Teaching Composition using Role Play and Feedback from Multiple Agents

Writing is an extremely difficult task because it requires the simultaneous solution of multiple, often conflicting constraints. This paper describes a two-component system which helps students write by helping them learn what the different constraints are, and how to address them. The first component is a 3D role-playing environment in which students control characters that are put in difficult situations. The second component is a natural language processing tool that gives feedback on what the student writes about the role-playing situation. Different types of feedback come from different agents, helping the student to distinguish between the constraints.