Beyond butlers: Intelligent agents as mentors

This article discusses pedagogical issues for intelligent agents to success fully serve as mentors for educational purposes. Broader issues about the n ature or persona necessary for an intelligent agent as mentor are discussed , incorporating usability and human-computer interaction issues such as the anthropomorphic qualities of the agent and the social relationship between learner and agent. Overall, to he effective for learning, it is argued tha t there are three main requirements for agents as mentors: 1) regulated int elligence; 2) the existence of a persona; and 3) pedagogical control.