Learner Perception of Pedagogical Agents

Hyper-realistic human video generation (also referred to as "deepfake") is a recent development in artificial intelligence that may be applied to create pedagogical agents (PAs) for education purposes. Traditionally, PA research has been using 2D or 3D virtual figures to examine how their design may affect student learning or perceptions. In this study, we employed the latest human video generation technology to create PAs and investigated how students' perceived stereotypes of competent teachers would affect their preferences of a PA. It was found that students prefer to learn Japanese with Asian looking PAs over Caucasian or Black agents, supporting the hypothesis that real-world stereotype ideas can persist in the virtual world. Findings of the study offer references for how to better design PAs with generated human videos to boost learning motivation and enhance student perceptions.