Silicon Valley Musings

Participants included Professor Dan Schwartz, Stuart Gannes, Heather Ford, Steve Wilhelm

Professor Schwartz biographical information is available here.

Much of Professor Schwartz?s current work can be found at AAA Lab.

Suggested we look at NetLogo (http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/). NetLogo is a simulation platform that allows people to build models to teach certain concepts. In particular, the Wolf Sheep Predation model (http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/WolfSheepPredation) can be used to demonstrate the necessesity to complete tuberculosis treatment. If treatment is not completed the TB bacteria (or Wolves) will eventually come back and wipe out the healthy cells (or Sheep).

Suggested we also look at ActiveWorlds (http://www.activeworlds.com/). ActiveWorlds is a virtual reality building platform that allows developers to build visually rich interactive virtual spaces that can be hosted on the Internet. There is a development SDK that allows developers to specify 3d environments as well as agents or ?Bot? behavior modules that can funcition within the ActiveWorld platform. ActiveWorld is a commercial product, but there is a educational license of $650 annual fee for twenty simultaneous users.

Discussed some research on multi-cultural awareness and education. Described an experiment where Chinese and US students and teachers were asked to describe a ?perfect student.? Chinese teachers and students emphasized willingness to learning over discipline while US public school teachers and students emphasized discipline over learning. They then built a virtual class room where teachers and students from China and US were thrown together to learn about insects. After sharing the shared responsibility of teaching a virtual class, the US teachers became open minded towards the Chinese methods. The key point being, shared responsibility when working on a task or game will foster awareness and acceptance of differences in approaches.

Noted that his research is not trying to make education fun, but he is trying to ?Make education satisfying.? The distinction is subtle but important.

To that end, one of his students observed that hobbyists are highly motivated and exhibit many behaviors we would like to see in the classroom. The top things that motivated hobbyists were: (1) the creation of a product, performance or artifact; (2) learning the methods necessary to create the artifact; (3) sharing the artifact with others; and (4) appropriate levels of challenge. More information about this study can be found at http://aaalab.stanford.edu/teachable_agents/ta_hobbies.html.

He mentioned much of the educational software and toys available today (e.g. Leapfrog and Learning Company) aid memory and memorization. While memory is important, the more difficult component of education is to teach people to ?apply the information they have memorized at the right time.? His example is the psychiatric students that that has learned all the possible mental illnesses, but does not yet now how to recognize them in patients.

When discussing successful online learning systems, his mentioned Educational Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY), http://www-epgy.stanford.edu. EPGY provides distance learning math software for gifted children. The program is located next door in Ventura hall.

He also discussed intelligent tutors. There are examples of web based intelligent tutors that can track a students progress and monitor how well they are following the appropriate method. The intelligent tutor can provide advice when students start deviating from the correct solution to a given problem. Intelligent tutors work best in very formal domains like geometry, algebra, etc. Local research (http://www-csli.stanford.edu/semlab/muri/) in intelligent tutors focuses on natural language interactions with intelligent tutors.

He also mentioned strategy agents. These agents can describe the ramifications of possible actions and suggest more appropriate actions when available. Again these agents work best in formal domains where actions and their ramifications can be clearly characterized. Local research in intelligent tutors focuses on natural language interactions with intelligent tutors

In regards to TB treatment, he suggested looking at the diabetes literature. Like TB patients, diabetics feel okay. Diabetics do not feel the negative impact of skipping their insulin ?until it?s too late.?