Designing Virtual Pedagogical Agents With a Participatory Design Approach

• In Event: Design With Technology

Abstract

In a computer-supported environment (i.e. pair-programming) pedagogical agents have been found to foster students’ learning and motivation through virtual support. We have employed a participatory design methodology that includes students in designing the agents’ facial and gestural expressions, and dialogue scripts. This paper reported the design processes that includes a stagewise framework inspired by Spinuzzi (2005) to collect students’ reflections on initial prototypes of pedagogical agents. Students’ reflections guided revisions and redesigning of the agents, thus contributing to the design of a system that is more likely to shape students’ cognitive, affective, and metacognitive behaviors.

Authors

• Zarifa Zakaria, LearnPlatform

• Jessica Vandenberg, North Carolina State University

• Jennifer Tsan

• Danielle Cadieux Boulden, Code.org

• Joseph Wiggins, LearnDialogue

• Kristy E Boyer

• Collin Lynch, North Carolina State University

• Eric N. Wiebe, North Carolina State University