plausible models of domain knowledge (Mark & Greer, 1995; Valerie J. Shute & Psotka, 1996; VanLehn, 2006; Woolf, 2009), which are inherently burdensome to build. To put it another way: the features that tend to make ITSs effective are also the hardest to build. The heavy reliance on cognitive scientists and artificial intelligence (AI) software engineers seems to be a bottleneck.},
keywords = {ARL, DoD, Learning Sciences, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
Lane, H. Chad; Core, Mark G.; Hays, Matthew J.; Auerbach, Daniel; Rosenberg, Milton
Situated Pedagogical Authoring: Authoring Intelligent Tutors from a Student’s Perspective Inproceedings
In: Artificial Intelligence in Education, pp. 195–204, Springer International Publishing, Madrid, Spain, 2015, ISBN: 978-3-319-19772-2 978-3-319-19773-9.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC
@inproceedings{chad_lane_situated_2015,
title = {Situated Pedagogical Authoring: Authoring Intelligent Tutors from a Student’s Perspective},
author = {H. Chad Lane and Mark G. Core and Matthew J. Hays and Daniel Auerbach and Milton Rosenberg},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Situated%20Pedagogical%20Authoring-Authoring%20Intelligent.pdf},
isbn = {978-3-319-19772-2 978-3-319-19773-9},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-06-01},
booktitle = {Artificial Intelligence in Education},
volume = {9112},
pages = {195--204},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
address = {Madrid, Spain},
abstract = {We describe the Situated Pedagogical Authoring (SitPed) system that seeks to allow non-technical authors to create ITS content for soft-skills training, such as counseling skills. SitPed is built on the assertion that authoring tools should use the learner’s perspective to the greatest extent possible. SitPed provides tools for creating tasks lists, authoring assessment knowledge, and creating tutor messages. We present preliminary findings of a two-phase study comparing authoring in SitPed to an ablated version of the same system and a spreadsheet-based control. Findings suggest modest advantages for SitPed in terms of the quality of the authored content and student learning.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Nye, Benjamin D.; Morrison, Donald M.; Samei, Borhan
Automated Session-Quality Assessment for Human Tutoring Based on Expert Ratings of Tutoring Success Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of Educational Data Mining (EDM) 2015, pp. 195–202, Springer, Madrid, Spain, 2015.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences
@inproceedings{nye_automated_2015,
title = {Automated Session-Quality Assessment for Human Tutoring Based on Expert Ratings of Tutoring Success},
author = {Benjamin D. Nye and Donald M. Morrison and Borhan Samei},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Automated%20Session-Quality%20Assessment%20for%20Human%20Tutoring%20Based%20on%20Expert%20Ratings%20of%20Tutoring%20Success.pdf},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-06-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of Educational Data Mining (EDM) 2015},
pages = {195--202},
publisher = {Springer},
address = {Madrid, Spain},
abstract = {Archived transcripts from tens of millions of online human tutoring sessions potentially contain important knowledge about how online tutors help, or fail to help, students learn. However, without ways of automatically analyzing these large corpora, any knowledge in this data will remain buried. One way to approach this issue is to train an estimator for the learning e⬚ectiveness of an online tutoring interaction. While significant work has been done on automated assessment of student responses and artifacts (e.g., essays), automated assessment has not traditionally automated assessments of human-to-human tutoring sessions. In this work, we trained a model for estimating tutoring session quality based on a corpus of 1438 online tutoring sessions rated by expert tutors. Each session was rated for evidence of learning (outcomes) and educational soundness (process). Session features for this model included dialog act classifcations, mode classifcations (e.g., Scaffolding), statistically distinctive subsequences of such classifcations, dialog initiative (e.g., statements by tutor vs. student), and session length. The model correlated more highly with evidence of learning than educational soundness ratings, in part due to the greater difficulty of classifying tutoring modes. This model was then applied to a corpus of 242k online tutoring sessions, to examine the relationships between automated assessments and other available metadata (e.g., the tutor's self-assessment). On this large corpus, the automated assessments followed similar patterns as the expert rater's assessments, but with lower overall correlation strength. Based on the analyses presented, the assessment model for online tutoring sessions emulates the ratings of expert human tutors for session quality ratings with a reasonable degree of accuracy.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Nye, Benjamin D.; Goldberg, Ben; Hu, Xiangen
Generalizing the Genres for ITS: Authoring Considerations for Representative Learning Tasks Incollection
In: Sottilare, Robert A.; Graesser, Arthur C.; Hu, Xiangen; Brawner, Keith (Ed.): Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 2: Authoring Tools and Expert Modeling Techniques, vol. 3, pp. 47–63, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, 2015, ISBN: 978-0-9893923-7-2.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: ARL, DoD, Learning Sciences
@incollection{nye_generalizing_2015,
title = {Generalizing the Genres for ITS: Authoring Considerations for Representative Learning Tasks},
author = {Benjamin D. Nye and Ben Goldberg and Xiangen Hu},
editor = {Robert A. Sottilare and Arthur C. Graesser and Xiangen Hu and Keith Brawner},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Generalizing%20the%20Genres%20for%20ITS%20-%20Authoring%20Considerations%20for%20Representative%20Learning%20Tasks.pdf},
isbn = {978-0-9893923-7-2},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-06-01},
booktitle = {Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 2: Authoring Tools and Expert Modeling Techniques},
volume = {3},
pages = {47--63},
publisher = {U.S. Army Research Laboratory},
abstract = {Compared to many other learning technologies, intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) have a distinct challenge: authoring an adaptive inner loop that provides pedagogical support on one or more learning tasks. This coupling of tutoring behavior to student interaction with a learning task means that authoring tools need to reflect both the learning task and the ITS pedagogy. To explore this issue, common learning activities in intelligent tutoring need to be categorized and analyzed for the information that is required to tutor each task. The types of learning activities considered cover a large range: step-by-step problem solving, bug repair, building generative functions (e.g., computer code), structured argumentation, self-reflection, short question answering, essay writing, classification, semantic matching, representation mapping (e.g., graph to equation), concept map revision, choice scenarios, simulated process scenarios, motor skills practice, collaborative discussion, collaborative design, and team coordination tasks. These different tasks imply a need for different authoring tools and processes used to create tutoring systems for each task. In this chapter, we consider three facets of authoring: 1) the minimum information required to create the task, 2) the minimum information needed to implement common pedagogical strategies, 3) the expertise required for each type of information. The goal of this analysis is to present a roadmap of effective practices in authoring tool interfaces for each tutoring task considered. A long-term vision for ITSs is to have generalizable authoring tools, which could be used to rapidly create content for a variety of ITSs. However, it is as-yet unclear if this goal is even attainable. Authoring tools have a number of serious challenges, from the standpoint of generalizability. These challenges include the domain, the data format, and the author. First, different ITS domains require different sets of authoring tools, because they have different learning tasks. Tools that are convenient for embedding tutoring in a 3D virtual world are completely different than ones that make it convenient to add tutoring to a system for practicing essay-writing, for example. Second, the data produced by an authoring tool needs to be consumed by an ITS that will make pedagogical decisions. As such, at least some of the data is specific to the pedagogy of the ITS, rather than directly reflecting domain content. As a simple example, if an ITS uses text hints, those hints need to be authored, but some systems may just highlight errors rather than providing text hints. As such, the first system actually needs more content authored and represented as data. With that said, typical ITSs use a relatively small and uniform set of authored content to interact with learners, such as correctness feedback, corrections, and hints (VanLehn, 2006). Third, different authors may need different tools (Nye, Rahman, Yang, Hays, Cai, Graesser, & Hu, 2014). This means that even the same content may need distinct authoring tools that match the expertise of different authors. In this chapter, we are focusing primarily on the first challenge: differences in domains. In particular, our stance is that the “content domain” is too coarse-grained to allow much reuse between authoring tools. This is because, to a significant extent, content domains are simply names for related content. However, the skills and pedagogy for the same domain can vary drastically across different topics and expertise levels. For example, Algebra and Geometry are both high-school level math domains. However, in geometry, graphical depictions (e.g., shapes, angles) are a central aspect of the pedagogy, while Algebra tends to use graphics very differently (e.g., coordinate plots). As such, some learning tasks tend to be shared between those subdomains (e.g., equation-solving) and other tasks are not (e.g., classifying shapes). This raises the central point of our paper: the learning tasks for a domain define how we author content for that domain. For example, while Algebra does not involve recognizing many shapes, understanding the elements of architecture involves recognizing a variety of basic and advanced shapes and forms. In total, this means that no single whole-cloth authoring tool will work well for any pair of Algebra, Geometry, and Architectural Forms. However, it also implies that a reasonable number of task-specific tools for each learning task might allow authoring for all three domains. To do this, we need to understand the common learning tasks for domains taught using ITS, and why those tasks are applied to those domains. In the following sections, we identify and categorize common learning tasks for different ITS domains. Then, we extract common principles for those learning tasks. Finally, we suggest a set of general learning activities that might be used to tutor a large number of domains.},
keywords = {ARL, DoD, Learning Sciences},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
Nye, Benjamin D.; Hu, Xiangen
A Historical Perspective on Authoring and ITS: Reviewing Some Lessons Learned Incollection
In: Sottilare, Robert A.; Graesser, Arthur C.; Hu, Xiangen; Brawner, Keith (Ed.): Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 2: Authoring Tools and Expert Modeling Techniques, pp. 67–70, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, 2015, ISBN: 978-0-9893923-7-2.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences
@incollection{nye_historical_2015,
title = {A Historical Perspective on Authoring and ITS: Reviewing Some Lessons Learned},
author = {Benjamin D. Nye and Xiangen Hu},
editor = {Robert A. Sottilare and Arthur C. Graesser and Xiangen Hu and Keith Brawner},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/A%20Historical%20Perspective%20on%20Authoring%20and%20ITS%20-%20Reviewing%20Some%20Lessons%20Learned.pdf},
isbn = {978-0-9893923-7-2},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-06-01},
booktitle = {Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 2: Authoring Tools and Expert Modeling Techniques},
pages = {67--70},
publisher = {U.S. Army Research Laboratory},
abstract = {This section discusses the practices and lessons learned from authoring tools that have been applied and revised through repeated use by researchers, content authors, and/or instructors. All of the tools noted in this section represent relatively mature applications that can be used to build and configure educationally-effective content. Each tool has been tailored to address both the tutoring content and the expected authors who will be using the tool. As such, even tools which support similar tutoring strategies may use very different interfaces to represent equivalent domain knowledge. In some cases, authoring tools even represent offshoots where different authoring goals led to divergent evolution of both the authoring tools and the intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) from a common lineage. Understanding how these systems adapted their tools to their particular authoring challenges gives concrete examples of the tradeoffs involved for different types of authoring. By reviewing the successes and challenges of the past, these chapters provide lessons learned for the development of future systems.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
2014
Blumberg, Fran C.; Burke, Lauren C.; Hodent, Celia; Evans, Michael A.; Lane, H. Chad; Schell, Jesse
Serious Games for Health: Features, Challenges, Next Steps Journal Article
In: Games for Health Journal, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 270–276, 2014, ISSN: 2161-783X, 2161-7856.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences
@article{blumberg_serious_2014,
title = {Serious Games for Health: Features, Challenges, Next Steps},
author = {Fran C. Blumberg and Lauren C. Burke and Celia Hodent and Michael A. Evans and H. Chad Lane and Jesse Schell},
url = {http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/g4h.2014.0079},
doi = {10.1089/g4h.2014.0079},
issn = {2161-783X, 2161-7856},
year = {2014},
date = {2014-10-01},
journal = {Games for Health Journal},
volume = {3},
number = {5},
pages = {270--276},
abstract = {As articles in this journal have demonstrated over the past 3 years, serious game development continues to flourish as a vehicle for formal and informal health education. How best to characterize a “serious” game remains somewhat elusive in the literature. Many researchers and practitioners view serious games as capitalizing on computer technology and state-of-the-art video graphics as an enjoyable means by which to provide and promote instruction and training, or to facilitate attitude change among its players. We invited four distinguished researchers and practitioners to further discuss with us how they view the characteristics of serious games for health, how those characteristics differ from those for academic purposes, the challenges posed for serious game development among players of different ages, and next steps for the development and empirical examination of the effectiveness of serious games for players' psychological and physical well-being.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Gordon, Andrew; Core, Mark; Kang, Sin-Hwa; Wang, Catherine; Wienberg, Christopher
Civilian Analogs of Army Tasks: Supporting Pedagogical Storytelling Across Domains Journal Article
In: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of the Learning Sciences, 2014.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, MedVR, The Narrative Group, UARC
@article{gordon_civilian_2014,
title = {Civilian Analogs of Army Tasks: Supporting Pedagogical Storytelling Across Domains},
author = {Andrew Gordon and Mark Core and Sin-Hwa Kang and Catherine Wang and Christopher Wienberg},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Civilian%20Analogs%20of%20Army%20Tasks%20-%20Supporting%20Pedagogical%20Storytelling%20Across%20Domains.pdf},
year = {2014},
date = {2014-06-01},
journal = {Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of the Learning Sciences},
abstract = {Storytelling is the most basic means by which people learn from the experiences of others. Advances in educational technologies offer new opportunities and experiences for learners, but risk losing the natural forms of pedagogical storytelling afforded by face-to-face teacher-student discussion. In this paper, we present a technology-supported solution to the problem of curating and algorithmically delivering relevant stories to learners in computer-based learning environments. Our approach is to mine public weblogs for textual narratives related to specific activity contexts, both inside and outside the domain of the target skillset. These stories are then linked directly to task representations in the learner model of an intelligent tutoring system, and delivered to learners along with other tutoring guidance. We demonstrate our approach to curating stories by creating collections of narratives that are analogous to tactical tasks of the U.S. Army, and evaluate the difficulty of incorporating these stories into intelligent tutoring systems.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, MedVR, The Narrative Group, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Core, Mark; Lane, H. Chad; Traum, David
Intelligent Tutoring Support for Learners Interacting with Virtual Humans Incollection
In: Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems, vol. 2, pp. 249 – 257, 2014, ISBN: 978-0-9893923-2-7.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC
@incollection{core_intelligent_2014,
title = {Intelligent Tutoring Support for Learners Interacting with Virtual Humans},
author = {Mark Core and H. Chad Lane and David Traum},
url = {http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BNWEBAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR2&dq=+Design+Recommendations+for+Intelligent+Tutoring+Systems,+volume+2&ots=jIk3zyGi4M&sig=qb_hc4KKE3-rMh2mrs8WkxBicG4#v=onepage&q&f=false},
isbn = {978-0-9893923-2-7},
year = {2014},
date = {2014-06-01},
booktitle = {Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems},
volume = {2},
pages = {249 -- 257},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
Hill, Randall W.
Virtual Reality and Leadership Development Incollection
In: Using Experience to Develop Leadership Talent: How Organizations Leverage On-The-Job Development, pp. 286–312, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2014, ISBN: 978-1-118-76783-2.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, Social Simulation, UARC, Virtual Humans, Virtual Worlds
@incollection{hill_virtual_2014,
title = {Virtual Reality and Leadership Development},
author = {Randall W. Hill},
url = {http://www.amazon.com/dp/1118767837/ref=cm_sw_su_dp},
isbn = {978-1-118-76783-2},
year = {2014},
date = {2014-03-01},
booktitle = {Using Experience to Develop Leadership Talent: How Organizations Leverage On-The-Job Development},
pages = {286--312},
publisher = {John Wiley & Sons, Inc.},
series = {J-B SIOP Professional Practice Series (Book 1)},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, Social Simulation, UARC, Virtual Humans, Virtual Worlds},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
2013
Chaudhri, Vinay K.; Lane, H. Chad; Gunning, Dave; Roschelle, Jeremy
Intelligent Learning Technologies: Applications of Artificial Intelligence to Contemporary and Emerging Educational Challenges Journal Article
In: AI Magazine, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 10–12, 2013.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences
@article{chaudhri_intelligent_2013,
title = {Intelligent Learning Technologies: Applications of Artificial Intelligence to Contemporary and Emerging Educational Challenges},
author = {Vinay K. Chaudhri and H. Chad Lane and Dave Gunning and Jeremy Roschelle},
url = {http://www.aaai.org/ojs/index.php/aimagazine/issue/view/203/showToc},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-12-01},
journal = {AI Magazine},
volume = {34},
number = {3},
pages = {10--12},
abstract = {This special issue of AI Magazine presents articles on some of the most interesting projects at the intersection of AI and Education. Included are articles on integrated systems such as virtual humans, an intellgent textbook a game-based learning environment as well as technology focused components such as student models and data mining. The issue concludes with an article summarizing the contemporary and emerging challenges at the intersection of AI and education.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Lane, H. Chad; Hays, Matthew Jensen; Core, Mark G.; Auerbach, Daniel
Learning intercultural communication skills with virtual humans: Feedback and fidelity. Journal Article
In: Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 105, no. 4, pp. 1026–1035, 2013, ISSN: 1939-2176, 0022-0663.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC
@article{lane_learning_2013,
title = {Learning intercultural communication skills with virtual humans: Feedback and fidelity.},
author = {H. Chad Lane and Matthew Jensen Hays and Mark G. Core and Daniel Auerbach},
url = {http://doi.apa.org/getdoi.cfm?doi=10.1037/a0031506},
doi = {10.1037/a0031506},
issn = {1939-2176, 0022-0663},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-11-01},
journal = {Journal of Educational Psychology},
volume = {105},
number = {4},
pages = {1026--1035},
abstract = {In the context of practicing intercultural communication skills, we investigated the role of fidelity in a game-based, virtual learning environment as well as the role of feedback delivered by an intelligent tutoring system. In 2 experiments, we compared variations on the game interface, use of the tutoring system, and the form of the feedback. Our findings suggest that for learning basic intercultural communicative skills, a 3-dimensional (3-D) interface with animation and sound produced equivalent learning to a more static 2-D interface. However, learners took significantly longer to analyze and respond to the actions of animated virtual humans, suggesting a deeper engagement. We found large gains in learning across conditions. There was no differential effect with the tutor engaged, but it was found to have a positive impact on learner success in a transfer task. This difference was most pronounced when the feedback was delivered in a more general form versus a concrete style.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Hays, Matthew Jensen; Lane, H. Chad; Auerbach, Daniel
Must Feedback Disrupt Presence in Serious Games? Inproceedings
In: Workshop on Formative Feedback in Interactive Learning Environments at the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, Memphis, TN, 2013.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC
@inproceedings{hays_must_2013,
title = {Must Feedback Disrupt Presence in Serious Games?},
author = {Matthew Jensen Hays and H. Chad Lane and Daniel Auerbach},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Must%20Feedback%20Disrupt%20Presence%20in%20Serious%20Games.pdf},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-07-01},
booktitle = {Workshop on Formative Feedback in Interactive Learning Environments at the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education},
address = {Memphis, TN},
abstract = {Serious games are generally designed with two goals in mind: promoting learning and creating compelling and engaging experiences (sometimes termed a sense of presence). Presence itself is believed to promote learning, but serious games often attempt to further increase pedagogical value. One way to do so is to use an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) to provide feedback during gameplay. Some researchers have expressed concern that, because feedback from an ITS is often extrinsic (i.e., it operates outside of the primary game mechanic), attending to it disrupts players’ sense of presence. As a result, learning may be unintentionally hindered by an ITS. However, the most beneficial conditions of instruction are often counterintuitive; in this paper, we challenge the assumption that feedback during learning hinders sense of presence. Across three experiments, we examined how an ITS that provided extrinsic feedback during a serious game affected presence. Across different modalities and conditions, we found that feedback and other ITS features do not always affect presence. Our results suggest that it is possible to provide extrinsic feedback in a serious game without detracting from the immersive power of the game itself.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Lane, H. Chad; Cahill, Clara; Foutz, Susan; Auerbach, Daniel; Noren, Dan; Lussenhop, Catherine; Swartout, William
The Effects of a Pedagogical Agent for Informal Science Education on Learner Behaviors and Self-efficacy Inproceedings
In: Artificial Intelligence in Education, pp. 309–318, Memphis, TN, 2013, ISBN: 978-3-642-39111-8.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences
@inproceedings{lane_effects_2013,
title = {The Effects of a Pedagogical Agent for Informal Science Education on Learner Behaviors and Self-efficacy},
author = {H. Chad Lane and Clara Cahill and Susan Foutz and Daniel Auerbach and Dan Noren and Catherine Lussenhop and William Swartout},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/The%20Effects%20of%20a%20Pedagogical%20Agent%20for%20Informal%20Science%20Education%20on%20Learner%20Behaviors%20and%20Self-efficacy.pdf},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-642-39112-5_32},
isbn = {978-3-642-39111-8},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-07-01},
booktitle = {Artificial Intelligence in Education},
volume = {7926},
pages = {309--318},
address = {Memphis, TN},
series = {Lecture Notes on Computer Science},
abstract = {We describe Coach Mike, an animated pedagogical agent for informal computer science education, and report findings from two experiments that provide initial evidence for the efficacy of the system. In the first study, we found that Coach Mike’s presence led to 20% longer holding times, increased acceptance of programming challenges, and reduced misuse of the exhibit, but had limited cumulative impact on attitudes, awareness, and knowledge beyond what the host exhibit already achieved. In the second study, we compared two different versions of Coach Mike and found that the use of enthusiasm and selfregulatory feedback led to greater self-efficacy for programming.⬚},
keywords = {Learning Sciences},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Woolf, Beverly Park; Lane, H. Chad; Chaudhri, Vinay K.; Kolodner, Janet L.
AI Grand Challenges for Education Journal Article
In: AI magazine; Special issue on Intelligent Learning Technologies, 2013.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences
@article{woolf_ai_2013,
title = {AI Grand Challenges for Education},
author = {Beverly Park Woolf and H. Chad Lane and Vinay K. Chaudhri and Janet L. Kolodner},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/AI%20Grand%20Challenges%20for%20Education.pdf},
doi = {10.1609/aimag.v34i4.2490},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-06-01},
journal = {AI magazine; Special issue on Intelligent Learning Technologies},
abstract = {This article focuses on contributions that AI can make to address long-term educational goals. It describes five challenges that would support: (1) mentors for every learner; (2) learning twenty-first century skills; (3) interaction data to support learning; (4) universal access to global classrooms; and (5) lifelong and life-wide learning. A vision and brief research agenda are described for each challenge along with goals that lead to access to global educational resources and the reuse and sharing of digital educational resources. Instructional systems with AI technology are described that currently support richer experiences for learners and supply researchers with new opportunities to analyze vast data sets of instructional behavior from big databases, containing elements of learning, affect, motivation, and social interaction. Personalized learning is described using computational tools that enhance student and group experience, reflection, and analysis, and supply data for development of novel theory development.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Hays, Matthew Jensen; Kornell, Nate; Bjork, Robert A.
When and Why a Failed Test Potentiates the Effectiveness of Subsequent Study Journal Article
In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 290–296, 2013.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences
@article{hays_when_2013,
title = {When and Why a Failed Test Potentiates the Effectiveness of Subsequent Study},
author = {Matthew Jensen Hays and Nate Kornell and Robert A. Bjork},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/When%20and%20Why%20a%20Failed%20Test%20Potentiates%20the%20Effectiveness%20of%20Subsequent%20Study.pdf},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-01-01},
journal = {Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition},
volume = {39},
number = {1},
pages = {290--296},
abstract = {Teachers and trainers often try to prevent learners from making errors, but recent findings (e.g., Kornell, Hays, & Bjork, 2009) have demonstrated that tests can potentiate subsequent learning even when the correct answer is difficult or impossible to generate (e.g., “What is Nate Kornell’s middle name?”). In three experiments, we explored when and why a failed test enhances learning. We found that failed tests followed by immediate feedback produced greater retention than did a presentation-only condition. Failed tests followed by delayed feedback, by contrast, did not produce such a benefit—except when the direction of the final test was reversed (i.e., the participants were provided with the target and had to produce the original cue). Our findings suggest that generating an incorrect response to a cue both activates the semantic network associated with the cue and suppresses the correct response. These processes appear to have two consequences: If feedback is presented immediately, the semantic activation enhances the mapping of the cue to the correct response; if feedback is presented at a delay, the prior suppression boosts the learning of the suppressed response.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Swartout, William; Artstein, Ron; Forbell, Eric; Foutz, Susan; Lane, H. Chad; Lange, Belinda; Morie, Jacquelyn; Noren, Dan; Rizzo, Albert; Traum, David
Virtual Humans for Learning Journal Article
In: AI magazine; Special issue on Intelligent Learning Technologies, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 13–30, 2013.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, MedVR, UARC, Virtual Humans
@article{swartout_virtual_2013,
title = {Virtual Humans for Learning},
author = {William Swartout and Ron Artstein and Eric Forbell and Susan Foutz and H. Chad Lane and Belinda Lange and Jacquelyn Morie and Dan Noren and Albert Rizzo and David Traum},
url = {http://www.aaai.org/ojs/index.php/aimagazine/article/view/2487},
doi = {10.1609/aimag.v34i4.2487},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-01-01},
journal = {AI magazine; Special issue on Intelligent Learning Technologies},
volume = {34},
number = {4},
pages = {13--30},
abstract = {Virtual humans are computer-generated characters designed to look and behave like real people. Studies have shown that virtual humans can mimic many of the social effects that one finds in human-human interactions such as creating rapport, and people respond to virtual humans in ways that are similar to how they respond to real people. We believe that virtual humans represent a new metaphor for interacting with computers, one in which working with a computer becomes much like interacting with a person and this can bring social elements to the interaction that are not easily supported with conventional interfaces. We present two systems that embody these ideas. The first, the Twins are virtual docents in the Museum of Science, Boston, designed to engage visitors and raise their awareness and knowledge of science. The second SimCoach, uses an empathetic virtual human to provide veterans and their families with information about PTSD and depression.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, MedVR, UARC, Virtual Humans},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
2012
Hays, Matthew; Campbell, Julia; Trimmer, Matthew; Poore, Joshua; Webb, Andrea; Stark, Charles; King, Teresa
Can Role-Play with Virtual Humans Teach Interpersonal Skills? Inproceedings
In: Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC), Orlando, FL, 2012.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans
@inproceedings{hays_can_2012,
title = {Can Role-Play with Virtual Humans Teach Interpersonal Skills?},
author = {Matthew Hays and Julia Campbell and Matthew Trimmer and Joshua Poore and Andrea Webb and Charles Stark and Teresa King},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Can%20Role-Play%20with%20Virtual%20Humans%20Teach%20Interpersonal%20Skills.pdf},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-12-01},
booktitle = {Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC)},
address = {Orlando, FL},
abstract = {Interpersonal and counseling skills are essential to Officers’ ability to lead (Headquarters, Department of the Army, 2006, 2008, 2011). We developed a cognitive framework and an immersive training experience—the Immersive Naval Officer Training System (INOTS)—to help Officers learn and practice these skills (Campbell et al., 2011). INOTS includes up-front instruction about the framework, vignette-based demonstrations of its application, a roleplay session with a virtual human to practice the skills, and a guided after-action review (AAR). A critical component of any training effort is the assessment process; we conducted both formative and summative assessments of INOTS. Our formative assessments comprised surveys as well as physiological sensor equipment. Data from these instruments were used to evaluate how engaging the virtual-human based practice session was. We compared these data to a gold standard: a practice session with a live human role-player. We found that the trainees took the virtual-human practice session seriously—and that interacting with the virtual human was just as engaging as was interacting with the live human role-player. Our summative assessments comprised surveys as well as behavioral measures. We used these data to evaluate learning produced by the INOTS experience. In a pretestposttest design, we found reliable gains in the participants' understanding of and ability to apply interpersonal skills, although the limited practice with the virtual human did not provide additional immediate benefits. This paper details the development of our assessment approaches, the experimental procedures that yielded the data, and our results. We also discuss the implications of our efforts for the future design of assessments and training systems.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, UARC, Virtual Humans},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
2011
Roque, Antonio; Jan, Dusan; Core, Mark; Traum, David
Using virtual tour behavior to build dialogue models for training review Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of the 11th International conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA 2011), ReykjavÃk, Iceland, 2011.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, Virtual Humans
@inproceedings{roque_using_2011,
title = {Using virtual tour behavior to build dialogue models for training review},
author = {Antonio Roque and Dusan Jan and Mark Core and David Traum},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Using%20virtual%20tour%20behavior%20to%20build%20dialogue%20models%20for%20training%20review.pdf},
year = {2011},
date = {2011-09-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 11th International conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA 2011)},
address = {ReykjavÃk, Iceland},
abstract = {We develop an intelligent agent that builds a user model of a learner during a tour of a virtual world. The user model is based on the learner's answers to questions during the tour. A dialogue model for a simulated instructor is tailored to the individual learner based upon this user model. We describe an evaluation to track system accuracy and user perceptions.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, Virtual Humans},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Finley, Jason R.; Benjamin, Aaron S.; Hays, Matthew; Bjork, Robert A.; Kornell, Nate
Benefits of accumulating versus diminishing cues in recall Journal Article
In: Journal of Memory and Language, vol. 64, pp. 289–298, 2011.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences
@article{finley_benefits_2011,
title = {Benefits of accumulating versus diminishing cues in recall},
author = {Jason R. Finley and Aaron S. Benjamin and Matthew Hays and Robert A. Bjork and Nate Kornell},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Benefits%20of%20accumulating%20versus%20diminishing%20cues%20in%20recall.pdf},
doi = {:10.1016/j.jml.2011.01.00},
year = {2011},
date = {2011-03-01},
journal = {Journal of Memory and Language},
volume = {64},
pages = {289--298},
abstract = {Optimizing learning over multiple retrieval opportunities requires a joint consideration of both the probability and the mnemonic value of a successful retrieval. Previous research has addressed this trade-off by manipulating the schedule of practice trials, suggesting that a pattern of increasingly long lags–"expanding retrieval practice"–may keep retrievals successful while gradually increasing their mnemonic value (Landauer & Bjork, 1978). Here we explore the trade-off issue further using an analogous manipulation of cue informativeness. After being given an initial presentation of English-Iñupiaq word pairs, participants received practice trials across which letters of the target word were either accumulated (AC), diminished (DC), or always fully present. Diminishing cues yielded the highest performance on a final test of cued recall. Additional analyses suggest that AC practice promotes potent (effortful) retrieval at the cost of success, and DC practice promotes successful retrieval at the cost of potency. Experiment 2 revealed that the negative effects of AC practice can be partly ameliorated by providing feedback after each practice trial.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Campbell, Julia; Core, Mark; Artstein, Ron; Armstrong, Lindsay; Hartholt, Arno; Wilson, Cyrus A.; Georgila, Kallirroi; Morbini, Fabrizio; Haynes, Kip; Gomboc, Dave; Birch, Mike; Bobrow, Jonathan; Lane, H. Chad; Gerten, Jillian; Leuski, Anton; Traum, David; Trimmer, Matthew; DiNinni, Rich; Bosack, Matthew; Jones, Timothy; Clark, Richard E.; Yates, Kenneth A.
Developing INOTS to Support Interpersonal Skills Practice Inproceedings
In: IEEE Aerospace Conference, 2011.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, Virtual Humans
@inproceedings{campbell_developing_2011,
title = {Developing INOTS to Support Interpersonal Skills Practice},
author = {Julia Campbell and Mark Core and Ron Artstein and Lindsay Armstrong and Arno Hartholt and Cyrus A. Wilson and Kallirroi Georgila and Fabrizio Morbini and Kip Haynes and Dave Gomboc and Mike Birch and Jonathan Bobrow and H. Chad Lane and Jillian Gerten and Anton Leuski and David Traum and Matthew Trimmer and Rich DiNinni and Matthew Bosack and Timothy Jones and Richard E. Clark and Kenneth A. Yates},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Developing%20INOTS%20to%20Support%20Interpersonal%20Skills%20Practice.pdf},
year = {2011},
date = {2011-03-01},
booktitle = {IEEE Aerospace Conference},
abstract = {The Immersive Naval Officer Training System (INOTS) is a blended learning environment that merges traditional classroom instruction with a mixed reality training setting. INOTS supports the instruction, practice and assessment of interpersonal communication skills. The goal of INOTS is to provide a consistent training experience to supplement interpersonal skills instruction for Naval officer candidates without sacrificing trainee throughput and instructor control. We developed an instructional design from cognitive task analysis interviews with experts to serve as a framework for system development. We also leveraged commercial student response technology and research technologies including natural language recognition, virtual humans, realistic graphics, intelligent tutoring and automated instructor support tools. In this paper, we describe our methodologies for developing a blended learning environment, and our challenges adding mixed reality and virtual human technologies to a traditional classroom to support interpersonal skills training.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, Virtual Humans},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Buckwalter, John Galen; Rizzo, Albert; John, Bruce Sheffield; Finlay, Lisa; Wong, Andrew; Chin, Ester; Wellman, John; Smolinski, Stephanie
Analyzing the Impact of Stress: A Comparison Between a Factor Analytic and a Composite Measurement of Allostatic Load Inproceedings
In: Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC), Orlando, FL, 2011.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, MedVR
@inproceedings{buckwalter_analyzing_2011,
title = {Analyzing the Impact of Stress: A Comparison Between a Factor Analytic and a Composite Measurement of Allostatic Load},
author = {John Galen Buckwalter and Albert Rizzo and Bruce Sheffield John and Lisa Finlay and Andrew Wong and Ester Chin and John Wellman and Stephanie Smolinski},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Analyzing%20the%20Impact%20of%20Stress-%20A%20Comparison%20Between%20a%20Factor%20Analytic%20and%20a%20Composite%20Measurement%20of%20Allostatic%20Load.pdf},
year = {2011},
date = {2011-01-01},
booktitle = {Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC)},
address = {Orlando, FL},
abstract = {Stress is possibly the hallmark characteristic of the current conflicts confronting the United States. Extended and repeated deployments require the ability on the part of war-fighters to effectively process stress in ways never before routinely encountered. Stress is well defined as a series of psychological and physiological processes that occur in response to a stressor, or the perception of stress. The physiological response to stress follows an identified path, a robust neuroendocrine response leads to responses in the cardiovascular, metabolic, renal, inflammatory and immune systems. After a stress response, the body's natural tendency is to return to a steady state, a process called allostasis. If the body is not effective in returning to homeostasis, or if the environment is such that stress is repeated, markers of dysfunction may be apparent in the physiological systems that respond to stress. A method of measuring multiple biomarkers of stress responsive systems and determining who shows consistent evidence of dysfunction was developed by Bruce McEwen and labeled allostatic load (AL). AL is most frequently measured by developing a level of risk for each biomarker and obtaining an AL score for the number of biomarkers the criterion for risk is met. This provides a single, equal-weighted measure of AL and does not allow for the identification of multi-systems. We employed a principal component factor analysis on a set of biomarkers and scored each factor using unit weighting. We compared the predictive power of 7 obliquely rotated factors to that of a composite AL marker. The set of factors predicted more of the variance in measures of depression, anxiety, and medical outcomes, it also provided evidence of the systems most involved in the development of pathology. The results confirm that AL is best analyzed as a multi-system construct. Not only does this predict more variance, it also provides suggestions as to the mechanisms underlying stress related disorders.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, MedVR},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
2010
Swartout, William; Traum, David; Artstein, Ron; Noren, Dan; Debevec, Paul; Bronnenkant, Kerry; Williams, Josh; Leuski, Anton; Narayanan, Shrikanth; Piepol, Diane; Lane, H. Chad; Morie, Jacquelyn; Aggarwal, Priti; Liewer, Matt; Chiang, Jen-Yuan; Gerten, Jillian; Chu, Selina; White, Kyle
Virtual Museum Guides Demonstration Inproceedings
In: IEEE Workshop on Spoken Language Technology, Berkeley, CA, 2010.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: Graphics, Learning Sciences, Virtual Humans
@inproceedings{swartout_virtual_2010,
title = {Virtual Museum Guides Demonstration},
author = {William Swartout and David Traum and Ron Artstein and Dan Noren and Paul Debevec and Kerry Bronnenkant and Josh Williams and Anton Leuski and Shrikanth Narayanan and Diane Piepol and H. Chad Lane and Jacquelyn Morie and Priti Aggarwal and Matt Liewer and Jen-Yuan Chiang and Jillian Gerten and Selina Chu and Kyle White},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Virtual%20Museum%20Guides%20Demonstration.pdf},
year = {2010},
date = {2010-12-01},
booktitle = {IEEE Workshop on Spoken Language Technology},
address = {Berkeley, CA},
keywords = {Graphics, Learning Sciences, Virtual Humans},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Swartout, William; Traum, David; Artstein, Ron; Noren, Dan; Debevec, Paul; Bronnenkant, Kerry; Williams, Josh; Leuski, Anton; Narayanan, Shrikanth; Piepol, Diane; Lane, H. Chad; Morie, Jacquelyn; Aggarwal, Priti; Liewer, Matt; Chiang, Jen-Yuan; Gerten, Jillian; Chu, Selina; White, Kyle
Ada and Grace: Toward Realistic and Engaging Virtual Museum Guides Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA 2010), Philadelphia, PA, 2010.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Graphics, Learning Sciences, Virtual Humans, Virtual Worlds
@inproceedings{swartout_ada_2010,
title = {Ada and Grace: Toward Realistic and Engaging Virtual Museum Guides},
author = {William Swartout and David Traum and Ron Artstein and Dan Noren and Paul Debevec and Kerry Bronnenkant and Josh Williams and Anton Leuski and Shrikanth Narayanan and Diane Piepol and H. Chad Lane and Jacquelyn Morie and Priti Aggarwal and Matt Liewer and Jen-Yuan Chiang and Jillian Gerten and Selina Chu and Kyle White},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/ada%20and%20grace.pdf},
year = {2010},
date = {2010-09-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA 2010)},
address = {Philadelphia, PA},
abstract = {To increase the interest and engagement of middle school students in science and technology, the InterFaces project has created virtual museum guides that are in use at the Museum of Science, Boston. The characters use natural language interaction and have near photoreal appearance to increase and presents reports from museum staff on visitor reaction},
keywords = {Graphics, Learning Sciences, Virtual Humans, Virtual Worlds},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
2009
McAlinden, Ryan; Gordon, Andrew S.; Lane, H. Chad; Pynadath, David V.
UrbanSim: A Game-based Simulation for Counterinsurgency and Stability-focused Operations Inproceedings
In: Workshop on Intelligent Educational Games, 14th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, Brighton, UK, 2009.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Learning Sciences, Social Simulation, The Narrative Group
@inproceedings{mcalinden_urbansim_2009,
title = {UrbanSim: A Game-based Simulation for Counterinsurgency and Stability-focused Operations},
author = {Ryan McAlinden and Andrew S. Gordon and H. Chad Lane and David V. Pynadath},
url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/UrbanSim-%20A%20Game-based%20Simulation%20for%20Counterinsurgency%20and%20Stability-focused%20Operations.pdf},
year = {2009},
date = {2009-07-01},
booktitle = {Workshop on Intelligent Educational Games, 14th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education},
address = {Brighton, UK},
abstract = {The UrbanSim Learning Package is a simulation-based training application designed for the U.S. Army to develop commanders' skills for conducting counterinsurgency operations. UrbanSim incorporates multiple artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in order to provide an effective training experience, three of which are described in this paper. First, UrbanSim simulates the mental attitudes and actions of groups and individuals in an urban environment using the PsychSim reasoning engine. Second, UrbanSim interjects narrative elements into the training experience using a case-based story engine, driven by non-fiction stories told by experienced commanders. Third, UrbanSim provides intelligent tutoring using a simulation-based method for eliciting and evaluating learner decisions. UrbanSim represents a confluence of AI techniques that seek to bridge the gap between basic research and deployed AI systems.},
keywords = {Learning Sciences, Social Simulation, The Narrative Group},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}