Charisma and learning: designing charismatic behaviours for virtual human tutors

Abstract

Charisma as defined in the Oxford Dictionary, is the compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others. It is a powerful device of communication because it is the primary way humans signal interpersonal closeness, willingness to communicate, and feelings toward one another. Without exception, charisma is very crucial in the learning process in individuals. It makes the teachers more influential, causing learners to listen more intently to what they have to say and subsequently boosting their learning performance at the end of the day.
 Virtual learning has become a widely adopted phenomenon all around the world, with the aid of virtual humans (computer-generated simulations of human beings), who, unlike real humans, provide consistency in the delivery of accurate knowledge, engaging role-plays, and appropriate feedback. Furthermore, pedagogical agents have played a significant role in virtual learning, and virtual tutors and companions falling under this category. Incorporating charismatic behaviors in virtual human tutors has become a quest for developers, due to their awareness on how impactful it can be in virtual learning. How can such behaviors be realized in a virtual character? Developers are incorporating charismatic traits in virtual human tutors which include: portraying a high degree of engagement with their students, proficiency in their subject matter, organized and very profound in their knowledge of the subject. Taiwanese authors researched the topic of teaching and charisma. The Statistical results obtained supported the virtual human tutors’ charisma has a positive influence on inducing the students’ learning interest.
 Feelings of isolation that may be faced by a student in online learning are overcome by the fully-present and approachable trait of the charismatic virtual tutor. The ability of a virtual human tutor to be charismatic boosts instructor immediacy; behavior that brings the instructor and the students closer together in terms of perceived distance.
 Overall, we conclude that developers’ endeavor to design charismatic behavior for virtual human tutors is advantageous to the highly advancing educational field and the use of Artificial Intelligence in education.