WHY OBSERVING A DIALOGUE MAY BENEFIT LEARNING

The Vicarious Learner project is investigating the fundamental role of dialogue for learning. More specifically, the project is exploring th e benefits to learners of being able to observe others participating i n discussion. Such opportunities are becoming fewer with the prolifera tion of computer-based courses and distance learning, as well as growi ng student numbers. This paper presents the theoretical aspects of the work. A high-level 'process model' of learning is presented and then a more detailed model of what happens in educational dialogues. This ' logic model' of dialogue breaks discussions into two parts: the introd uction of new premises and the derivation of new premises by the appli cation of rules of reasoning in the domain. It is argued that in ordin ary conversation the first aspect dominates while in educational dialo gues, many misunderstandings arise from the need for more emphasis on explicit demonstration of use of rules.