effective instructional conversations + tutalk instruction

Effective Instructional Conversations + TuTalk Instruction

Carolyn Penstein Rosé

Language Technologies Institute/

Human-Computer Interaction Institute

Design Principle

Know what problem you are trying to

solve!!

Design Process What problem are you trying to solve?

Formulate analysis scheme

When should you intervene?Use technologies like TagHelper and SIDE to

track interaction and trigger support

What should the intervention be?Technologies like TuTalk can be used to offer

support

What Makes Instructional Conversations Effective

Design Challenge: Collaborative Process Problems Hurt Learning

Interaction Processes

Cognitive Processes

Learning

Problems with theProblems with theProcess reduce Process reduce learninglearning

Collaboration support increases learning by changing interaction

Support Structure

Interaction Processes

Cognitive Processes

Learning

Support structure is Support structure is designed to elicit certaindesigned to elicit certaininteraction processes, so interaction processes, so its success should be its success should be reflected in a differencereflected in a differencein interaction processesin interaction processes

Collaboration support increases learning by changinginteraction

Support Structure

Interaction Processes

Cognitive Processes

Learning

But if the processBut if the processdifficulties are notdifficulties are notthe same betweenthe same betweenstudent populations,student populations,then the support needsthen the support needsto be different too.to be different too.

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Goals of Scripted Collaboration

“The basic goal of scripted cooperation is to increase achievement by having students perform cognitive activities that they might not otherwise do. In addition, scripted cooperation is expected to reduce the incidence of negative group processes because of the size of the cooperating unit and because of the explicit requirement to alternate roles.”

Script Based Collaborative Learning Support

Static support approaches provide structure to offer support for collaboration before it begins

Script based support increases effective argumentation (Weinberger, 2003)

Social Script

What is a Knowledge Construction Dialogue?

Atlas: Knowledge Construction Dialogues

Purpose: test “Ask, Don’t Tell” strategy in an ITS How can we get the most bang for our buck?

How far can we go with finite state dialogue management? (Freedman,2000)

How far can we go with shallow concept grammars? (i.e., Glass, 1999)

Knowledge Construction Dialogues (KCDs) Interactive directed lines of reasoning: analogies, concrete

illustrations KCD Authoring Tool Suite (Jordan, Rosé, and VanLehn, 2001)

55 KCDs fully implemented and pilot tested in 3 months

KCDs versus Minilessons versus Hints

Here are a few things to keep in mind when calculating acceleration for a body at rest. Acceleration is change in velocity over time.

If velocity is not changing, then there is zero acceleration.

Now, if for a finite time interval the velocity remains zero, then it is true that it is not changing.

Therefore, when a body is at rest during a time interval, its acceleration within that time interval is zero.

Tutor: Here are a few things to keep in mind when calculating acceleration for a body at rest. Acceleration is change of what over time?

Student: velocity

Tutor: Right. If the velocity is not changing, what is the magnitude of the acceleration?

Student: zero.

Tutor: Good. If velocity remains zero within a time interval, how much is it changing?

Student: zero

Tutor: Super. So if a body is at rest during a time interval, what is the...

KCDs versus Minilessons versus Hints

Here are a few things to keep in mind when calculating acceleration for a body at rest. Acceleration is change in velocity over time.

If velocity is not changing, then there is zero acceleration.

Now, if for a finite time interval the velocity remains zero, then it is true that it is not changing.

Therefore, when a body is at rest during a time interval, its acceleration within that time interval is zero.

Tutor: Here are a few things to keep in mind when calculating acceleration for a body at rest. Acceleration is change of what over time?

Student: velocity

Tutor: Right. If the velocity is not changing, what is the magnitude of the acceleration?

Student: zero.

Tutor: Good. If velocity remains zero within a time interval, how much is it changing?

Student: zero

Tutor: Super. So if a body is at rest during a time interval, what is the...

What if this answer was wrong?

KCDs versus Minilessons versus Hints

Here are a few things to keep in mind when calculating acceleration for a body at rest. Acceleration is change in velocity over time.

If velocity is not changing, then there is zero acceleration.

Now, if for a finite time interval the velocity remains zero, then it is true that it is not changing.

Therefore, when a body is at rest during a time interval, its acceleration within that time interval is zero.

Tutor: Right. If the velocity is not changing, what is the magnitude of the acceleration?

Student: I don’t know

Tutor: Do you remember what acceleration means?

Student: It’s change in velocity over time

Tutor: Right. So then if velocity is not changing, what is acceleration?

Student: Oh, zero.

Tutor: OK. If velocity remains zero within a time interval, how much is it changing?

…

Design Process Tips

Exploratory Learning Overview

(Charnay & Reder, 1986) compare Worked Examples, Tutorials, Problem Solving, and Pure Exploration Worked examples mixed with problem solving was the best

(Touvinem & Sweller, 1999) Worked examples with problem solving beats Pure exploratory learning

(Klahr & Nigam, to appear) tutorial learning plus problem solving is more efficient than pure exploratory learning

PureExploratoryLearning

WorkedExamples

TutorialLearning

ProblemSolvingGoalsProvided

NegotiableProblemSolvingGoals

OnlyHighLevelGoalsGiven+ hints

PureExploratoryLearning

OnlyHighLevelGoalsGiven+ helprequests

Exploratory Learning Overview

Smithtown work (Shute & Glaser, 1990, etc.) and Computer-Based Simulation Games (Leutner, 1993) involve only imposed high level goals Learning about a model or Survival

(Leutner, 1993) demonstrates the importance of students actively requesting help

Smithtown adapted to individual student needs

PureExploratoryLearning

WorkedExamples

TutorialLearning

ProblemSolvingGoalsProvided

NegotiableProblemSolvingGoals

OnlyHighLevelGoalsGiven+ hints

PureExploratoryLearning

OnlyHighLevelGoalsGiven+ helprequests

Exploratory Learning Overview

The difference between problem solving and exploratory learning is the level at which goals are dictated

Many state-of-the-art tutoring systems fall into the problem solving category where problem solving goals are dictated

In an exploratory design environment, high level goals are dictated (improve efficiency), but problem solving goals (i.e., add a reheat cycle) are negotiated

Tutorial dialogue allows the tutor to influence problem solving goals (addressing cognitive load issues) while offering instruction and while allowing students to actively explore

WorkedExamples

TutorialLearning

ProblemSolvingGoalsProvided

NegotiableProblemSolvingGoals

OnlyHighLevelGoalsGiven+ hints

PureExploratoryLearning

OnlyHighLevelGoalsGiven+ helprequests

Topic Analysis Reveals Important Patterns of Interaction

GeneralConceptualTopics

AnalysisSpecificTopics

Significant correlation between topic coverage and learning

(R2=.715, N=21, p < .05)

Example Implemented Reflection Dialogue Tutor: Let’s stop for a minute and reflect on what we have seen. Having

seen how changing T-Max (i.e., the Maximum Temperature at the Heater Outlet) affects the efficiency of the cycle, do you think it is a good idea in general for the Maximum Temperature to be increased and kept high?

Student: yes Tutor: Okay. Let’s think now about one important consequence of keeping

T-Max high. What happens to the steam quality at the turbine exit if you increase the maximum temperature of the cycle?

Student: Increases Tutor: Right. As increasing the temperature makes the efficiency and

steam quality better, we should increase the maximum temperature of the cycle. But can we keep on increasing the maximum temperature at the heater outlet indefinitely, or are there limitations to keep in mind?

Student: there are limitations such as material constraints Tutor: Great. we should try to keep T-Max (i.e., the maximum temperature

at the Heater outlet of the cycle) as high as possible without risking safety concerns or exceeding the maximum temperature the material can withstand. Keeping T-Max high increases efficiency and keeps the steam quality high, which are both important. This is an important principle to keep in mind while optimizing the efficiency of your cycle.

TuTalk Authoring Process

Scenario

Goal1(Start Goal)

Sub Goal 1.1

Goal1_Step1

Goal1_Step2

Goal1_Step3

Goal1_Step4

Pair

Initiation

Response2

Response1

Response3

Say1 Say2

Scenario/ Script

Goal Template Step/Pair Concept

Getting Started Start by creating a new

script That script will contain all

of the goals, templates, and concepts that you define

Could contain multiple ways of achieving the same goal (via alternative templates)

Directed Lines of Reasoning

Building Blocks: Pairs are composed of an initiation and a response

Tutor: Here are a few things to keep in mind when calculating acceleration for a body at rest. Acceleration is change of what over time?

Student: velocity

Tutor: Right. If the velocity is not changing, what is the magnitude of the acceleration?

Student: zero.

Tutor: Good. If velocity remains zero within a time interval, how much is it changing?

Student: zero

Tutor: Super. So if a body is at rest during a time interval, what is the...

Building a Pair

Adding Phrases to Concepts

Elaborating a Template

Example Pair

Example Pair

Concept Manager

Scenario

Goal1(Start Goal)

Sub Goal 1.1

Goal1_Step1

Goal1_Step2

Goal1_Step3

Goal1_Step4

Pair

Initiation

Response2

Response1

Response3

Say1 Say2

Previewer

Test Interface

Some tips Better to have several short turns than fewer long

turns

Try to build the learner’s/user’s vocabulary (shaping)• It may help you avoid unanticipated responses

Try to think about what is it that we are trying to elicit from the student when writing tutor turns (initiations)

Author as many possible responses as you can in the time available Catch all makes the machine look dumb!

Questions?