Cognitive and Affective Benefits of an Animated Pedagogical Agent: Considering Contextual Relevance and Aesthetics

Abstract

Choi and Clark (2006) argue that learning is attributed to the instructional method rather than the specific medium used to deliver instruction (i.e., the pedagogical agent). Additionally, they consider pedagogical agents as unnecessarily expensive tools, whose instructional affordances can be replicated by less expensive options. In this response to Choi and Clark (2006), I argue that pedagogical agents are not a new iteration of the media debate because the anthropomorphous features and social affordances of pedagogical agents elicit psychological responses from learners that other media cannot educe. As such, when considering the implementation of pedagogical agents, researchers need to consider the agent's (a) contextual relevance, and (b) aesthetic properties. It is important to note that none of these factors influence the instructional method used to deliver instruction via a pedagogical agent.