Should I teach my computer peer? Some issues in teaching a learning companion

Abstract

This paper describes work carried out to explore the role of a learning companion as a student of the human student. A LCS for Bi-nary Boolean Algebra has been developed to explore the hypothesis that a learning companion with less expertise than the human student would be beneficial for the student in her learning. The system implemented two companions with different expertise and two types of motivational conditions. Results from a empirical evaluation suggested that subjects interacting with a less capable companion (weak) have a trend of more improvement than subjects interacting with a more capable companion (strong). Finally, the experiment also suggested that learning companions might be confusing for students if they try to resemble human behaviour, i.e. if they do not perform as they are told.