Assisting Learning and Insight in Design Using Embodied Conversational Agents

Reflective practices correlate with both insight in engineering design projects (Currano. 2015 Reflective Practice in Engineering Design) and learning in engineering education (Chew et al. 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition 2016). Schön (Knowledge-Based Systems 5:3–14. 1992) observed that designers engage in a reflective conversation with design materials as they sketch and prototype their ideas. However, students can struggle when learning domain knowledge and design practices simultaneously. We hypothesized that (1) making the conversation between student designers and their prototyping materials literal and explicit, rather than metaphorical, can assist in reflection, and (2) the effect can be enhanced by embodying a conversational agent within the prototype itself. We developed an embodied conversational agent as a tool to elicit reflection and lead to greater insight and learning, during a hands-on mechatronics prototyping and design activity. In addition to guiding learners through a tutorial, the agent answers questions, offers comments, and asks deep reasoning and generative design questions, which correlate with convergent and divergent phases of the design process (Eris. DS 31: Proc. 14th Intl. Conf. on Engineering Design (ICED). 2003). We compare learners’ gained knowledge, performance, and reactions in conditions with or without a conversational agent, and using an embodied or non-embodied agent, to evaluate the impact of (1) conversational communication, and (2) physical embodiment, on learning and insight. In this chapter, we describe the background and rationale for our study, details of the study design, and preliminary insights from our pilot data.