Led by Beverly Park Woolf and Ivon M Arroyo, the Center for Knowledge Communication is a research group in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. We develop tutoring systems for different users in different settings. These systems are capable of functioning responsively, comprehensively, and flexibly to a wide variety of students, within a variety of domains, and with multiple tutoring strategies

Dr. Woolf is the Director of the Center for Knowledge Communication. Many of the three-dimensional graphics and multimedia classes at the University of Massachusetts owe their beginning to Dr. Woolf's efforts to offer students the opportunity to expand both intellectual and practical skills. Dr. Woolf's research focuses on building systems to effectively train, explain and advise users. Extended multimedia capabilities are integrated with knowledge about the user,  domain and dialogue to produce real-time performance support and on-demand advisory and tutoring systems.

Dr. Arroyo is internationally known as an active researcher in the area of intelligent multimedia tutoring systems and software learning environments for mathematics. She is known for her interdisciplinary proficiency in both Mathematics/Technology Education and Computer Science. Probably most known for her studies about customizing tutoring software to qualitative student characteristics (gender and cognitive traits), but also for the creation of pedagogically effective help modules that are used in local schools, rigorous evaluations of educational software, testing for the impact of software not only on students’ achievement but especially on attitudes and affect.

Learn more about the Center for Knowldge Communication