Building software agents to assist teaching in distance learning environments

This paper reports on the implementation and realization of software agents as teaching assistants in the distance learning environment. The software agent we built is able to extract run-time information about students´ learning progress and their behavior when interacting with the course Web, to aggregate the information, and then to send emails to report its duties to the academic staff. Whenever necessary and appropriate, the software agent can also send emails to tutors and students for timely alerts and advice. With the software agent working as a teaching assistant, the academic staff can delegate many information processing jobs, increase the efficiency of course coordination, and keep close communication with students.