Children's Interactions with Animated Agents in an Intelligent Tutoring System

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Robertson, Judy | Cross, Beth | Macleod, Hamish | Wiemer-Hastings, Peter

Affiliations: School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, 2 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9LW, UK. [email protected]

Abstract: Although animated pedagogical agents are frequently found in intelligent tutoring systems and interactive learning environments, their effect on users?attitudes and learning requires further investigation. This paper reports findings of a field study designed to investigate the impact of animated pedagogical agents on primary school children's attitudes to and interactions with the StoryStation system. Sixty pupils used either a version of StoryStation with an animated agent interface or an equivalent one with a normal graphical user interface to write a story. Analysis of questionnaire data indicated that pupils who used the agent version rated StoryStation more highly than those who used the non-agent version. Analysis of program use revealed that girls tended to interact more with the agent version, while boys tended to interact more with the non-agent version.

Journal: International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, vol. 14, no. 3-4, pp. 335-357, 2004