Using Agents to Overcome Deficiencies in Web-Based Courseware

A computer-based distance learning system should interact with students, adapt to the needs of individual students, support interaction with teachers and other students, and be easy to author. The Advanced Distance Education (ADE) project is developing specialized applications of World Wide Web technology in order to meet these objectives. ADE combines Web browsers and servers with intelli gent course management software running on the students' computers. A major innovation of our approach is the use of pedagogical agents to monitor student interactions and provide guidance and advice. Pedagogical agents may offer advantages over conventional intelli gent learning environments because they enable closer and more natural interactions between students and intelli gent courseware. Such interaction is in sharp contrast with the static documents that one often finds in Web-based course materials. In addition, we are developing tools and methodologies that make it possible to create interactive agent-based courseware without specialized knowledge of artificial intelligence or Web programming.