When sex, drugs, and violence enter the classroom: Conversations between adolescent social studies students and a female pedagogical agent
Date
2008Author
Veletsianos, George
Scharber, Cassandra
Doering, Aaron
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
In this article, we investigate the discourse between a female Conversational Pedagogical Agent
and fifty-nine adolescents in the context of a social studies lesson. We note that previous
pedagogical agent research has focused on the positive effects of agents, while failing to take
into account the intricacies of learner-agent discourse, and subsequently missing the abuse
suffered by pedagogical agents at users’ fingertips. Our analysis indicates that learners readily
misuse and abuse pedagogical agents while placing them in a subordinate and inferior role. We
conclude by making recommendations on agent design and future research.