The impact and implications of virtual character expressiveness on learning and agent-learner interactions
Abstract
The possible benefits of agent expressiveness have been highlighted in previous literature; yet,
the issue of verbal expressiveness has been left unexplored. I hypothesize that agent verbal
expressiveness may improve the interaction between pedagogical agents and learners, ultimately
enhancing learning outcomes. Evidence from a quasi-experimental investigation, indicates that
learners who interacted with an expressive agent (a) scored higher on a post-task exam, and (b)
rated the agent’s ability to interact higher, than learners who interacted with a non-expressive
agent. Qualitative results provided insight into this finding, while indicating the complexity of
deploying pedagogical agents in educational settings.
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