Virtual tutor: a case of study in University Aberta

The project VIRTUAL TUTORING - the virtual tutor as learning mediating artifact in online university education, is an ongoing project, with the main goal of analyzing the pedagogic impact of an anthropomorphic user interface on a typical distance learning environment targeted to support online higher education. It implies the development of 3D rigged avatars that should perform typical online tutor activities. The virtual tutor should mimic a human tutor, being a kind of emphatic interface between the student and the course module in Moodle. But more than this, the virtual tutor should give support in the learning process of the student, working as much as a guide inside the contents offered by the e-learning course. This paper gives an overview of the project present development status.