Pedagogical agents (PAs) communicate verbally and non-verbally with students in digital and virtual reality/augmented reality learning environments. PAs have been shown to be beneficial for learning, and generative artificial intelligence, such as large language models, can improve PAs' communication abilities significantly. K-12 education is underrepresented in learning technology research and teachers' and students' insights have not been considered when developing PA communication. The current study addresses this research gap by conducting and analyzing semi-structured, in-depth interviews with eleven high school teachers and sixteen high school students about their expectations for PAs' communication capabilities. The interviewees identified relational and task-related communication capabilities that a PA should perform to communicate effectively with students and scaffold their learning. PA communication that is simultaneously affirmative and relational can induce immediacy, foster the relationship and engagement with a PA, and support students' learning management. Additionally, the teachers and students described the activities and technological aspects that should be considered when designing conversational PAs. The study showed that teachers and students applied human-to-human communication scripts when outlining their desired PA communication characteristics. The study offers novel insights and recommendations to researchers and developers on the communicational, pedagogical, and technological aspects that must be considered when designing communicative PAs that scaffold students’ learning, and discusses the contributions on human–machine communication in education.

中文翻译：

---

教育机构沟通和支撑学生的学习：高中教师和学生的观点


教学代理 (PA) 在数字和虚拟现实/增强现实学习环境中与学生进行口头和非口头交流。 PA 已被证明有利于学习，而生成式人工智能（例如大型语言模型）可以显着提高 PA 的沟通能力。 K-12教育在学习技术研究中代表性不足，在开发PA交流时没有考虑教师和学生的见解。当前的研究通过对 11 名高中教师和 16 名高中生进行半结构化的深度访谈并进行分析，了解他们对 PA 沟通能力的期望，从而弥补了这一研究空白。受访者确定了 PA 应该具备的关系和与任务相关的沟通能力，以便与学生进行有效沟通并支撑他们的学习。同时具有肯定性和关系性的 PA 沟通可以促进即时性，促进与 PA 的关系和参与，并支持学生的学习管理。此外，教师和学生还描述了设计会话 PA 时应考虑的活动和技术方面。研究表明，教师和学生在概述他们所需的公共广播沟通特征时，会应用人与人之间的沟通脚本。该研究为研究人员和开发人员提供了在设计支撑学生学习的交流 PA 时必须考虑的交流、教学和技术方面的新颖见解和建议，并讨论了人机交流在教育中的贡献。