Student modelling based on collaborative dialogue with a learning companion

When using computers to support learning, one significant problem is how to fmd out what the student understands and knows with respect to the knowledge the computer system is designed to help him to learn (the system's content goal). This analysis of the student is based on the input he provides to the system and it is evaluated with respect to the content goals of the system. This process is called student modelling. In essence this problem can be seen as that of bridging a gap between the input to the system and its content goals.It is difficult to study the student's reasoning because it is not directly observable. With respect to the gap, this is a problem of paucity of student input. One possible solution, explored in this dissertation, is to have the student work collaboratively with a computer agent, a Learning Companion, and eavesdrop on the emerging dialogue.This dissertation explores the feasibility of this idea through a series of studies. Examples of naturally occurring collaborative dialogue from two different domains are examined as to their informativeness for a student modelling procedure. Spoken as well as written dialogue is studied. The problem of information extraction from collaborative dialogue is briefly explored through prototyping. Prototyping is also used to study the design of a Learning Companion, whose behavior is based on observations from the dialogues in the informativeness study. It is concluded that for certain types of student models, collaborative dialogue with a Learning Companion is indeed a useful source of information, and it appears technically feasible. Further research is, however, needed on the design of both information extraction and the Learning Companion.