Interacting with CPAs

Interacting with Computers

The content of the two articles “Conversational Agents and Their Longitudinal Affordances on Communication and Interaction” and “When sex, drugs, and violence enter the classroom: Conversations between adolescents and a female pedagogical agent” offer a deep psychological, philosophical and social understanding of teaching and culture within today’s society and advancement of technology. After reading and thinking critically about these articles I became much more aware of how technology affects students in a very negative way. I also learned about the concept of having a conversational agents and the benefits and disadvantages.
I would first like to discuss the idea of a conversational agent. Before this article I had never heard of this specific type of learning style or technological use. In very basic general terms I believe that the idea of an instant online support system is really good idea for students. Students will have more flexibility to complete assignments whenever they want. This made me think of how school flexibility has changed over the years. Schools and teachers used to be very limited to how much time they spend with their students, before it was only during the school day and even then class may not have met every day. As phones, internet, computers and a wider view of education in general increased so did the amount of access to and from students and teachers outside of the classroom. Online blogging, aim and even facebook helps students communicate to each other and to their teacher outside the classroom. So when reflecting upon the progress of education and technology it is not that big of a surprise that the conversational agent has been invented and used with students.
The results of the study were interesting. On a personal level, I believe that one of the best ways to learn is through personal contact and interaction. Humans offer human feeling that cannot be replicated through a machine, despite how close these CA’s came. There is a certain uniqueness and lack of control when talking to person, by this, I mean when talking to a person you never know where the conversation can lead to and how the student could develop a different viewpoint by walking into new territory. There is also a flip side. For basic questions regarding the assignment the CA is a good thing but for a replacement or even side of a teacher the CA does not compare. For an open discussion of ideas and concepts I don’t think that the CA is a good fit for it could never be as open as a discussion with the teacher or another student.
I would like to say that the use of inappropriate language shows another aspect of popular culture and children; their maturity rate. From my own experiences I can say that in the elementary schools I have been at students tend to talk more aggressively and sexually even in front of me as the teacher. I think this is an important aspect when it comes to school and society. I think the media plays a huge role especially these days with the ‘sex sells’ image everywhere. Students are learning things at a very young age. I think as teachers it is important that we are keeping up with the trends of the time and what goes on in popular culture that way we can adapt our thinking and teaching to our students.