{"ID":6536264,"CreatedAt":"2026-07-14T01:21:01.169441415Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-07-15T03:28:55.185153975Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.10850","arxiv_id":"2607.10850","title":"FaciliTrain: Practicing Facilitation Skills through AI-Simulated Group Dialogue","abstract":"Skilled facilitation supports inclusive small-group dialogue, but deliberate practice is hard to scale: it depends on expert coaches, live practice partners, and iterative feedback. We present FaciliTrain, a voice-based training system in which learners step into the facilitator role of an AI-simulated multi-participant conversation, apply five evidence-based techniques, and receive structured AI feedback to support reflection. We report findings from a mixed-methods study with 24 participants, conducted as a formative study (N = 12) and a controlled pilot (N = 12; 6 treatment, 6 control). Both conditions achieved comparable accuracy on a live evaluation task, though treatment participants' self-rated comfort declined significantly while control participants' comfort improved (p = .018). Reflexive thematic analysis identifies four themes: the taxonomy externalizes implicit facilitation intuitions; Making Connections is the most cognitively demanding technique; voice acts as a deliberate-response forcing function; and participants overwhelmingly preferred AI feedback over self-practice. We discuss design implications for voice-based, AI-supported interpersonal skill training at scale.","short_abstract":"Skilled facilitation supports inclusive small-group dialogue, but deliberate practice is hard to scale: it depends on expert coaches, live practice partners, and iterative feedback. We present FaciliTrain, a voice-based training system in which learners step into the facilitator role of an AI-simulated multi-participan...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.10850","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.10850v1","authors":"[\"Hang Jiang\",\"Yuanxin Zhu\",\"Diyi Yang\",\"Yoon Kim\",\"Deb Roy\",\"Jad Kabbara\"]","published":"2026-07-12T17:23:19Z","proceeding":"cs.HC","tasks":"[\"cs.HC\"]","methods":"[]","has_code":false}