Agent-oriented Support Environment in Web-based Collaborative Learning

Tomoko Kojiri (Nagoya University, Japan)

Yushi Ogawa (Nagoya University, Japan)

Toyohide Watanabe (Nagoya University, Japan)

Abstract: Currently, the web-based learning support systems are one of interesting and hot topics in points of the utilization of Internet and the application of computers to education. In particular, the web-based collaboration is very applicable means to make unfamiliar students, who are unknown with each other, discuss together in the same virtual interaction space. However, there are some problems derived from the gap between the real world and virtual environment: coordination for discussions, cooperative reactions, comprehension of learning progress, etc. These problems may be dependent on the fact that the actions of students cannot be influenced from the behaviors of others directly. In this paper, we address a coordination mechanism to promote cooperative actions/reactions for progressive discussions. Our idea is to apply an agent-oriented framework to this coordination mechanism and introduce two different types of agents. One is a coordinator and the other is a learner. The coordinator monitors the learning progress of group and promotes the discussion, if necessary, so as to reach their common goal successfully. The learners are assigned to individual students, and act as interaction mediators among students in place of the corresponding students. Of course, the coordinator is a passive entity and learners are active entities in our collaborative learning space.

Keywords: Collaborative learning environment, coordinator, learner, learning situation, personal learning history

Categories: K.3.1, K.3.2