Bob Heller obtained his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology at the University of Alberta studying cognitive aging. He also held a Post-Doctorate Research Fellowship in the Centre of Excellence on Aging Research Network where he conducted research on driving, dementia, and cognitive aging. He joined the Centre for Psychology at Athabasca University in 2001 and eventually became interested in conversational agents and their role in distance education. This research has evolved into an investigation of animated historical figures as pedagogical agents and their place in virtual worlds, virtual reality & augmented reality.
Heller, B & Procter, M (2021). First impressions: The importance of visual appearance in the design of conversational agents. In G. Trentin (Ed.) Conversational Agents as Online Learners. Nova Science Publishers: New York USA.
George, S & Heller, B (2021). Towards interactive and collaborative online learning environments: Tutoring at a distance online with conversational agents. In G. Trentin (Ed.) Conversational Agents as Online Learners. Nova Science Publishers: New York USA.
Procter, M., Lin, F., & Heller, B. (2018). Intelligent intervention by conversational agent through chatlog analysis. Smart Learning Environments, 5, 30.
Heller, R.B. (2017). Conversations with Freudbot in Second Life: Mining the virtuality of relationship. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 28, (4) 1-12.
Procter, M., Lin, F., & Heller, R.B. (2016). Improving conversation engagement through data-driven agent behaviour. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 9673, 270-275. (2 citations)
Veletsianos, G., Heller, R., Overmeyer, S., & Procter, M. (2009). Conversational agents in virtual worlds: Bridging disciplines. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(1), 123-140. (21 citations)
Danforth, D., Procter, M., Heller, R., Chen, R., & Johnson, M. (2009). Development of virtual patient simulations for medical education. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 2(3), 4-11. (56 citations)
Heller, R., Dobbs, B. & Strain, L. (2009). Video programming for individuals with Dementia: Assessing cognitive congruence. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, 24(2), 122-128. (5 citations)