2019 #VWEDU #DTA: DTA and digicoach take on a form to suit the task: Shoulder pet, HUD, NPC, signs in places.

DTA and digicoach take on forms to suit the task: 
Shoulder pet, HUD, NPC, signs in places.  

The Digicoach cannot emulate a human and need not try.  For traditional content instruction, it might be embodied in scenes relevant to the content.  For coaching to improve learning skills it might he a shoulder pet    This article is explicitly licensed Public Domain (CC0).

The Empty Classroom

Gone to the digital world

• DTA and Digicoach are a collection of services to support learning in a digital world. 
• They would be developed as independent modules and made available that way.
• Some services fit to places: Digicoach might be objects or signs.
• Some services should go with the avatar as  a shoulder-pet or a HUD.
• Some services may work better coming from a human-like form: NPC
• The Digital Teaching Assistant (DTA) for MUVES (virtual worlds): Summary

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Digicoach as objects

• Any object in a digital world can be scripted to give information. 
• The information can be put in local chat or in a notecard
• For more elaborate information, it can open a web page.
• The web page can present text, video, audio, or any other media.
• It can also ask questions and record the answers.
• If the correct answer is specified (eg., a number) it can evaluate the answer.
• It can take score-keeping action, such as giving a token for a correct answer.
• Tokens could be placed on a scoreboard to record progress.
• The scoreboard could report to the teacher for monitoring performance.

How would you use that?

• Learning places might be prepared by an instructional design specialist.
• They would probably present scenes relevant to the instructional content they offer.
• They might also offer games that call on capabilities the lerarner is developing.
• Learning places are a little like textbooks: they can be reproduced without limit.
• Thus the cost of preparation could be spread over a large number of users.
• So a collection of learning places could replace a textbook with the same content.
• Unlike a textbook, a learning place could monitor student activity and report progress.
• A Digital Teaching Assistant (DTA) in MUVE (virtual world): What would it do?
• (Note FERPA issues)
• The reports could support formative assessment
• The learning place could offer just-in-time learning and immediate feedback.

Digicoach as shoulder pet or HUD

• A shoulder pet or HUD is closely associated with the learner.
• These can be scripted to have private communication with the learner.
• They would accompany the learner to different learning places.  
• They are best suited to skills not related to specific content.
• The skill set that permeates all learning is learning-how-to-learn (LHL)

The coaches for learning-how-to-learn

• Coaches: plural because multiple skills are needed.
• Developing effective study plans
• Searching with Google
• Goal-setting
• How to study effectively
• (More TBD) 
• The LHL coach would probably offer a set of options for learner choice

A coach in human form?

• Human form gets immediate attention.  
• Animated NPCs are available. 

DTA articles

General

• A Digital Teaching Assistant (DTA) in MUVE (virtual world): What would it do?
• A digital teaching assistant (DTA) in a virtual world. Can it be done?
• Digital coaching is needed for the DTA: Do we have the technology for that?
• Online education, sure. But why a virtual campus? Why in a virtual world (MUVE)?

Development considerations

• DTA content pages: The plan: Initial DTA content on the web here. Can be used from here or copied for use elsewhere
• The digital teacher assistant and FERPA: there are security issues
• Will the Digital Teaching Assistant (DTA) need artificial intelligence?

Possible services, education

• Digicoach can support collaborative homework and study sessions
• Digicoach can support homework in virtual worlds with JIT learning, immediate feedback
• Digicoach for project-management in self-managed teams: (Note: skills to be learned in doing these tasks)

Possible services, virtual worlds

• Newcomer welcome coach (1): Basic skills needed promptly
• DTA content pages: The plan: Initial DTA content on the web here. Can be used from here or copied for use elsewhere.
• Firestorm settings for beginners. A DTA content page

New century education

• Once you hear lecture about swimming, you never forget what you learned about lectures. Talking is not teaching
• Just-In-Time (JIT) learning in virtual schools, maybe with DTA coaching. Language as an example
• Why a reading assignment is like a treasure hunt. And why it is not
• Suppose the real objective in school is to pass multiple-choice tests. Can a digital TA handle test-based learning?

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License

• Original text in this blog is CC By: unless specified public domain.
• Use as you please with attribution: link to the original.
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• Annotated screenshots made with Jing
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• Selby Evans in Kitely and hypergrid, Thinkerer Melville in Second Life.