The Role of Agency and Interactivity in Embodied Conversational Agents to Support Teacher Training in High Poverty Schools

课堂行为管理的挑战预示着教师的压力和损耗，支持行为管理是教师确定的最重要的专业优先事项。传统的教师行为管理培训（如工作坊、全组在职培训）未能对教师的工作相关知识和技能产生实质性的改善。基于虚拟现实的培训为教师提供了一个练习积极应对破坏性行为的机会，可以在低风险的环境中自由探索和失败。然而，现有的平台存在着低可用性和有限的现实性的问题，特别是在模拟会话交互时。该项目提供了沉浸式、对话式学习环境的教育影响的协同探索，以及构建智能虚拟代理的基本技术能力。具体而言，该项目的目的是系统研究具身会话代理对高贫困学校教师学习成果的影响，在高贫困学校，学科差异和排他性学科实践非常突出，需要积极的学科方法来促进参与和学习。该项目支持开发和发布一个新的平台，用于指定具体的会话交互，结合智能虚拟代理、交流行为的生成建模和人在环设计方面的最新进展。该项目的成果将推动虚拟现实培训平台的代理和互动性的界限，教师可以完全沉浸在虚拟教室中，与能够使用面部表情、手势和肢体动作以及口语表达自己的自主虚拟学生互动。从理论上讲，这些自由形式的互动是为了支持学习从一个环境（例如，虚拟教室）转移到一个新的环境（例如，现场教室），在那里教师可以发扬适用的知识和技能。研究计划包括一系列为期3年的研究，系统研究虚拟培训平台中的代理和互动对教师培训成果的影响，以及他们将知识和技能转移到真实课堂的能力。这种行为管理方面的培训提供了一个独特的机会，可以增加对教师的现有支持，促进有效培训的传播和实施，最终可以提高学生的成绩和学生/教师的福祉。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Challenges with classroom behavior management predicts teacher stress and attrition and support for behavior management is a top professional priority identified by teachers. Traditional training for teachers in behavior management (e.g., workshops, whole group in-service training) has failed to produce substantial improvements in teachers’ work-related knowledge and skills. Virtual Reality-based training provides an opportunity for teachers to practice responding positively to disruptive behaviors with the freedom to explore and fail in a low-stakes setting. However, existing platforms suffer from low usability and limited realism, particularly when simulating conversational interactions. This project offers a synergistic exploration of the educational impact of immersive, conversational learning environments, and the fundamental technical capabilities for building intelligent virtual agents. Specifically, the aim of the project is to systematically study the impact of embodied conversational agents on learning outcomes of teachers in high poverty schools, where discipline disparities and exclusionary discipline practices are prominent and positive discipline approaches are needed to promote engagement and learning.This project supports the development and release of a new platform for specifying embodied conversational interaction, combining recent advances in intelligent virtual agents, generative modeling of communicative behavior, and human-in-the-loop design. The project outcomes will push the boundaries of agency and interactivity in virtual reality training platforms, where teachers can fully immerse themselves in virtual classrooms and engage with autonomous virtual students capable of expressing themselves using facial expressions, hand and body gestures, and spoken language. These free-form interactions are theorized to support transfer of learning from one setting (e.g., virtual classroom) to a new setting (e.g., live classroom), where teachers may carry forward applicable knowledge and skills. The research plan includes a series of studies over a 3-year time period, to systematically study the impact of agency and interactivity in virtual training platforms on the training outcomes of teachers, and their ability to transfer knowledge and skills to real classrooms. This type of training in behavior management provides an unique opportunity to augment existing support to teachers and foster the dissemination and implementation of effective training that can ultimately enhance student achievement and student/teacher well-being.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.