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The Role Of Learner Attributes And Affect Determining The Impact Of Agent Presence, Yanghee Kim
The Role Of Learner Attributes And Affect Determining The Impact Of Agent Presence, Yanghee Kim
Yanghee Kim
This paper introduces two experimental studies that examined the potential of animated virtual peers (VP) to build social relations with learners in online learning environments. VP emotions and learner characteristics were foci of interest. Study I investigated the impact of VP emotional expressions (positive vs. negative vs. neutral) and gender and learner gender on college students’ perceptions of agent persona, motivation, and learning. Study II investigated the interaction effects of VP presence and learner gender and learner sociability on high-school students’ task-related attitudes, self-efficacy beliefs, and learning. Overall, the results revealed the interaction effects of VP/learner attributes on the learners’ …
Pedagogical Agents As Learning Companions: Building Social Relations With Learners, Yanghee Kim
Pedagogical Agents As Learning Companions: Building Social Relations With Learners, Yanghee Kim
Yanghee Kim
This study examined the potential of pedagogical agents as learning companions (PALs) to build social relations with learners and, consequently, to motivate learning. The study investigated the impact of PAL affect (positive vs. negative vs. neutral), PAL gender (male vs. female), and learner gender (male vs. female) on learners’ social judgments, motivation, and learning in a controlled experiment. Participants were 142 college students in a computer-literacy course. Overall, the results indicated the interaction effects of PAL affect, PAL gender, and learner gender on learners’ social judgments (p < .001). PAL affect impacted learners’ social judgments (p < .001) and motivation (p < .05). PAL gender influenced motivation (p < .01) and recall of learning (p < .05). Learner gender influenced recall of learning (p < .01). The implications of the findings are discussed.