Assistant Professor Jessie Chin and PhD student Smit Desai will present their research at the 64th International Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), a virtual event held from October 5-9. The mission of HFES is "to advance the science and practice of designing for people in systems through knowledge exchange, collaboration, and advocacy."
Desai will present the paper, "An Explorative Analysis of the Feasibility of Implementing Metacognitive Strategies in Self-Regulated Learning with the Conversational Agents," which he coauthored with Chin. For their study, Desai and Chin analyzed commercially available conversational agents, synthesized the metacognitive strategies implemented in computer-based learning environments, and examined the feasibility to implement these strategies on conversational agents. According to the researchers, the implications of this study include "designing scalable and accessible evidence-based theory-driven educational applications to support users to learn new knowledge on their own using the off-the-shelf devices."
Desai's research interests include the usability and prototyping of voice interfaces, in particular the user's mental model while interacting with these interfaces. He earned his bachelor's degree in computer engineering from Gujarat Technological University in India and his MS in information management from the University of Illinois.
Chin will present the paper, "A User Study on the Feasibility and Acceptance of Delivering Physical Activity Programs to Older Adults through Conversational Agents," which she coauthored with Kelly Quinn, Naoko Muramatsu, and David Marquez of the University of Illinois at Chicago. She will discuss their study examining how older adults interact with a physical activity virtual coach on a Google Home device. The researchers found that all older adults were able to recover from the conversation failure during the interaction with the virtual coach; complete the physical activity program with guidance from the coach and demonstrated intentions to use such conversational agents in the future.
Chin's research aims to advance knowledge in cognitive sciences regarding evolving human interaction with the contemporary information technologies and translating theories in social and behavioral sciences to the design of technologies and interaction experience to promote health communication and behavior across the lifespan. She holds a BS in psychology from National Taiwan University, an MS in human factors, and a PhD in educational psychology with a focus on cognitive science in teaching and learning from the University of Illinois.