Pilot Testing of the Pathway Active Learning Environment

We present an initial analysis of data taken to test the technical functionality and student usability of an interactive synthetic tutoring system administered online. The system allows students to ask questions and receive prerecorded video responses from knowledgeable tutors in real‐time. It logs student interactions with a timestamp and username to generate a time‐resolved picture of students’ use of the system. The tutoring interaction is structured by lessons covering Newton’s laws. Time on‐task estimates indicate that students spent about 2.5 hours working through our materials, about as much as intended. Data show students’ reluctance to query the tutor or that their focus is on other aspects of the system. This suggests modifications to the system that may encourage students to take advantage of its interactive capabilities. The system combines lessons, images, and video technology designed to emulate conversation to produce a supplemental teaching tool that may be useful for studying multimedia effects on learning.