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.