Life-Like Animated Virtual Pedagogical Agent Enhanced Learning

Abstract

Research has shown that learning programs with well designed animated virtual pedagogical agents engage and motivate students, produce greater reported satisfaction and enjoyment by students, and produce greater learning gains than programs without these agents. How to design an animated virtual pedagogical agent behaves much like a sensitive and effective human tutor is a very challenge work to do. In this paper, we developed a procedure for producing head and face movements during speech by a virtual pedagogical agent by combining different voice recordings, different facial expressions and different head movement patterns. We then developed three experimental conditions to evaluate how the facial expressions and head movements contribute to learning experiences and outcomes. Results showed that facial expressions and head movements have great impact on student’s impressions and engagement with the virtual pedagogical agent. Experimental results suggest that virtual pedagogical agent that produce natural head movements and appropriate facial expressions while narrating a story produce much more positive user experiences than virtual pedagogical agent that lack these behaviors.