TuTalk: Rapidly Developing Dialogue Systems that Support Learning Studies

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TuTalk Rapidly Developing Dialogue Systems that
Support Learning Studies

• Michael Ringenberg
• University of Pittsburgh
• Learning Research and Development Center

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What is TuTalk?

• Dialogue system construction tool for learning
  applications
• Authoring
• Creates an artificial dialogue partner
• Supports mixed-initiative tutorial or
  conversational dialogue
• Experimental support
• Secure server that hosts artificial dialogue
  partners
• Experimenter supplies list of authorized ids
• Logs all interactions by id

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Finite state dialogue management
gravitational,
ltanything elsegt
runners
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Example dialogue
Subdialogue
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Innovation offered

• Combines
• Existing plug-and-play architecture
• Existing NLP technology
• with
• Non-programmer authoring all content expressed
  in natural language
• Experimental support

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TuTalk's pre-PSLC History

• During physics problem solving
• 3 by Rosé (Andes-Atlas)
• 3 by VanLehn, Jordan, Rosé (Why2-Atlas)
• During CS program planning
• 1 by Lane (ProPL)
• During thermodynamics problem solving
• 2 by Rosé Aleven (CycleTalk)
• Spoken during physics problem solving
• 2 by Litman (ITSpoke)
• Following physics problem solving
• 2 by Katz

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TuTalk within PSLC

• Accepted experiments
• 2 reflection experiments in Physics LearnLab
  (Katz)
• 1 responding to uncertainty in spoken dialogue in
  Physics LearnLab (Forbes-Riley Litman)
• Proposed experiments under review
• Chinese LearnLab (Mei Zhang)
• Chemistry LearnLab (Rosé w/ collaborators _at_
  National Taiwan Normal University)
• Piloting French dialogue agents (Rosé Albright)
• 6 Summer School 2006 projects (all included some
  non-PSLC members)

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TuTalk external to PSLC

• Integrated into Second Life by LIFE SLC
• Continuing use by ONR funded project _at_ CMU
• Being used extended by 3 NSF funded projects _at_
  Pitt
• Being used for an NSF funded project _at_ UIC
• Being used in several graduate student projects _at_
  Pitt
• 1 PSLC Summer School participant reported that
  extended their dialogue agent after the session
• Several proposals pending

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Plans for 2007

• Outreach to potential users
• User support and education
• Incorporate feedback from users

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Questions?

• http//andes3.lrdc.pitt.edu/TuTalk
• mringenb_at_pitt.edu
• pjordan_at_pitt.edu
• mosesh_at_pitt.edu