Increasing Learners’ Motivation through Pedagogical Agents: The Cast of Virtual Characters in the DynaLearn ILE

Motivation is a critical requirement for successful learning. Previous research has identified that animated pedagogical agents can increase motivation. Following these results, we present the cast of pedagogical agents in the DynaLearn Intelligent Learning Environment. Each of these agents is associated with one of the different support types available in the environment, giving each agent a clearly defined role. We describe the different character roles, how their knowledge is generated and related to the pedagogical purpose at hand, how they interact with the learners and finally how this interaction helps increasing the learners’ motivation. To assess this, we conducted a preliminary evaluation with three of the characters and report our findings.