Pedagogical Agent Research at CARTE

This article gives an overview of current research on animated pedagogical agents at the Center for Advanced Research in Technology for Education (CARTE) at the University of Southern California/Information Sciences Institute. Animated pedagogical agents, nicknamed guidebots, interact with learners to help keep learning activities on track. They combine the pedagogical expertise of intelligent tutoring systems with the interpersonal interaction capabilities of embodied conversational characters. They can support the acquisition of team skills as well as skills performed alone by individuals. At CARTE, we have been developing guidebots that help learners acquire a variety of problem-solving skills in virtual worlds, in multimedia environments, and on the web. We are also developing technologies for creating interactive pedagogical dramas populated with guidebots and other autonomous animated characters.