Development of a Distributed Pair Exercise System for Network Construction with a Dialogue Support Function

This Research to Practice Full Paper presents a distributed pair exercise system for network construction with a dialogue support function. In a certain type of network construction exercise, each of the two learners pairs up and constructs networks. One member of a pair, called driver, operates network components, while another member of the pair, called navigator, checks the driver's work. Several exercise systems realize environments where learners in distant places carry out network construction exercises using virtual machines. However, there are two problems associated with such network construction exercise systems: 1) it is difficult for the members of a pair to edit a common network at the same time and 2) it is difficult for the members of a pair to share attention areas efficiently. Attention areas are areas that a member would like the partner to look at. We propose an exercise system that has GUIs for editing common networks at the same time, selecting attention areas intuitively, and visualizing attention areas. The experiment confirmed that subjects conveyed attention areas more easily, faster, and more accurately using the proposed method than with plain text (traditional method).