Exploring the Effects of Dynamic Avatar on Performance and Engagement in Educational Games

Avatar research has almost exclusively explored avatars that remain the same regardless of context. However, there may be advantages to avatars that change during use. A plethora of work has shown that avatars personalized in one’s likeness increases identification, while object-like avatars increase detachment. We posit that in certain situations within a game it may be more advantageous to have increased identification, while in other situations increased detachment. We present a study on dynamic avatars, or avatars that change types based on game context. In particular, we investigate what we term the successful likeness avatar. The successful likeness is an avatar that is only a likeness when the player is in a win state and at all other times an object. Our goal is to determine if this type of avatar can foster an increase in user performance and engagement. Our experiment (N=997) compares four avatars: 1) Shape, 2) Likeness, 3) Likeness to Shape, and 4) Shape to Likeness (successful likeness). We found that players using a successful likeness avatar had significantly better performance (levels completed) than all other conditions. Players using a successful likeness avatar had significantly higher play time (minutes played) than all other conditions. We propose a theoretical model in which identification facilitates vicarious outcomes and in which detachment facilitates outcome dissociation. As performance and engagement are correlated to learning (Harteveld, 2015), successful likeness avatars may be crucial in educational games.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (STEM+C Grant 1542970)Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Fellowship

Efektivitas Penggunaan Video dengan Pengayaan Tokoh dan Animasi terhadap Pemahaman Konseptual Siswa

Abstrak: Dalam pembelajaran tradisional, siswa tidak dapat mengulang lagi penjelasan guru di luar kelas. Salah satu solusi bagi siswa yang pemahaman konseptualnya rendah yaitu siswa bisa mengikuti bimbingan belajar. Kesamaan dalam fitur bimbingan belajar online yaitu menghadirkan video dengan pengayaan tokoh dan animasi. Fitur tersebut adalah bentuk dari Agent pedagogical. Tujuan penelitian ini yaitu untuk mengetahui efektivitas video dengan pengayaan tokoh dan animasi terhadap peningkatan pemahaman konseptual pelajaran sains materi tata surya di kelas VII SMP. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode Pre-eksperimental dengan One Group Pretest Postest Design. Analisis data menggunakan uji paired sample t-test dan uji n-gain. Berdasarkan hasil analisis data diperoleh nilai signifikansi (Sig.) 0,000 yakni lebih kecil dari probabilitas (0,05). Video dengan pengayaan tokoh dan animasi mampu meningkatkan kemampuan pemahaman konseptual siswa. Agent pedagogical pada video tersebut dapat digunakan sebagai inovasi pendidikan.Abstract: In traditional learning, students cannot repeat the teacher's explanation outside the classroom. One solution for students who have low conceptual understanding is that students can take tutoring. The similarity in online tutoring features is to present videos with character enrichment and animation. This feature is a form of the pedagogical agent. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of video with character enrichment and animation to increase conceptual understanding of science subjects in the solar system in class VII junior high school. This study uses a pre-experimental method with One Group Pretest Postest Design. Data analysis used paired sample t-test and n-gain test. Based on the results of data analysis, the significance value (Sig.) 0.000 is smaller than the probability (0.05). Videos with character enrichment and animation can improve students' conceptual understanding abilities. The pedagogical agent in the video can be used as an educational innovation

Engaging virtual agents

Embodied virtual assistants normally don’t engage the user emotionally. They fulfil their functions, e.g. as shopping assistants or virtual teachers, factually and emotionless. This way, they do not explore the full potential of the presence of an embodied character. In real life, the personality of the teacher or salesperson, their ability to involve and even to entertain is essential for their success. But how much of these “soft factors” can be translated into behaviour of virtual agents? Which kinds of virtual personalities are appropriate for which group, and in which context? We call virtual agents with engaging “soft skills” Engaging Virtual Agents. This paper presents a software platform employed for experimenting with soft skills and for creating different personalities of virtual agents. The focus of this platform is on authoring principles that facilitate the cooperation of content creators and computer scientists. We also present “Julie”, an example that was shortly concluded as part of a research project commissioned by SAP AG. Julie is a virtual sales assistant that employs actively emotional expressions and narrative techniques, in order to provide additional motivation for the customer to visit and to remain at the virtual shop

Tutoria com agentes inteligentes na educação online

Revista Teias. Vol. 20 (Edição Especial - 2019): Educação ativista na cibercultura: experiências pluraisA evolução tecnológica, particularmente a Inteligência Artificial, tem contribuído significativamente para mudanças relevantes em quase todas as dimensões da nossa sociedade, nomeadamente na Educação e, consequentemente, no Ensino à Distância. Tais mudanças exigem transformações significativas, especialmente no processo de ensino e aprendizagem, de forma a minimizar a incapacidade dos docentes e tutores responderem na totalidade às solicitações de suporte por parte dos alunos e, por isso, a enorme necessidade de potenciar as tecnologias existentes, com o objetivo de minorar essa dificuldade. Este artigo tem como objetivo caracterizar os agentes inteligentes e a sua importância pedagógica para a tutoria na educação online. A metodologia utilizada baseou-se no método dedutivo, resultante do processo de pesquisa bibliográfica e documental, em consonância com a investigação de doutoramento em curso sobre a temática dos tutores inteligentes. Como resultados, a literatura especializada tem destacado a enorme vantagem da utilização dos agentes inteligentes no ensino superior online.Technological evolution, particularly Artificial Intelligence, has contributed to changes in almost all dimensions of our society, in education and in Distance Learning. Such changes require significant transformations in the teaching and learning process in order to minimize the inability of Virtual Tutors to respond to students' requests for support and, therefore, the need to improve existing technologies, with the aim of reducing this difficulty. This article aims to characterize intelligent agents and their pedagogical importance for tutoring in online education. The methodology used was based on the deductive method, resulting from the bibliographic and documentary research process, in consonance with the ongoing doctoral research on the subject of virtual tutors. As a result, the literature has highlighted the enormous advantage of using intelligent agents in online higher education.La evolución tecnológica, particularmente la Inteligencia Artificial, ha contribuido a los cambios en casi todas las dimensiones de nuestra sociedad, en la educación y en la Enseñanza a Distancia. Estos cambios requieren transformaciones significativas en el proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje para minimizar la incapacidad de los Tutores Virtuales para responder a las solicitudes de apoyo por parte de los alumnos y por lo tanto la necesidad de mejorar las tecnologías existentes con el objetivo de aliviar esa dificultad. Este artículo tiene como objetivo caracterizar a los agentes inteligentes y su importancia pedagógica para la tutoría en la educación online. La metodología utilizada fue basada en el método deductivo, resultante del proceso de investigación bibliográfica y documental, en consonancia con la investigación de doctorado en curso sobre la temática de los tutores virtuales. Como resultados, la literatura especializada ha destacado la enorme ventaja del uso de los agentes inteligentes en la enseñanza superior en línea.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reconsidering Student Support: Student Perception of Support and Learning Outcomes

Abstract Support for student learning is a key element in optimizing student learning experiences in any learning environment and its importance has been widely discussed. The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between students' perceived support and their learning outcomes in an online course at a large southeastern university. This study looks at student support, particularly in the course context, focusing mainly on guidance provided to students within a course. Three categories of support are identified and used for the purpose of this study: instructional, peer, and technical support. This showcase will present the framework of student support in the classroom and report on findings from the study. The main goal is to get feedback on the framework and study, which will help enhance the study design and methods for further research. Also, the framework can help teachers and instructional designers consider student support as a key element in learning and create a supportive learning environment for their courses

How to Convey Resilience: Towards A Taxonomy for Conversational Agent Breakdown Recovery Strategies

Conversational agents (CAs) have permeated our everyday lives in the past decade. Yet, the CAs we encounter today are far from perfect as they are still prone to breakdowns. Studies have shown that breakdowns have an immense impact on the user-CA relationship, user satisfaction, and retention. Therefore, it is important to investigate how to react and recover from breakdowns appropriately so that failures do not impair the CA experience lastingly. Examples for recovery strategies are the assumption of the most likely user intent (CA self-repair) or to ask for clarification (user-repair). In this paper, we iteratively develop a taxonomy to classify breakdown recovery strategies based on studies from scholarly literature and experiements with productive CA instances, and identify the current best practices described using our taxonomy. We aim to synthesize, structure and further the knowledge on breakdown handling and to provide a common language to describe recovery strategies

Artificial Companions with Personality and Social Role

Subtitle: "Expectations from Users on the Design of Groups of Companions"International audienceRobots and virtual characters are becoming increasingly used in our everyday life. Yet, they are still far from being able to maintain long-term social relationships with users. It also remains unclear what future users will expect from these so-called "artificial companions" in terms of social roles and personality. These questions are of importance because users will be surrounded with multiple artificial companions. These issues of social roles and personality among a group of companions are sledom tackled in user studies. In this paper, we describe a study in which 94 participants reported that social roles and personalities they would expect from groups of companions. We explain how the resulsts give insights for the design of future groups of companions endowed with social intelligence

Hacia una educación inclusiva y personalizada mediante el uso de los sistemas de diálogo multimodal

Los continuos avances en el desarrollo de tecnologías de la información han dado lugar actualmente a la posibilidad de acceder a los contenidos educativos desde cualquier lugar, en cualquier momento y de forma casi instantánea. Sin embargo, la accesibilidad no es siempre considerada como criterio principal en el diseño de aplicaciones educativas, especialmente para facilitar su utilización por parte de personas con discapacidad. Diferentes tecnologías han surgido recientemente para fomentar la accesibilidad a las nuevas tecnologías y dispositivos móviles, favoreciendo una comunicación más natural con los sistemas educativos. En este artículo se describe el uso innovador de los sistemas de diálogo multimodales en el campo de la educación, con un especial énfasis en la descripción de las ventajas que ofrecen para la creación de aplicaciones educativas inclusivas y adaptadas a la evolución de los estudiantes.Continuous advances in the development of information technologies have currently led to the possibility of accessing learning contents from anywhere, at anytime and almost instantaneously. However, accessibility is not always the main objective in the design of educative applications, specifically to facilitate their adoption by disabled people. Different technologies have recently emerged to foster the accessibility of computers and new mobile devices favouring a more natural communication between the student and the developed educative systems. This paper describes innovative uses of multimodal dialog systems in education, with special emphasis in the advantages that they provide for creating inclusive applications and adapted to the students specific evolution.Trabajo parcialmente financiado por los proyectos MINECO TEC2012-37832-C02-01, CICYT TEC2011-28626-C02-02, CAM CONTEXTS (S2009/TIC-1485) y TRA2010-20225-C03-01.Publicad