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Thu, Nov 5, 4:30 - 4:55, Crystal 5     Paper (refereed)
Recommended Citation: Cohen, M A, F E Ritter, and S R Haynes.  Evaluating Design: A Formative Evaluation of Agent Development Environments used for Teaching Rule-based Programming.  In The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference 2009, v 26 (Washington DC): §1754. ISSN: 1542-7382.
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Evaluating Design: A Formative Evaluation of Agent Development Environments used for Teaching Rule-based Programming

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Refereed15 pages
Mark A. Cohen    [a1] [a2]
Business Admin, Computer Science, and Information Technology
Lock Haven University    [u1] [u2]
Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, USA    [c1] [c2]

Frank E. Ritter    [a1] [a2]
Business Admin, Computer Science, and Information Technology
Lock Haven University    [u1] [u2]
Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, USA    [c1] [c2]

Steven R. Haynes    [a1] [a2]
College of Information Sciences and Technology
The Pennsylvania State University    [u1] [u2]
University Park, Pennsylvania, USA    [c1] [c2]

We present two development environments designed to make it easier for students to create intelligent agents by taking advantage of established software engineering principles. This paper reports the results of a formative evaluation of the Herbal and the Vacuum Cleaner Environments. Findings from the study suggest design changes geared towards making these environments more useful for teaching rule-based programming and agent development.

Keywords: formative usability study, Herbal, intelligent agents, rule-based programming

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