Desirable Characteristics of Learning Companions

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Kim, Yanghee

Affiliations: Department of Instructional Technology, Utah State University, 2830 Old Main Hill, Logan, Utah 84322, USA. E-mail: yanghee.kim@usu.edu, http://www.create.usu.edu

Abstract: This study investigated the desirable characteristics of anthropomorphized learning-companion agents for college students. First, interviews with six undergraduates explored their concepts of desirable learning companions. The interviews yielded agent competency, agent personality, and interaction control. Next, a controlled experiment examined whether learner competency (strong vs. weak) would relate directly to agent competency (high vs. low) and to interaction control (agent-control vs. learner-control). The dependent measures included learners' perceptions of agent functionality, their self-efficacy beliefs in the task, and their learning. The results indicated that academically strong students perceived the high-competent agent higher than the lowcompetent agent and showed higher self-efficacy beliefs in the task and recalled more after working with the high-competent agent. Academically weak students, by contrast, showed higher self-efficacy and recalled more after working with the low-competent agent. Also, academically strong students valued agent-control highly, but academically weak students valued learner-control. The strong students showed higher self-efficacy in agentcontrol but lower self-efficacy in learner-control than did the weak students. In general, the results indicated that the similarities of characteristics between an agent and a learner have positive impacts on learners' cognitive and affective attainments.

Keywords: Learning companions, virtual peers, pedagogical agents, learner characteristics

Journal: International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 371-388, 2007