Our Solution
Our final product is a high fidelity prototype of a web based, natural language interface for delivering college counseling information to low-income high school students. Below are listed the key features of our solution as well as links to our video prototype and interactive demo. We focused our efforts on developing the front end of this system because it is the one part of the full solution that has yet to be tackled by other researchers. We are confident, based on research and talking to experts in computer science, that the supporting technologies, such as natural language processing and intelligent agents, are rapidly developing toward commerical viability. The purpose of our project was to create the most effective learning environment for college counseling so that all the pieces can potentially be put together to create a fully functional final product.
Key Features of CAIA
Below is a screenshot of the CAIA interface with a brief description of each part of the system. Underneath the screenshot are more detailed discussions of particular features of CAIA.
Notes Section ... The notes section in CAIA was added to the final product due to observations made during our assessment. When students were answering questions about college finance information, certain questions were answered incorrectly by all of the students. In particular, information such as dates and websites are difficult to recall. In this notes section, those pieces of information will dynamically appear as CAIA mentions them, and then students can choose to add their own notes if they want to and they can save the notes for later reference.
Captions Section ... We also added captions below the area where CAIA is speaking. While conducting our user tests, some students told us that they would have an easier time understanding and remember what she says if they were able to read along with her. In order to accdomodate both types of learning styles, students can use the controls to turn captions on or off.
Natural Interaction ... Because college counseling relies so heavily on trust on the part of students, we wanted to make sure that the interaction with CAIA would be as familiar as possible. Almost every student would prefer to talk to their counselor in person, but students we spoke to told us that this was much more comfortable than the other forms of college information, such as books and websites, because they were engaged in the conversation and felt that the information they were receiving was reliable. You can see how a typical interaction would take place lower on the page in our video prototype.
Personalized Information ... One of the biggest problems that students have when getting college information, especially low-income students, is that there is so much information out there, that it is difficult to understand what is relevant to each student. By creating a learner profile for each student, it is possible to deliver information in a more personalized and relevant way. You can see a typical learner profile below and get a feel for what personalized information would sound like by using our interactive demo.
See CAIA in Action
To the left, you can see the profile of a typical student who would use CAIA. When you use our interactive demo, try to take on the persona of this student to get a better feel for how information will be personalized for different students. You can also launch and view our video prototype, which demonstrates a typical use scenario of CAIA.
