Lesson authoring system for creating interactive activities involving virtual humans the thinking head whiteboard

Educators continually strive to provide learning materials that are specifically adapted to their students´ unique learning preferences and needs. Software use continues to grow in classrooms however typical educational programs cannot be modified to suit individual learners. The Thinking Head Whiteboard is a lesson authoring tool that provides such a capability, allowing educators without a computer programming background to create their own interactive lessons. The Thinking Head Whiteboard also supports the use of virtual human `tutors´ and `peers´ within these lessons, making it uniquely suited to assist in areas such as social skills education. Further, the software currently being developed incorporates a basic level of automated assessment, allowing it to adapt on the fly to learner needs, providing repetition of content for struggling learners and fast-tracking those who are proficient. Ultimately, it is hoped that the Thinking Head Whiteboard will become an engaging and useful tool for educators and learners alike.