A Systematic Review of Pedagogical Agents’ Persona, Motivation, and Cognitive Load Implications for Learners

Abstract

After more than a decade of pedagogical agent research, this review synthesizes the affective implications of learning with pedagogical agents. The review investigates different affective measures within 99 pedagogical agent outcome measures. The results suggest that learners may prefer pedagogical agents compared to non-agent control conditions, and pedagogical agents may provide motivational benefits for some populations under certain conditions. However, it is unclear whether pedagogical agents impose extraneous cognitive load. Overall, consistent with research around learning outcomes (Mayer, Dow, & Mayer, 2003), the results suggest that the image of the agent may not be necessary for the learner to receive the affective benefits of the interaction. We delineate limitations of the current study and future research directions.

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