SG-ACCORD: Designing Virtual Agents for Soft Skills Training in the School Context

Abstract

This study focuses on the behavior of interactive agents and how to ground their implementation in psychology and cognitive modeling to capture fundamental psycho-pedagogical elements to deliver an effective competency-based training and assessment tool for teachers, trainers, and educators working in the school context. The study describes the design and implementation of a Serious Game, “Attain Cultural Integration through COnflict Resolution skill Development” (SG-ACCORD), to develop and assess soft skills that are pivotal in educational working contexts (i.e., negotiation, effective communication, intercultural conflict management). The SG-ACCORD has been developed by applying a tailored methodology, namely the Educational Technology-enhanced Role-Playing, addressing two main facets: psycho-pedagogical (theoretical frameworks) and technological (production of artificial worlds based on computer-simulated models). The game is a single-player virtual role-play offering a series of scenarios reflecting the real-life experiences of teachers in which the role of interactions and human factors is crucial. It focuses on the simulation of a dialogue between two characters (an avatar controlled by a human player and a BOT computer-controlled counterpart), enacting interethnic conflicts between teacher and students within realistic school context scenarios. The SG-ACCORD represents a free, easily manageable, and flexible educational tool that can be used as a stand-alone resource and envisages an automatic feedback and debriefing system.