Effective User Interface Design for Teachable Agent Systems
Karun Viswanath, Ramya Balachandran, Joan Davis, and Bobby Bodenheimer
Abstract
This paper discusses the improvements to the user interface of a
system designed to promote learning through teaching. The system is an
intelligent agent developed at Vanderbilt University for studying the
learning by teaching paradigm and is called Betty s Brain. In the
Betty s Brain system, students teach a computer agent, named Betty, by
creating a concept map using a visual interface. Students themselves
learn through the process of instructing the agent. Fifth grade
students in Nashville public schools are participating in studies on
this system. In this work, we analyze the interface components of
Betty s Brain that enable the user to organize and input problem
solving knowledge about a domain for the purpose of instructing the
intelligent agent. The existing interface was also streamlined. We
then conducted a comparative user study to evaluate our changes to the
interface. Both qualitative and quantitative improvements in the user
s performance are reported. These results should provide useful
guidance for designers of the next generation of learning by teaching
systems.
The teachable agents web page is here.
Bobby Bodenheimer 
Last modified: Wed Jun 25 14:19:02 CDT 2003