Citation:
Song, D. (2017, March). A conversational agent for more interactions through learning-by-teaching in online courses. Presented at the Digital Education Summit 2017, Sam Houston State University. Huntsville, Texas.

A Conversational Agent for More Interactions through Learning-by-Teaching in Online Courses
Donggil Song
donggil.song@gmail.com

Pedagogical Agent
An animated character that facilitates learning and responds to user actions
in computer-based learning environments.

Intelligent Tutor
Learners
Teachers

Concentrate on learning by problem-solving
Provide immediate feedback
Students are just recipients of knowledge

Learning by Teaching
Teaching others is a powerful approach to learning
(Frager & Stern, 1970; Leikin, 2006; Muis et al. 2016; Tang et al., 2004)
1. Learn from Preparations
2. Learn from Teaching Activities
3. Of course, students learn
Learning
Learning
Learning

Learning by Teaching
Pedagogical Agent

Teachable Agent
An actual learner’s role is a teacher
Teachable agents are students

Teachable Agent
1. Preparation
2. Teaching
Once taught, the agent reasons with its knowledge and answers questions using
artificial intelligence techniques

Learner – Computer Interaction

Conversational Agent
Teaching
Actual Learner
Computer Agent
Responses

Learning by Teaching
Pedagogical Agent
Conversation

Pilot Test
40 Participants from 2 graduate courses
Can you teach me Educational Multimedia?
Why do we need to use educational multimedia?
Is a video effective for education?, I mean in general?
Are mobile Apps good for teaching?
Peer review would be helpful?

IAI: Can you teach me Educational Multimedia?
ABC: Yes.
IAI: Thank you!
IAI: What’s your name?
ABC: ABC
IAI: Nice to see you, ABC.
IAI: Is a video effective for education?, I mean in general?
ABC: Yes
IAI: Could you be more specific?
ABC: It is effective in education because it helps students visually see the instruction or examples for the lesson instead of just reading or hearing the information.
IAI: Understandable.
IAI: Are mobile Apps good for teaching?
ABC: Mobile apps are good for teaching because they allow students to reinforce concepts in the lesson or learn new concepts prior to or after the lesson has been taught.
IAI: Would you please explain more about it?
ABC: Mobile apps are good for teaching because students in the digital age can relate to this way of learning because they are already familiar with technology.
IAI: I think so.
IAI: Why do we need to use educational multimedia?
ABC: We need to use educational multimedia because it helps students to learn curriculum using various forms of media such as videos, laptops, tablets, and apps.
IAI: What’s the definition of media?
ABC: Media is a method to convey information to an individual.
IAI: I agree.
IAI: Why is the peer review effective?
ABC: The peer review is effective because it allows for students to share ideas with each other and express their critiques and praise to another student. This causes students to be more effective in the way that they express their opinions. Peer review can also help a student understand a concept more after a peer has explained it if they did not already get a full understanding during the main instruction time given by the teacher.
IAI: What do you mean by peer review?
ABC: Peer review is when a student critiques or praises another students’ work.
IAI: Cool! Thanks!
IAI: Bye!

Implications
1. Experiment Design
2. Database Building
3. More Powerful Natural Language Processing Techniques
4. Domain-general Learning

Learning by Teaching
Pedagogical Agent
Conversation
Domain-general
Learning

A Conversational Agent for More Interactions through Learning-by-Teaching in Online Courses
Donggil Song
donggil.song@gmail.com

Acknowledgement
This research was supported by Enhancement Research Grant (ERG) 2016 at Sam Houston State University (#290145)