I have a general question. Is anyone using Avatars in eLearning? I have always completely ignore the idea because I have always assumed they were too hard to use and way too expensive. Recently I came across a pretty functional (and not too bad looking) avatar, that is easy to use and pretty reasonably priced. Now I am interested. The claim is that an avatar will help retention and increase completion rates. That all because the student will develop a “relationship” with the avatar. Kind of letting the avatar take the place of a live instructor. Since I have zero experience with using avatars I am asking, anyone out there have experience using avatars in eLearning?? How real are the claims? Or is it a fun gimmick? I appreciate any feedback or thoughts you have.

Hi Scase:

There is a good introduction to Interactive Pedagogical Agents by David Slater at the following link:

Intro to Agents


Another good site is Agents 101. Plenty of references:

Agents 101

Good Luck

Cj

quote:

reasonably priced. Now I am interested. The claim is that an avatar will help retention and increase

We use what we call "animated narrators" in a number of our eLearning courses. I am concerned that some people might find them juvenile; however, we've gotten a lot of positive feedback on them. I think it really depends on the audience.

Hi Steve

Personally, I don't care for avatars. I point to them as an example of when not to use multimedia, because it does not add value. I think I've heard the same "research" in regard to avatars, but have yet to find a truly scientific study that could stand up to scrutiny. On the other hand, using multimedia for visual explanations (parts diagram) and interactive activities has been proven scientifically to increase retention. I think we know that intuitively also, that we retain more by experiencing things, rather than just hearing or reading about it.

Sheldon Murphy
Solid State Learning
E-Learning Consulting

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sheldon,

I do not care for the lifelike human avatars. I find them annoying and turn them off whenever possible. I find myself focused on the technology and not the message.

I find it more helpful to have a flash video of a real person.