Evolving Internet availability has introduced myriad education program access as well as increasing learner characteristics and learning styles. As a strategy to increase/maintain learner engagement, animated pedagogical agents (APAs) have been employed. Whether animated video or avatars, a conversation will be held to examine their use, practice, and effectiveness.
The eLearning demand has increased as the Internet has established its presence throughout the United States as well as the world. Technology has afforded those marginalized and underrepresented populations (including those who are considered disabled) the opportunity for educational program access. In response to increasing education program offerings, many education providers have formed and offer a variety of degrees and certificates to a larger population of potential learners. The increase in the learner population has translated to a variety of learner characteristics and learning styles some of which may not have a solid foundation or self-directedness for success in an online course. As technology has infiltrated most to all facets of society, especially in the online course room, the technology evolution has outpaced sound pedagogical practices that increase learning transfer abilities.
Identifying and selecting appropriate technological-based instructional tools requires an instructor as well as the course designers to wade through a morass of technological “bell and whistles” for the one tool that is both effective and transparent. The learners’ focus needs to be on the content thus allowing maximized learning transfer. The re-imagined learning space is positioned to respond to learners’ needs and characteristics and support their engagement through an animated presence of the course instructor. Course instructors are best positioned to re-imagine the learning space to support the learners and increasing the learning transfer. Thus, as guided and informed by their learners’ characteristics, APAs and avatars can be designed for a specific purpose. Through this specificity and detail of design, APAs and avatars provide a "real-life" presence in the course room and provides authentic support for the learners.
Re-imagining a learning space is necessary as the larger population of potential learners register for online courses. It becomes crucial for the instructor to connect to each learner to the best extent possible as some learners may not be the most adept in either the content, learning activities, or the course room navigation. As technology continues to become a stalwart in online (and traditional) education, opportunities and challenges have risen as universities grapple with this phenomenon and develop cost-effective instructional methods that appropriately connect with learner needs. Among the most significant challenges is providing the appropriate and pedagogically sound instructional strategy in an online course room that engages the full variation of learner characteristics.
Animated pedagogical agents and avatars are part of the instructional tools known as digital animation or digital media. Animated agents have been found to have a calming effect on learners thus minimizing anxiety and opening the learner for effective engagement and content associated with the animation. The main consideration is to develop the animated agent to the local context to include specific of the course and related scholarly competencies necessary for successful course, certificate, or degree completion. Further, APAs and avatars help to increase instructor presence by providing the instructor’s message in the course room whether it is through specific content directly related to the course and/or the instructor’s voice as spoken by the animated avatar.
Social networking has been woven into the societal social fabric throughout history Re-imagining the learning space through APAs and avatars provides a sense of social presence thus taking words off a paper and putting them into action. In accordance with the makerspaces concept,