How pedagogical agents improve instruction

PEDAGOGICAL AGENTS ARE ON-SCREEN COACHES THAT help learners negotiate and mediate e-learning programs. Research has shown that not only do pedagogical agents enhance the appearance of e-learning programs and make them more interesting and "human" but when used properly these agents actually improve and facilitate learning.

Pedagogical agents can take the shape of a cartoon character, a talking head, an animated character, an avatar or even an interactive, artificial intelligence driven 2-D or 3-D image. They can offer help, give hints, demonstrate principles and procedures, and show worked through examples to help learners process and store information.

Microsoft has developed several agent characters, like the Wizard at left. They can be used for many functions but are easily employed as pedagogical agents to interact with students as they work through e-learning units.

Several studies (reviewed in Clark and Mayer, 2003) have shown that pedagogical agents can improve instruction and it is worth the expense to include them in e-learning courses.

In two separate studies (Moreno, Mayer, Spires and Lester, 2001) students interacted with Herman-the-Bug (an interactive agent) in the Design-A-Plant instructional game. The students were taken to planets with different ecological and environmental conditions. They had to choose which parts of a plant would survive on that planet. Herman was their guide, posing problems and offering feedback. Students who interacted with Herman generated 24-48% more solutions in transfer tests than students that had the same text and graphics for the lesson but did not have Herman as a guide.

In related research (Atkinson, 2002) students working on math problems that saw examples that were worked through with the help of an agent produced 30% more correct solutions to word problems than students that had the same instruction without the help of an agent to work the problems through. Although more work is needed on the specifics of using pedagogical agents, they clearly can help improve instruction and student learning.

There are several guidelines you should follow when using pedagogical agents in your instruction; but the most important is to use agents as instructional elements rather than as objects for entertainment. Agents should give hints, provide feedback, work through examples, or to walk through a procedure--like a teacher presenting a lesson or giving feedback. When used for entertainment, agents and animated characters can be distracting and can actually reduce the effectiveness of your lesson.

Merlin Has the Last Word
Click below for a final word from Merlin.

Pedigogical Agents - A Primer
Pedagogical Agent Systems Technology Assessment (PASTA)

Thank you to David Lewis (dave.lewis@miami.edu), School of Education - University of Miami for sharing information on pedagogical agents and the use of Microsoft Agent technology.
Images of Herman-the-Bug and Jeff
(http://www.unm.edu/~moreno/research.htm) were used with permission of James Lester.
Image of Steve (copyright 2003 the Univeristy of Southern California and found at (http://www.isi.edu/isd/VET/steve-demo.html) used with permision of Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California
Merlin used by license from Microsoft Corp.

Page created by Jerry Marino