Using Social Agents in Algorithm Animations A Case Study with Seal

Many computer science educators note that understanding and analyzing algorithms is difficult. During the last twenty years several systems have been created that use computerized visualizations of algorithms in order to help student understanding. While some positive results can be seen, several questions remain unsolved. One of these is how to ensure that the student correctly understands the visualization that was just viewed. Using artificial intelligence in computer aided education has been presented as an option, but its traditional uses are far from usable. I argue that the use of agent-based engineering can help solve the problem of combining artificial intelligence and computer aided instruction in order to answer the question of ensuring student understanding of algorithms. As proof of the concept I present a prototypical environment for algorithm animation called Seal. It is a student-driven algorithm animation environment with an instructor agent for student guidance. As a part of Seal’s development a DTD has been developed for use in representing algorithms in XML. The ACM Computing Classification System (1998 version): K.3.2, I.2.11, H.5.1