Intelligent collaborating agents to support teaching and learning

This paper presents the intelligent multiagent infrastructure for distributed system in education (I-MINDS), an innovative application using AI and multiagent systems to help teachers teach better and students learn better. The I-MINDS system consists of a group of intelligent agents that work cooperatively in a distributed computing environment. A teacher agent monitors the student activities and helps the teacher manage and better adapt to the class. A student agent interacts with the teacher agent and other student agents to support cooperative learning activities behind-the-scene for a student. This paper describes two innovations in (a) automated ranking of questions and responses, and (b) agent-supported "buddy group" formation. The results of the proof-of-concept tests have demonstrated encouraging effectiveness of I-MINDS in terms of learning gain and deep understanding.