An Investigation on Cooperative Learning Assistance with Pseudo Learner Agents

本计画著重在探讨如何透过电脑网路，以讨论的方式协助学习者学习。我们通过实验研究了信息交换对学习者讨论态度的影响，并提出了一种从不同角度可视化讨论内容的合作学习工具。我们还提出了一种通过引入伪学习代理来促进讨论的方法。研究了被试表情的影响、遥控摄像机眼动反馈的影响以及共同工作场所对学习者态度的影响。结果发现，监控器的眼球运动反馈增加了学习者对对手存在的感觉，共享材料的共同工作领域对讨论很重要。讨论式学习通过相互交流，提高了学习者对主题的理解。在这个过程中，学习者需要把握观点的异同，把握讨论的发展。在讨论后思考讨论的流程和参与者改变意见的原因等，对提高讨论技巧也很有用。我们开发了一个讨论工具，可以将讨论的结构和观点的变化等可视化，以帮助这些学习。我们通过实验评估了该工具的有效性。我们提出了一种通过引入伪学习智能体来激活讨论的方法。智能体不理解讨论的意义，但它从讨论工具中得到了话语之间的因果关系。代理人的作用是将少数话语的学习者引入讨论，并利用这些关系来关注隐藏的观点。

This project focuses on methods to assist learners in learning by discussion through computer network. We investigated effect of exchanging information against learners' attitude towards discussion by experiments, and proposed a tool for cooperative learning that visualizes contents of discussion from different viewpoints. We also proposed a method of promoting discussion by introducing pseudo learner agents.We investigated effects of expressions of participants, effects of feedback of eye movement by a remote control camera and roles of a common work field against learners' attitudes. As a result, we found that feedback of eye movement by a monitor increases learners feeling about existence of opponents, and a common work field to share materials is important for discussion.Learning by discussion improves learner's understanding about topics by interaction with each other. During this process, learners need to grasp similarity and difference between opinions and to grasp development of discussion. Thinking about streams of discussion and causes of participants' changes of opinions etc. after the discussion is also useful to improve discussion skills. We developed a discussion tool that visualizes structure of discussion and changes of opinions etc. in order to assist these kinds of learning. We evaluated the effectiveness of the tool by experiment.We proposed a method to activate discussion by introducing pseudo leamer agents. The agent doesn't understand meanings of discussion but it gets causal relations between utterances from the discussion tool.The roles of the agent are to introduce leamers of few utterances into discussion and to pay attention to buried opinions by using these relations.