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- Exploring the role of digital assistants and chatbots as learning companions in open and distance learningPublication . Morgado, Lina; Oliveira, Teresa; Afonso, Ana Paula; Carvalho, Isabel Cristina; Ferret, NathalieDigital assistants, virtual tutors or chatbots are new digital tools that significantly enhanced their support for teaching activities, especially in the case of distance learning. Technological advancements have made it possible for these devices to be integrated into various platforms, particularly LMSs or aggregated into virtual settings. In distance learning, student support is a crucial variable as this type of teaching is entirely mediated by technology. Based on the ODL literature, students often encounter difficulties due to a lack of comprehension of tasks, emotional factors and interaction with their teachers and tutors [1], [2]. This article reports on our experiences integrating digital assistants - Virtual tutors and Chatbots- in academic, professional development contexts of teacher training (TUTORIA VIRTUAL project - the virtual tutor as a mediating artefact for Higher education online learning) and scientific support for ODL students in a graduation course (IDEAS Project - An Innovative Digital Education and Skills Approach). The digital assistant (the Virtual Tutor) is a representation of a human teacher or tutor. It autonomously interprets each teaching-learning situation and intervenes with the student according to a specific tutoring plan. The plan includes instructions from the teacher/human tutor and is tailored to the field of knowledge and the student's profile. The Virtual Tutor was developed by a Portuguese consortium of researchers to analyse the pedagogical impact of integrating anthropomorphic interfaces with emotional characteristics, also known as Encapsulated Virtual Agents (ECA) or 'avatars', in online learning environments (OL) based on learning management systems (LMS) for online university teaching. The main idea is to explore how ECAs can be modelled, adapted, and used as virtual tutors in LMS to provide individual online support and follow-up to each student [3]. This presentation describes the implementation of this approach in a large ODL class for a degree in education. The course follows the institution's virtual pedagogical model and a specific scenario was designed for this intervention. Based on the analysis of student discourse and to improve and monitor the impact of the Virtual Tutor as a 'learning companion' [4], it was found that students perceive a lack of proximity, involvement (voice, gaze, affection), dialogue, and guidance in the implementation. The feedback points out that the design of "avatars" could be more intuitive and efficient.
- The challenges behind the development of an e-Mentoring model for online distance education: a pilot experiencePublication . Morgado, Lina; Afonso, Ana Paula; Ferret, Nathalie; Gomes, MartaDifferent higher education institutions (HEI) have broadly adopted peer mentoring as a strategy to pro vide initial and continuous support for new students, to promote their academic inclusion. In Distance Education HEI, peer e-mentoring assumes a crucial role in the promotion and maintenance of social and cognitive presence and in the creation of a sense of belonging to the academic community. Thus, it is assumed as a crucial support for the overcoming of online students’ specific difficulties and as a fac tor for his success. After a theoretical framework, this chapter presents the case of a pilot e-mentoring project implemented in a European open university based on the paradigms of virtual learning commu nities and the model of the community of inquiry (CoI). To conclude, it presents a set of assumptions for the construction of an e-mentoring model adapted to online DE and further research to be conducted
- Exploring the role of digital assistants and chatbots as learning companions in open and distance learningPublication . Morgado, Lina; Oliveira, Teresa; Afonso, Ana Paula; Carvalho, Isabel Cristina; Ferret, NathalieOs assistentes digitais, tutores virtuais ou chatbots melhoraram significativamente o seu apoio às actividades de ensino, especialmente no caso do ensino à distância. Os avanços tecnológicos permitiram a integração destes dispositivos em várias plataformas, nomeadamente nos LMS. No ensino à distância, o apoio ao estudante é crucial, uma vez que este tipo de ensino é inteiramente mediado pela tecnologia. De acordo com a literatura, os estudantes encontram frequentemente dificuldades devido à falta de compreensão das tarefas e a factores emocionais relacionados com os seus professores e tutores (Oliveira & Morgado, 2020). Esta comunicação relata as nossas experiências de integração de assistentes digitais (tutores virtuais e chatbots) em contextos académicos, de desenvolvimento profissional e de apoio científico a estudantes de e-learning em EAD e formação de professores.