A Software Agent for the Recommendation of Pedagogical Strategies to Distance Tutors in VLE

Abstract

The popularization of the Distance Education modality, fostered by the flexibilization of the current legal guidelines, as well as the technological advancement of the Virtual Learning Environments (VLE), brings a concern with the quality of the education offered, which is linked to the effective interaction between the actors teaching and learning process. In this sense, it is known that the tutor is the actor responsible for promoting interaction in these environments and his performance in this is linked to the effective participation of students. Therefore, this work proposes a software agent capable of recommending pedagogical strategies for distance tutors in VLE, aiming to improve their performance in promoting an effective interaction of students in VLE. The developed agent makes the recommendations through a knowledge model, represented by an ontology (developed through the 101 methodology), which maps the pedagogical strategies that aim to promote the interaction in the VLE. The pedagogical strategies used by the agent were raised through a Systematic Literature Review and the application of a questionnaire with professionals in the field of education, more precisely in Distance Education (EaD). For validation, the agent's knowledge model was subjected to tests of correctness and completeness, an application was also developed to modify the strategies recommended by the agent. For both validations, they were fed with historical data provided by the Distance Education Secretariat of a federal public university. The results showed that the agent's knowledge model is operating correctly, without any inconsistency. As well as the strategies are shown clearly by the developed System.