Dialog Move Generation and Conversation Management in AutoTutor

AutoTutor is an automated computer literacy tutor that participates in a conversation with the student. AutoTutor simulates the discourse patterns and pedagogical dialog moves of human tutors. This paper describes how the Dialog Advancer Network (DAN) manages AutoTutor’s conversations and how AutoTutor generates pedagogically effective dialog moves that are sensitive to the quality and nature of the learner’s dialog contributions. Two versions of AutoTutor are discussed. AutoTutor-1 simulates the dialog moves of normal, untrained human tutors, whereas AutoTutor-2 simulates dialog moves that are motivated by more ideal tutoring strategies.