VMT Workshop june 9-11, Philadelphia Gerardo Ayala Centro de Investigación en Tecnologías de la Información y Automatización, CENTIA Universidad de las Américas, Puebla MEXICO

GRACILE  Learner modelling and software agents for CSCL environments.  Groups of foreign students learning Japanese.  The learner model in a CSCL environments supports awareness and enhance the relevant collaboration between learners.  The learner model is considered a set of beliefs held by a mediator agent about the learner's goals, commitments and capabilities.  The mediator agent maintains a zone of proximal development for its learner, based on the structural and the social aspects of knowledge progress.  A domain agent assists the learners in their constructions.

GRACILE  Agents maintaining zones of proximal development (structural and social knowledge frontiers)

GRACILE  Open learner models

GRACILE  Ayala, Gerardo & Yano, Yoneo. (1998) A Collaborative Learning Environment Based on Intelligent Agents, Expert Systems with Applications, Pergamon Press, pp:  Ayala, Gerardo & Yano, Yoneo. (1997) Evaluating the Performance of Agents that Support the Effective Collaboration of Learners in a CSCL Environment, IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems, Special Issue on Educational Systems Using Multimedia and Communication Technology, February 97, Vol.E80-D, No.2, pp:  Ayala, Gerardo. & Yano, Yoneo. (1996). Learner Models for Supporting Awareness and Collaboration in a CSCL Environment, Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Claude Frasson, Gilles Gauthier and Alan Lesgold (Eds.), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1086, Springer Verlag 1996, pp:  Ayala, Gerardo. & Yano, Yoneo. (1995). GRACILE: A Framework for Collaborative Intelligent Learning Environments, Journal of the Japanese Society of Artificial Intelligence, Vol.10. No. 6. pp:

CASSIEL Agent supporting lifelong learning. Communities of professionals, university students and researchers. Enculturation. Maintains individual and group competitive advantage. Personalized learning plan and group configuration, using a learner model server based on the interests of the learner. Implementing a theory of social construction of knowledge, from the area of knowledge management.

CASSIEL

 Ayala, Gerardo. (2001) Intelligent Agents Supporting the Social Construction of Knowledge in a Learning Environment, Human Computer Interaction: Issues and Challenges, (Qiyang Chen, Editor.) Idea Group Publishing, Chapter 4, pp  Ayala, Gerardo. (2002) Intelligent Agents for a Lifelong Learning Environment in Information Technologies, International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, Vol. 12, Nos. 1-4, pp  Ayala, Gerardo. (2003) Towards Lifelong Learning Environments: agent supporting the collaborative construction of knowledge in virtual communities, Designing for change in networked learning environments, proccedings of the International Conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning CSCL 2003, Bergen, Norway, pp

Current research interests Learner modelling for CSCL environments  Zones of proximal development.  Group configuration for effective collaboration.  Motivation based on personalization and awareness.  Answer set programming for belief revision in learner modelling. Agents supporting lifelong learning  Large communities of users.  Social construction of knowledge.  Second language learning.  Social practices.

How to attract and motivate the participants of a CSCL environment? Try to maintain always some learning possibilities for all. Feeling of being useful and productive in the community. Awareness of mutual benefit by collaborating. Concept awareness  Reflection of the learner about her/his current level with respect to the others  Feeling of learning something useful, relevant and new, by collaborating.

How to make the learning community grow and mature? Communities grow and mature if there is a genuine common interest. Reputation: Can students express to others what did they learn (benefits) by participating in the environment? Added Value to the environment (something plus the chat with the WYSIWIS graphic interface) Keep it Fun!

How to group participants for an effective collaboration? Group configuration, based on learner modelling.  Capacities  Commitments  Interests Keep zones of proximal development for all.  Task asignment based on the interests and the zone of proximal development of the participant in a given group. This requires a structure of the domain

How to design problems that will foster group and individual understanding?  Are the problems and the environment more oriented to collaborative problem solving rather than collaborative learning? public class CSCL extends CSCW { …. }

How to design software that supports effective collaboration? Social awareness  Appropriate group configuration for learning Workspace awareness  Include a personal workspace in the interface  Space for agreements in the interface Concept Awareness  Feedback (did I solve the problem?) Task awareness  Clear relations between a given situation in the problem and the concepts involved (learning outcome).