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Onboarding and Education Patterns(OEP)
User education and onboarding patterns for introducing agent capabilities, building appropriate mental models, and fostering trust
In 30 seconds
- What
- Teaches users agent capabilities and limits through staged information, guided features, and contextual help to build accurate mental models.
- When to use
- Deploying new agents where users lack experience with AI systems or need clear boundaries on what the agent can reliably do.
- Watch out
- Users who skip onboarding still form incorrect mental models, leading to misuse and frustration when agents fail outside their actual scope.
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Onboarding and Education Patterns: Overview
User education and onboarding patterns for introducing agent capabilities, building appropriate mental models, and fostering trust
- Progressive disclosure of agent capabilities and limitations
- Interactive tutorials for agent interaction patterns
- Mental model building through clear capability communication
- Trust building through transparency and expectation setting
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References
The papers, specifications, and repositories this pattern is based on.
- Element Interactivity and Intrinsic, Extraneous, and Germane Cognitive Load - Sweller (Educational Psychology Review 2010)
- Progressive Disclosure in Learning Systems (Nielsen, 2006)
- Mental Models in Human-Computer Interaction (Norman, 2013)
- Scaffolding Theory in Educational Technology (Wood, Bruner & Ross, 1976)
- Zone of Proximal Development in Interface Design (Vygotsky, 1978)
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