CATS2009: 2nd workshop on Culturally-Aware Tutoring Systems Socio-Cultural Issues in Artificial Intelligence in Education
To be held in conjunction with AIED2009, Brighton, UK, 6-7 July 2009
PRESENTATION
Learners with various cultural profiles and backgrounds are benefiting from diverse applications and initiatives of the AIED community. That said, research in education has shown that teaching methodologies and instructional design cannot always be universally applied as their impact can greatly vary from one culture to another. In other words, pedagogical strategies that are effective for one cultural group may not be effective with a different one. As a result, researchers are increasingly focusing on cultural factors in the conception of AIED systems, be it from the point of view of learners' varying cultural backgrounds or the influence that these backgrounds have on the choice of underlying teaching methodologies. Developing AIED systems with cultural discernment capabilities can therefore -- among other possibilities -- contribute to lessening the potential for misunderstanding learner behaviour as well as allow for customized learning according to cultural needs. A greater cultural focus can also increase the flexibility of the systems we build and promote their acceptance and wider spread use.
Furthermore, in a world in which interactions between culturally diverse people and groups are becoming usual, developing models of cultural representation is a valuable undertaking. Not only is there an increasing need in the teaching process for the ability to address individuals and groups with respect to culture, there is a need to learn about culture itself in view of its rich and multi-faceted variability. AIED systems, enhanced with a capacity for simulating complex cultural situations, could have a profound impact on the format, design and quality of teaching they wish to impart.
A first edition of the proposed workshop took place in 2008 in conjunction with ITS 2008. Proceedings can be accessed at: http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~blanchae/CATS2008/CATS2008.pdf
The current workshop consequently aims to continue this trend on the way culture can be represented within the overarching goal of imparting knowledge via AIED. It also aims to stimulate discussion on the impact of culture on AIED systems and reflect on those emerging technologies that need to be developed to more fully integrate cultural considerations. Finally, it aims at sharing and expanding the very knowledge we have about culture.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Papers concerned with issues of representing culture as well as its impact and influence in the domain of AIED will be encouraged, whether from computer science, psychology, intercultural studies or other related fields. Research at varying levels of development as well as position papers will be considered.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Computer modelling of individual cultural traits
- Computer modelling of cultural contexts and environments
- Computer modelling and definition of cultural groups
- Computer modelling of dynamics between varying cultural entities
- Cultural perception of AIED systems
- Computer-assisted learning of culture
- Computer-assisted learning of cultural history
- Computer-assisted intercultural communication for learning purpose
- Collaborative learning and cultural diversity
- Identification of cultural variations in computer-assisted education
- Impact of culture on teaching strategies and methodologies to be used in AIED systems
- Impact of culture on emotional and motivational management in AIED systems
- Relationship between culture and cognition and its impact within AIED systems
- Cultural adaptation methodologies and their application in AIED systems
- Interface variations according to users' cultural background
- AIED for teaching cultural heritage
- Internationalization of AIED systems
Solutions related to these topics can be framed in terms of:
- System architecture
- Machine learning techniques
- Case-based reasoning
- Data mining
- Speech and dialogue systems
- Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
- Computer-supported collaborative learning
- Intelligent agents
- Learning companions
- Planning
- Serious games
- Virtual learning environments
- Simulations
- Ontology engineering
- Semantic web techniques
- Learning objects
- Adaptive hypermedia
- Pervasive computing
- Authoring tools for AIED systems
- Cross-cultural evaluation of AIED systems
- Etc.
Submissions must be in MS Word (.doc), Portable Document Format (.pdf), or Rich Text Format (.rtf). Papers must comply with the IOSPRESS formatting instructions available here. Submissions must be in English and should not exceed 10 pages. Short papers - no more than 5 pages - can also be considered.
Articles will be evaluated according to a double blind review process by two or more members of the program committee. Hence the submitted document will not display authors' information. Furthermore, it is strongly recommended that information allowing authors to be identified be avoided within the core of the article (this information can however be included once the article has been accepted).
COMMITTEES
Organizing Committee
Emmanuel G. Blanchard, McGill University, Canada
H. Chad Lane, University of Southern California, USA
Danièle Allard, Dalhousie University, Canada
Program Committee
Lora Aroyo, Free University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Jacqueline Bourdeau, TELUQ (UQAM), Canada
Benedict DuBoulay, University of Sussex, UK
Elisabeth Delozanne, University of Paris VI, France
Claude Frasson, University of Montréal, Canada
Guy Gouardères, University of Pau, France
Monique Grandbastien, University of Nancy I, France
W. Lewis Johnson, Alelo Inc, USA
Judy Kay, University of Sydney, Australia
Susanne P. Lajoie, McGill University, Canada
Riichiro Mizoguchi, Osaka University, Japan
Roger Nkambou, University of Québec at Montréal (UQAM), Canada
Amy Ogan, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Elaine Raybourn, University of New Mexico, USA
Matthias Rehm, University of Augsburg, Germany
Katharina Reinecke, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Isabelle Savard, TELUQ (UQAM), Canada
Robert E. Wray, Soar Technology, USA
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