Pedagogical agents (PAs) are increasingly being integrated into educational technologies. Although previous reviews have examined the impact of PAs on learning and learning-related outcomes, it still remains unclear what specific design features, social cues, and other contextual elements of PA implementation can optimize the learning process. These questions are even more prevalent with regards to the K-12 population, as most reviews to date have largely focused on post-secondary learners. To address this gap in the literature, we systematically review empirical studies around the design of PAs for K-12 learners. After reviewing 1374 studies for potential inclusion, we analyzed 44 studies that met our inclusion criteria using Heidig and Clarebout's (2011) frameworks. Our findings showed that learners had preferences for specific types of PAs. While these preferences were not always associated with increased learning outcomes, there is a lack of research specifically investigating the intersection of perceptions and learning. Our results also showed that pedagogical strategies that are effective for human teachers were effective when used by PAs. We highlight what specific design features instructional designers can use to design PAs for K-12 learners and discuss promising research directions based on the extant work in the field.

中文翻译：

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K-12 教育的教学代理设计：系统评价


教育代理 （PA） 正越来越多地集成到教育技术中。尽管以前的综述已经研究了 PA 对学习和学习相关结果的影响，但仍然不清楚 PA 实施的哪些具体设计特征、社交线索和其他背景元素可以优化学习过程。这些问题在 K-12 人群中更为普遍，因为迄今为止的大多数评论主要集中在高等教育学习者身上。为了解决文献中的这一差距，我们系统地回顾了围绕 K-12 学习者 PA 设计的实证研究。在审查了 1374 项研究以确定可能纳入的内容后，我们使用 Heidig 和 Clarebout （2011） 框架分析了 44 项符合我们纳入标准的研究。我们的研究结果表明，学习者对特定类型的 PA 有偏好。虽然这些偏好并不总是与学习成果的增加相关，但缺乏专门调查感知和学习交叉点的研究。我们的结果还表明，对人类教师有效的教学策略在 PA 使用时是有效的。我们重点介绍了教学设计师可以使用哪些具体设计特征来为 K-12 学习者设计 PA，并根据该领域的现有工作讨论了有前途的研究方向。