Karel van den Bosch is a Senior Research Scientist at TNO in the Netherlands. He manages and conducts fundamental and applied research on the training of complex cognitive tasks (e.g. command
Serious games allow for adaptive and personalised forms of training; the nature and timing of lea... more Serious games allow for adaptive and personalised forms of training; the nature and timing of learning activities can be tailored to the trainee’s needs and interests. Autonomous game-based training requires for the automatic selection of appropriate exercises for an individual trainee. This paper presents a framework for an automated scenario generation system. The underlying notion is that a learning experience is defined by the objects and agents that inhabit the training environment. Our system uses automated planning to assess the behaviour required to achieve the (personalised) training objective. It then generates a scenario by selecting semantically annotated (or ‘smart’) objects and by assigning goals to the virtual characters. The resulting situations trigger the trainee to execute the desired behaviour. To test the framework, a prototype has been developed to train the First Aid treatment of burns. Experienced instructors evaluated scenarios written by three types of auth...
International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 2014
ABSTRACT An intelligent system for automated scenario-based training (SBT) needs knowledge about ... more ABSTRACT An intelligent system for automated scenario-based training (SBT) needs knowledge about the training domain, events taking place in the simulated environment, the behaviour of the participating characters, and teaching strategies for effective learning. This knowledge base should be theoretically sound and should represent the information in a generic, consistent, and unambiguous manner. Currently, there is no such knowledge base. This paper investigates the declarative knowledge needed for a system to reason about training and to make intelligent teaching decisions. A frame-based approach was used to model the identified knowledge in an ontology. The ontology specifies the core concepts of SBT and their relationships, and is applicable across training domains and applications. The ontology was used to develop a critical component of SBT: the scenario generator. It was found that the ontology enabled the scenario generator to develop scenarios that fitted the learning needs and skill level of the trainee. The presented work is an important step towards automated scenario-based training systems.
Cognitive biases and heuristics are pervasive simplifications and distortions in judgement and re... more Cognitive biases and heuristics are pervasive simplifications and distortions in judgement and reasoning that systematically affect human decision making. Knowledge in this area may enable us to foresee and reduce detrimental effects of biases or to influence others more effectively. We therefore performed a literature study to assess the influence of personal characteristics (cognitive abilities, expertise, personality, cultural background) on the occurrence of cognitive biases. We found that each of the aforementioned factors can affect cognitive biases, though not much is known about the effects of culture. Also, factors that appear to reduce a cognitive bias may in fact mitigate (suppress or override) its behavioral effect rather than preventing the bias from occurring at all. The general picture that arises is that bias susceptibility and the occurrence of biases depend on thinking style (heuristic versus deliberate), where thinking style is associated with an individual " s personal characteristics. In general, biases are reduced when a deliberate (analytical) thinking style is applied. However, whether a specific (heuristic or deliberate) thinking style actually reduces or enhances a given type of bias also depends on the context.
Serious games enable trainees to practice independently of school, staff, and fellow students. Th... more Serious games enable trainees to practice independently of school, staff, and fellow students. This is important as amount of practice directly relates to training efficacy. It is also known that personalized guidance elevates the benefits of training. How to achieve automated guidance, for example to be used in serious games, is a yet unsolved issue. This paper uses the situated
The aim of the studies undertaken for this dissertation was to investigate: (a) whether critical ... more The aim of the studies undertaken for this dissertation was to investigate: (a) whether critical thinking instruction benefits transfer of complex judgment skills, (b) the effects of random and blocked practice schedules on learning, retention and transfer of complex judgment skills and (c) the effects of critical thinking prompts in random and blocked practice schedules. The studies Two field experiments (N=16, N=16) were undertaken to determine whether critical thinking instruction (critical thinking, control) yields better performance in complex judgment tasks. In six exercises of one hour, students were taught military command and control. During near and far transfer test, students judgment performance was evaluated by experts who were not informed of the experimental manipulation. The results showed a benefit of critical thinking instruction, especially for the far transfer test. The effects of practice schedule (random, blocked) on retention (study 1) and near transfer (study 2) of complex judgment skills were studied in two laboratory experiments (N=54, N=64). Random practice yielded better retention and improved transfer performance, without having a detrimental effect of performance during learning. The final study involved a 2 x 3 factorial experiment (N = 120) with the factors practice schedule (random, blocked) and critical thinking prompts (proactive, retrospective, none). Here, a blocked schedule led to better performance than random practice during learning, but not on the transfer test, where a random schedule was beneficial. An interaction effect was also found: whereas retrospective critical thinking prompts have surplus value in a random schedule, transfer test performance following a blocked schedule is enhanced through proactive critical thinking prompts. Conclusion Critical thinking instruction teaches students a better judgment strategy and enhances understanding of the domain. Furthermore, with a correct timing of critical thinking prompts, not only random but also blocked practice schedules can greatly enhance learning and transfer performance.
Helsdingen, A. S., & Van den Bosch, K. (2009). Learning to make sense. Paper presented at the Cog... more Helsdingen, A. S., & Van den Bosch, K. (2009). Learning to make sense. Paper presented at the Cognitive Systems with Interactive sensors conference in Paris. November, 16-18, 2009, Paris, France.
Instructors play a major role in many of the current vir- tual training systems. Consequently, ei... more Instructors play a major role in many of the current vir- tual training systems. Consequently, either many instructors per trainee are needed, which is expensive, or single instructors perform highly de- manding tasks, which might lead to suboptimal training. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a cognitive model that not only generates the behaviour of virtual characters, but also
Virtual training systems with intelligent agents are often used to prepare people who have to act... more Virtual training systems with intelligent agents are often used to prepare people who have to act in incidents or crisis situations. Literature tells that typical human mistakes in incidents and crises involve situations in which people make false assumptions about other people's knowledge or inten- tions. To develop a virtual training system in which cor- rectly estimating others' knowledge and
Serious games allow for adaptive and personalised forms of training; the nature and timing of lea... more Serious games allow for adaptive and personalised forms of training; the nature and timing of learning activities can be tailored to the trainee’s needs and interests. Autonomous game-based training requires for the automatic selection of appropriate exercises for an individual trainee. This paper presents a framework for an automated scenario generation system. The underlying notion is that a learning experience is defined by the objects and agents that inhabit the training environment. Our system uses automated planning to assess the behaviour required to achieve the (personalised) training objective. It then generates a scenario by selecting semantically annotated (or ‘smart’) objects and by assigning goals to the virtual characters. The resulting situations trigger the trainee to execute the desired behaviour. To test the framework, a prototype has been developed to train the First Aid treatment of burns. Experienced instructors evaluated scenarios written by three types of auth...
International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 2014
ABSTRACT An intelligent system for automated scenario-based training (SBT) needs knowledge about ... more ABSTRACT An intelligent system for automated scenario-based training (SBT) needs knowledge about the training domain, events taking place in the simulated environment, the behaviour of the participating characters, and teaching strategies for effective learning. This knowledge base should be theoretically sound and should represent the information in a generic, consistent, and unambiguous manner. Currently, there is no such knowledge base. This paper investigates the declarative knowledge needed for a system to reason about training and to make intelligent teaching decisions. A frame-based approach was used to model the identified knowledge in an ontology. The ontology specifies the core concepts of SBT and their relationships, and is applicable across training domains and applications. The ontology was used to develop a critical component of SBT: the scenario generator. It was found that the ontology enabled the scenario generator to develop scenarios that fitted the learning needs and skill level of the trainee. The presented work is an important step towards automated scenario-based training systems.
Cognitive biases and heuristics are pervasive simplifications and distortions in judgement and re... more Cognitive biases and heuristics are pervasive simplifications and distortions in judgement and reasoning that systematically affect human decision making. Knowledge in this area may enable us to foresee and reduce detrimental effects of biases or to influence others more effectively. We therefore performed a literature study to assess the influence of personal characteristics (cognitive abilities, expertise, personality, cultural background) on the occurrence of cognitive biases. We found that each of the aforementioned factors can affect cognitive biases, though not much is known about the effects of culture. Also, factors that appear to reduce a cognitive bias may in fact mitigate (suppress or override) its behavioral effect rather than preventing the bias from occurring at all. The general picture that arises is that bias susceptibility and the occurrence of biases depend on thinking style (heuristic versus deliberate), where thinking style is associated with an individual " s personal characteristics. In general, biases are reduced when a deliberate (analytical) thinking style is applied. However, whether a specific (heuristic or deliberate) thinking style actually reduces or enhances a given type of bias also depends on the context.
Serious games enable trainees to practice independently of school, staff, and fellow students. Th... more Serious games enable trainees to practice independently of school, staff, and fellow students. This is important as amount of practice directly relates to training efficacy. It is also known that personalized guidance elevates the benefits of training. How to achieve automated guidance, for example to be used in serious games, is a yet unsolved issue. This paper uses the situated
The aim of the studies undertaken for this dissertation was to investigate: (a) whether critical ... more The aim of the studies undertaken for this dissertation was to investigate: (a) whether critical thinking instruction benefits transfer of complex judgment skills, (b) the effects of random and blocked practice schedules on learning, retention and transfer of complex judgment skills and (c) the effects of critical thinking prompts in random and blocked practice schedules. The studies Two field experiments (N=16, N=16) were undertaken to determine whether critical thinking instruction (critical thinking, control) yields better performance in complex judgment tasks. In six exercises of one hour, students were taught military command and control. During near and far transfer test, students judgment performance was evaluated by experts who were not informed of the experimental manipulation. The results showed a benefit of critical thinking instruction, especially for the far transfer test. The effects of practice schedule (random, blocked) on retention (study 1) and near transfer (study 2) of complex judgment skills were studied in two laboratory experiments (N=54, N=64). Random practice yielded better retention and improved transfer performance, without having a detrimental effect of performance during learning. The final study involved a 2 x 3 factorial experiment (N = 120) with the factors practice schedule (random, blocked) and critical thinking prompts (proactive, retrospective, none). Here, a blocked schedule led to better performance than random practice during learning, but not on the transfer test, where a random schedule was beneficial. An interaction effect was also found: whereas retrospective critical thinking prompts have surplus value in a random schedule, transfer test performance following a blocked schedule is enhanced through proactive critical thinking prompts. Conclusion Critical thinking instruction teaches students a better judgment strategy and enhances understanding of the domain. Furthermore, with a correct timing of critical thinking prompts, not only random but also blocked practice schedules can greatly enhance learning and transfer performance.
Helsdingen, A. S., & Van den Bosch, K. (2009). Learning to make sense. Paper presented at the Cog... more Helsdingen, A. S., & Van den Bosch, K. (2009). Learning to make sense. Paper presented at the Cognitive Systems with Interactive sensors conference in Paris. November, 16-18, 2009, Paris, France.
Instructors play a major role in many of the current vir- tual training systems. Consequently, ei... more Instructors play a major role in many of the current vir- tual training systems. Consequently, either many instructors per trainee are needed, which is expensive, or single instructors perform highly de- manding tasks, which might lead to suboptimal training. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a cognitive model that not only generates the behaviour of virtual characters, but also
Virtual training systems with intelligent agents are often used to prepare people who have to act... more Virtual training systems with intelligent agents are often used to prepare people who have to act in incidents or crisis situations. Literature tells that typical human mistakes in incidents and crises involve situations in which people make false assumptions about other people's knowledge or inten- tions. To develop a virtual training system in which cor- rectly estimating others' knowledge and
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Papers by Karel van den Bosch