The Effect of Pacing on Learners’ Perceptions of Pedagogical Agents

This study examined the influence of three levels of learner control on learners’ perceptions when learning with a pedagogical agent. Pedagogical agents have shown promise for improving learning and connections with learning materials within video-based instruction, and research has shown that agent design choices can influence how agents are perceived by learners. However, it is unclear the effect that the pacing of the video could have on the way the agent is perceived by the learner. The pacing of the learning environment refers to the amount of control a learner has over their learning experience. The question of how much control to provide the learner, in what situations, and for whom, is a persisting question in the literature. Using a three-group randomized experimental procedure, our analyses revealed that providing the learners with increased control of their learning experience was not associated with more positive perceptions of the agent. These results, although preliminary due to the dearth of literature in the area, suggest that learner control may not be an important factor in how pedagogical agents are perceived.