North Carolina State University
News Services
Campus Box 7504
Raleigh, NC 27695 (919) 515-3470
Media Contacts:
Dr. James Lester, 919/515-7534 or [email protected]
Patrick FitzGerald, 919/515-8364 or [email protected]
Tim Lucas, News Services, 919/515-3470 or [email protected]
Smart Software Gives Kids an ëAnimated' Guide to the Internet
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
He's a smooth operator, the type of guy who knows his way around. He's cool -- a little cocky even -- but kind and quick with his praise.
Some new Hollywood hero? No, he's Cosmo the Internet Adviser, the wormlike, wise-cracking animated star of a new interactive software program being developed at North Carolina State University to teach teens and preteens about the inner workings of the Internet.
Part computer game, part personal tutorial, the software combines eye-popping animation with artificial intelligence to take students on a fantastic voyage into the guts of a computer and onto the Internet. It's the brainchild of Dr. James Lester, assistant professor of computer science, Patrick FitzGerald, visiting assistant professor of design and technology, and their students in NC State's IntelliMedia Initiative, a research and teaching laboratory for interactive, or "smart," educational software.
"The idea is to marry entertainment with education so kids, especially those who've grown up with Super Mario Brothers, will enjoy what they're doing and end up learning more," says FitzGerald.
"Teachers don't always have the resources to give each student as much one-on-one instruction as they'd like," Lester says. "But with this program, they could provide each student with his own virtual teacher -- an intelligent, animated character who gives individualized problem-solving advice on demand."
Development of the software is supported by a newly awarded $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
Last month, Lester presented a prototype of Cosmo at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Nagoya, Japan. Prior to that, at the World Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Education, in Kobe, Japan, he presented findings from a study of 100 middle school students who were taught botany by "Herman the Bug," another IntelliMedia virtual teacher. The study, conducted with NC State psychologist Dr. Sharolyn Converse, is the largest of its kind ever done and shows that virtual teachers can be highly effective learning aids.
The researchers hope to use a version of the Cosmo software in a computer literacy course at NC State next spring. If all goes well, a commercial software program for PCs will be produced, as will a CD-ROM and two true 3-D versions, one on CD-ROM, the other web-based. To make learning fun, Cosmo's Internet adventure is structured in a fast-paced, problem-solving format. In the prototype, he leads users into a 3-D motherboard where they watch, from inside the computer, as e-mail is sent from one PC to another. With his help, students follow the message onto the Internet and find ways to resolve problems that may hold it up or misdirect it.
The program's artificial intelligence lets Cosmo react to and remember students' solutions to the problems and then adjust his questions to their individual skill levels. This allows students to learn at their own speed and spend extra time on the concepts or skills that give them the most trouble. As a student's computer literacy grows, the game changes. "There will be almost endless variations to play, for skill levels ranging from kindergarten to entry-level college," says FitzGerald.
The script contains no long, technical explanations of how the Internet works. Instead, the information is provided by Cosmo in short snippets and wisecracks. That's by design, says Lester, father of a 6-year-old daughter: "If you bore a kid, you lose him."
Future versions of the software will give students a choice of Internet applications to learn about, each of which will lead them into a new adventure with Cosmo.
Creating the prototype took about 18 months. "At one point, Cosmo was a vacuum cleaner, but his design slowly but surely evolved," FitzGerald says with a laugh. "We wanted him to be as likeable and easy to understand as possible."
With a working design in hand, researchers then produced a 3-D virtual model of Cosmo, refined it and programmed in lifelike motion and speech, while concurrently writing a storyline, and designing and programming the virtual environments he would lead students through.
The result of their work is a character who looks something like a friendly mutant worm from outer space. To make him an effective teaching tool, designers gave him big eyes and eyebrows so he can convey emotions and messages clearly; large hands to act as on-screen pointers; and antennae that stand tall when a student answers correctly but sag after an incorrect guess. His voice, provided by a professional actor, is energetic and encouraging.
"With multimedia technologies, the goal is to make the interface so intuitive and easy to follow that the user doesn't even think about it," says FitzGerald. "Ideally, students playing this game will be learning without even realizing it."
The IntelliMedia Initiative is a joint program of NC State's College of Engineering and the School of Design. Major funding comes from the National Science Foundation and NC State University; support also has been provided by the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science, Novell Inc., IBM Corp. and MCNC in Research Triangle Park.
Former IntelliMedia students now work at some of the most important shops in the computer game and educational software industry, including Tom Clancy's Red Storm, Interactive Magic and FarPoint Technologies.
You can sneak a peek at Cosmo and other IntelliMedia projects at the home page: http://multimedia.ncsu.edu/imedia.
-- lucas --
NOTE TO EDITORS: Sample footage from "Cosmo the Internet Adviser" is available in Beta and VHS formats. Color slides and black-and-white photos of Cosmo also are available. Call Tim Lucas, News Services, at (919) 515-3470 for copies.
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