"Promoting socio-emotional learning with a virtual robot facilitator of small group discussions: a cross-cultural study"

In this contribution, we present continued work-in-progress on an innovative system for facilitating small-group online discussions using an avatar during a video conference. Previous studies have shown that the system had an effective, understandable, and more participatory interaction that is sustained during a long-term interaction. Here, we examine long-term, cross-cultural effects on socio-emotional learning (SEL) for 5th and 6th graders in Israel and 3rd,4th, 5th graders in Italy. Eight elaborate activities were designed specifically for this setup to promote SEL in an engaging and collaborative way. Pre- and post-questionnaires regarding SEL were administered to the students, as well as semi-structured interviews. The results of the study show mixed trends, where in the Israel sample students reported a (non-significant) beneficial effect of the activities on their mindset and behavior, while in the Italian sample a different (non-significant) trend was observed. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews after the activities show that children had a noticeable change in their perception of SEL as well as their behaviors. Despite these mixed results, this work-in-progress continues to support the usage of the virtual robot facilitator of small group activities as an effective teaching assistant for school children, even in soft-skills such as socio-emotional learning domains.