Gender-Specific Approaches to Developing Emotionally Intelligent Learning Companions

The nonverbal social behaviors of virtual learning companions and their affect and task support have gender-specific impacts on learners' frustration and self-awareness during a challenging problem-solving activity. Social bonding and affective support between teachers and learners have considerable impact on learners' performance and motivation. One way to develop a social bond with learners is to provide assistance. According to research in this area (see the sidebar "Related Work on Affective Tutoring Systems"), systems that provide affective support to frustrated users can reduce frustration. A study of expert human tutors' interactions with their students found that up to half of these interactions focus on supporting the learner's affective state. Currently, most intelligent tutoring systems provide predominantly task-based support.