Conversational Search for Learning Technologies

Arguably, the most important scenario for search technology is lifelong learning and education, both for students and all citizens. Human learning is a complex multidimensional activity, which includes procedural learning (e.g., activity patterns associated with cooking, sports) and knowledge-based learning (e.g., mathematics, genetics). It also includes different levels of learning, such as the ability to solve an individual math problem correctly. It also includes the development of meta-cognitive self-regulatory abilities, such as recognizing the type of problem being solved and whether one is in an error state. These latter types of awareness enable correctly regulating ones approach to solving a problem, and recognizing when one is off track by repairing momentary errors as needed. Later stages of learning enable the generalization of learned skills or information from one context or domain to others such as applying math problem solving to calculations in the wild (e.g., calculation of garden space, engineering calculations required for a structurally sound building).