ERIC Number: EJ902544
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 33
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1560-4292
EISSN: N/A
A Look at the Roles of Look & Roles in Embodied Pedagogical Agents--A User Preference Perspective
Haake, Magnus; Gulz, Agneta
International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, v19 n1 p39-71 2009
The paper presents a theoretical framework addressing three aspects of embodied pedagogical agents: visual static appearance, pedagogical role, and communicative style. The framework is then applied to a user study where 90 school children (aged 12-15) in a dummy multimedia program were presented with either an instructor or a learning companion condition. They were then to choose between eight visually different embodied pedagogical agents: four more naturalistic (detailed & 3D-rendered) and four more stylized (simplified & cartoonish). Finally the participants were to choose between a strictly task-oriented versus a task- and relation-oriented pedagogical agent. The goal of the study was to explore possible relations between the three aspects mentioned above with respect to user preferences. Results were: (i) when the agent was introduced as a learning companion, female students displayed a significant tendency to choose a more stylized visual character, (ii) when the agent was introduced as a learning companion, female students displayed a significant tendency to choose a task- and relation-oriented agent, and (iii) in the case when students had chosen a more stylized character, there was a significant tendency to choose a task- and relation-oriented agent. The paper also discusses limitations and strengths of the study, and advocates careful descriptions in studies of this kind--especially regarding the notion of visual realism. (Contains 13 figures, 7 footnotes, and 4 tables.)
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Computer Assisted Instruction, Multimedia Materials, Computer Graphics, Selection, Secondary School Students, Student Attitudes, Gender Differences, Computer Simulation, Simulated Environment, Role Playing, Animation, Instructional Design, Artificial Intelligence, Educational Technology, Computer Software, Comparative Analysis, Visual Stimuli, Physical Characteristics
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Sweden
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A