if you could design a teacher, what choices would you make? answers … · 2011-04-07 · if you...

If you could design a teacher, what choices would you make?

Answers from the Pedagogical Agents literature

Dr. George Veletsianos, University of Manchester

God dag!

Thank you for inviting me to Linköping to present my research!

Unfortunately, jag pratar inte svenska!

Prior work• Veletsianos, G., Heller, R., Overmyer, S., & Procter, M. (accepted). Conversational Agents in

Virtual Worlds: Bridging Disciplines. British Journal of Educational Technology.

• Veletsianos, G., Miller, C., & Doering, A. (2009). EnALI: A Research and Design Framework for Virtual Characters and Pedagogical Agents. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 41(2), 171-194.

• Veletsianos, G. (2009). The impact and implications of virtual character expressiveness on learning and agent-learner interactions. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 25(4), 345-357.[pdf]

• Veletsianos, G., & Miller, C. (2008). Conversing with Pedagogical Agents: A Phenomenological Exploration of Interacting with Digital Entities. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(6), 969-986.[pdf]

• Veletsianos, G., Scharber, C., & Doering, A. (2008). When Sex, Drugs, and Violence Enter the Classroom: Conversations between Adolescent Social Studies Students and a Female Pedagogical Agent. Interacting with Computers, 20(3), 292-301.[pdf]

• Doering, A., Veletsianos, G., & Yerasimou, T. (2008). Conversational Agents and their Longitudinal Affordances on Communication and Interaction. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 19(2), 251-270. [pdf]

• Veletsianos, G. (2007). Cognitive and Affective Benefits of an Animated Pedagogical Agent: Considering Contextual Relevance and Aesthetics. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 36(4), 373-377.[pdf]

What or Who is a pedagogical agent?

“A virtual character employed in a digital learning environments to serve various

educational goals.”

… and not just pedagogical

… e.g. Virtual Police - Beijing Public Security Bureau See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-yn/content/article/2007/08/28/AR2007082800543_pf.html

Back to education: What kinds of goals?

LearningMotivation

Engagement

EncouragementComfort

Believability

Play & Fun

Task

If you were to design a pedagogical agent, what choices would you make, and what

would those choices depend on?

3 scenarios

1. Whose goal is to motivate students to study history.

Design an agent:

2. Who teaches medical terminology.

3. Who scaffolds 14-year-olds in science inquiry.

Discuss.

Message

Agent Characteristics

User Interaction

Veletsianos, G., Miller, C., & Doering, A. (2009). EnALI: A Research and Design Framework for Virtual Characters and Pedagogical Agents. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 41(2), 171-194.

The framework is at: http://www.veletsianos.com/2009/09/21/enali-pedagogical-agent-learner-interactions/

User Interaction example:

Pedagogical Agents should be attentive and sensitive to the learner’s needs and wants by:

• Maintaining an appropriate balance between on-and off-task communications.

The framework is at: http://www.veletsianos.com/2009/09/21/enali-pedagogical-agent-learner-interactions/

Message example:

Pedagogical Agents should consider intricacies of the message they send to learners by:

• Using congruent verbal and nonverbal messages.

Veletsianos, G. (2007). Cognitive and Affective Benefits of an Animated Pedagogical Agent: Considering Contextual Relevance and Aesthetics. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 36(4), 373-377.[pdf]

Veletsianos, G. (2009). The impact and implications of virtual character expressiveness on learning and agent-learner interactions. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 25(4), 345-357.[pdf]

Agent Characteristics example:

Pedagogical Agents should display socially appropriate demeanor, posture, and representation by:

• Being expressive (e.g. exhibiting verbal cues in speech).

• Using a visual representation appropriate to content.

Veletsianos, G., Heller, R., Overmyer, S., & Procter, M. (accepted). Conversational Agents in Virtual Worlds: Bridging Disciplines. British Journal of Educational Technology.

Similar ideas in our latest paper…

Multidisciplinary perspective

Veletsianos, G., & Miller, C. (2008). Conversing with Pedagogical Agents: A Phenomenological Exploration of Interacting with Digital Entities. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(6), 969-986.[pdf]

…with the learner experience at the center

What is it like to interact with agents?

Veletsianos, G., Scharber, C., & Doering, A. (2008). When Sex, Drugs, and Violence Enter the Classroom: Conversations between Adolescent Social Studies Students and a Female Pedagogical Agent. Interacting with Computers, 20(3), 292-301.[pdf]

A deeper look at the conversations…

Power, Authority, Abuse, Gender

Doering, A., Veletsianos, G., & Yerasimou, T. (2008). Conversational Agents and their Longitudinal Affordances on Communication and Interaction. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 19(2), 251-270. [pdf]

But, how do things change over time?

George Veletsianos veletsianos@gmail.com

http://www.veletsianos.com

Images used are cc-licensed

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/305410323/http://www.flickr.com/photos/balakov/399177829/sizes/l/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29487767@N02/2855271953/sizes/l/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gigaboss/99992422/sizes/o/

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