Educational research has shown the importance of explanation and reflection skills in promoting deep learning in science. Learners who are able to articulate and explain scientific concepts, and generate and critique scientific arguments, generally have a deeper understanding and are able to apply their knowledge more effectively. Unfortunately this complex array of skills is often inadequately developed in low achieving students, and children with English language deficiencies may have difficulty articulating scientific arguments. This project seeks to investigate ways in which learners can acquire explanation, argumentation, and reflection skills through the process of authoring, viewing, and critiquing multimedia presentations.
In this project we will study the impact on learning of a particular type of multimedia presentation: presentations enhanced with student-authored digital puppets. Digital puppets are animated characters that augment learning materials, e.g., Web pages, with spoken commentary and probing questions, nonverbal gestures, and facial expressions. Students create structured textual descriptions of the presentation content; the digital puppets generate speech and gestures automatically from these descriptions, enabling authors to focus on the content of their presentations instead of the details of multimedia composition and sequencing. Our particular focus is on the use of digital puppets to augment Web pages on scientific topics. We propose to develop an authoring tool that students use to create puppet-enhanced presentations for their peers, in a manner that promotes learning at both a cognitive and a metacognitive level, and assess the role of the digital puppets in achieving these learning outcomes.
We believe that digital puppets can facilitate better comprehension and more
active learning in conjunction with a variety of on-line learning materials.
We are therefore working with the USC Distance Education Network and other groups
to apply Digital Puppets to other on-line learning activities. Other universities
have licensed Digital Puppets and are developing other Digital Puppet applications.