Research

03.Concept Validation

Insights from Scenarios

After we determined our distilled concepts and rankings and presented them during class presentations, we were then encouraged to revisit our interviewees (teachers and parents) to present them with these scenarios and gauge their responses and opinions. Through this concept validation session, we were able to gain very informative insights from the users' opinions, determining from valid user research as to whether the intelligent agent was or was not helpful in each scenario. In total, we interviewed two teachers, an educational coordinator, and three parents. Below are the consolidated responses that we received.

Insights: Bullying, Arguments, and Punishment

"The only way to fix human problems is through human contact."


"When kids fight, they're really just looking for an arm on their shoulder."
Notifying parents might not provide all the context and parents might become alarmed unnecessarily.


This is better for human interaction and sometimes teachers want students to work out the problem by themselves.

Insights: Student Work Progress, Working Aid, and Informing Parents

Teachers focus more on social interactions and learning process of students -- process is more important than progress.


At the kindergarten level, student interest takes a backseat to explorative learning.


Parents want to know that student is learning the basics and developing the appropriate cognitive skills to learn; would like teacher to monitor students to make sure that progress is occuring.

Insights: Lunck/Snack Schedules and Activities/Curriculum Archive, Monitors Student interest

Daily nuances such as setting and cleaning up for lunch take up a lot of time.



Teachers want to personalize the activities and curriculum to fit the needs of their classroom.


Teachers can already guage student interest during various activities so do not need an intelligent agent to do so for them.

Insights: Social

Teachers can change the criteria so that seating arrangements facilitate student interaction.


Have a social reward system that promotes good behavior by setting an example.


Circle time conversations provide insight about which students speak and what they say.
Skype has become a popular tool to connect with students abroad.


For games, more visuals are always good. For older students, teachers promote thinking/sharing of ideas.


Teachers like to pair expert and struggling students together; they also like to pair talkative/un-talkative students together to promote more social interaction.

Insights: Presence

Keeping attendance is important but a bothersome task.


Teachers need to keep an eye on the whereabouts of very every student at all times.


Students lose their belongings very often and a lot of time is spent searching for them.


Teachers right now use email dlists or permission slips to contact parents so if agent could facilitate this process, it would be helpful.


Teachers want to be first notified of emergencies so they can take the appropriate course of action.