Designing multimedia learning environments using animated pedagogical agents: factors and issues
Animated pedagogical agents (APAs) are known to possess great potential in supporting learning because of their ability to simulate a real classroom learning environment. But research in thisareahasproducedmixedresults.Thereasonforthisremainspuzzling.Thispaperiswritten with two purposes: (1) to examine some recent research and organize the findings in terms of classroom characteristics, and (2) to discuss and reveal any uncovered issues pertaining to the findings and provide input whenever possible.Aframework formed by usingAPAcharacteristics, APA presentation, and learners' characteristics is used to analyse past research findings. ThefindingsfromtheanalysisrevealthatbecauseAPAsareregardedassocialmemberssimilar to humans, they are more effective in engaging learners in environments that require social communication and interactions. They therefore produce more definitive results in terms of affective gain and group learning. But such conditions also impose greater demand on designers to create more complex learning environments that can provide interactions with several agents and yet maintain a mode of communication that is pedagogically effective. The challengesforcreatingsuchenvironmentincludeusinganagent'sgesturestoduplicateitsspeechin instruction,whichisusuallyuncommoninhumanpractice,overcomingtheneedstouseinput output interface for communication and taking into consideration the possible influence of the learners'characteristicssuchastheirsensorypreference.ThispapersuggeststhatAPAs'application in instruction should be seen in the light of affordances and be designed within its own practical limits.jca_299 203..218
J. Comput. Assist. Learn.