Prof M in development

e-Tutors

Professor M was our first animated instructor or one-on-one personal e-tutor, MPeT ™ . Although he is certainly not the answer in every e-learning experience he has everything to do with why the Software Training Institute, LLC was formed. He was followed by three additional MPeT ™ instructors created for the Peace Learning Center’s Peace Maker CD project; Truce, Serenity and Ms. Stevens. When we look back at our e-tutors’ evolution, it has been similar to Data’s (the android) on the TV show “Star Trek, The Next Generation” series. The exception is that we have courageously addressed emotion chip issues from the start. Check out our first test of Professor M to the left for a good chuckle.

There is a book on the #1 National Bestseller list “The Tipping Factor” by Malcolm Gladwell, which addresses the issue of how little things can make a big difference in creating marketing epidemics. There is something Gladwell terms the stickiness factor that helps a lot to analyze how a personal e-tutor effects education. For example, he sites research done with Sesame Street. We might guess that kids would watch the screen when they are stimulated and look away when they are bored. Rather the research found that kids watch when they understand and look away when they are confused. This is a critical difference. It means if you want to know whether - and what - kids are learning from at a particular moment, all you have to do is to notice what they are watching. And if you want to know what kids aren't learning, all you have to do is notice what they aren't watching.

We believe my personal e-tutor can have a lot to do with bringing about understanding in these visual learning situations. Visual learners learn through seeing, visual displays are very helpful. In a classroom environment, these learners need to see the teacher’s body language and facial expression to fully understand the content of a lesson. They may want to take detailed notes to absorb information. When you watch our personal e-tutor, MPeT ™, demonstrations note how much even facial expression alone in this one-to-one format can help express a concept. Any educational content that might typically go out to learners in written form only, has a much greater chance of reaching the visual learners if it could also be reviewed on the computer, at their own speed, with their own personal e-tutor, MPeT ™.

Another interesting aspect of learning that applies here is the power of storytelling. Educators have long known that the arts can contribute to a learner’s academic success and emotional well being. Teaching in the format of a story organizes content in terms of cause, effect and relationships. It is especially well suited for topics that require creative exploration. Further reflection on the story encourages them to challenge their own thoughts and feelings about daily life issues.

More interesting research from Gladwell’s “The Tipping Factor” deals with the children’s educational television show, Blue’s Clues. “Every episode of Blue’s Clues is constructed the same way. Steve, the host, presents the audience with a puzzle involving Blue, the animated dog.” Blue’s Clues relies on one-to-one interaction, Steve, the host, spends almost all of his time looking directly at the camera, he pauses when he asks a question and often enlists the audience’s help. The kids empathize with Steve, they will get excited and call out answers because they sincerely want to help him. The use of repetition, as the show is run 5 times consecutively, is also unique. They learned that repetition can be very useful if a program is developed with learning potential depth. Something new can be learned each time. One more thing they learned was to avoid word play or comedy that could confuse your particular audience.

Near the end of his chapter on the stickiness factor and the educational market, Gladwell summarizes: “We all want to believe that the key to making an impact on someone lies with the inherent quality of the ideas we present. But in none of these cases did anyone substantially alter the content of what they were saying. Instead, they tipped the message by tinkering, on the margin; with the presentation of their ideas…There is a simple way to package information that, under the right circumstances, can make it irresistible. All you have to do is find it.”

And so, our story begins and ends with Professor M, our first one-on-one personal e-tutor, MPeT ™ . He was designed to be adaptable for a variety of teaching applications and he would love to be in yours!

We do understand, that in some instances, it will be important that the e-tutor portray a different image than Professor M can ever hope to accomplish! If this is the case, we encourage you to set aside your mind’s previous conception of what can be done on this earthly plane. Join us and journey with an educator’s heart and an explorer’s imagination to a distant planet. Together from this place, stars are lit, dreams come true, stickiness occurs and education happens !