In Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore, several AI chatbots acting as digital teaching assistants were trialed between July 2021 and August 2022. As these were developed for different purposes, it is important to learn if these AI chatbots help achieve the desired learning outcomes. This paper focuses on lessons learnt from three chatbots designed for…

This paper describes the development and evaluation of a system called MORE (Motivational Reactive Plan) in the 1990s, designed with an explicit strategy to manage the learner's motivation on a minute-by-minute basis. Progress since the system was evaluated is outlined and our current thinking on the larger issues of the role that the learner's…

Voice interaction assistants, such as "Siri," "Alexa," or "Google Assistant," offer new opportunities to create meaningful, fun tasks for language learning that require accurate spoken production. Designing good tasks requires an understanding of the learning context and needs as well as the interactional…

While the addition of an anthropomorphic interface agent to a learning system generally has little direct impact on learning, it potentially has a huge impact on learner motivation. As such agents become increasingly ubiquitous on the Internet, in virtual worlds, and as interfaces for learning and gaming systems, it is important to design them to…

Teachable agent is a type of pedagogical agent which instantiates Learning-by-Teaching theory through simulating a "naive" learner in order to motivate students to teach it. This paper discusses the limitation of existing teachable agents and incorporates intrinsic motivation to the agent model to enable teachable agents with initiative…

The feasibility of conducting computer science courses in artificial intelligence at a small liberal arts college is examined. The following problems are examined in detail: isolation; student abililty, motivation and expectation; equipment; and faculty readiness. Providing a focus to the discussion, three issues are addressed in terms of…

Describes Dean Kamen's FIRST foundation (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and its sporting competition that offers high school students hands-on acquaintance with robots of their own creation; its goal is to inspire students to pursue future studies in science and technology by showing them that learning in this area can…