Investigating the Effects of Affective Pedagogical Agent and Meta‐Cognitive Prompts in Online Learning Environment.

Background: Online learning is becoming increasingly popular among learners. To enhance the effectiveness of online learning, researchers have embedded an affective pedagogical agent (PA) on the computer screen to help regulate learners' emotions and support their learning. However, previous researc...

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Publicado en:Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Vol. 41; no. 6; pp. 1 - 15
Autores principales: Wang, Yanqing, Gong, Shaoying, Jia, Ning, Liu, Ying
Formato: pictorial research tables/charts randomized controlled trial Journal Article
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell Dec2025
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Dec2025
      vid: 41
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      pub: Wiley-Blackwell
      place: Malden, Massachusetts
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        10.1111/jcal.70157
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        atl: Investigating the Effects of Affective Pedagogical Agent and Meta‐Cognitive Prompts in Online Learning Environment.
      aug:
        au:
          Wang, Yanqing
          Gong, Shaoying
          Jia, Ning
          Liu, Ying
        affil: Department of Psychology, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China
      sug:
        subj:
          Students, College Psychosocial Factors
          Psychology Education
          Online Education
          Learning Environment
          Teaching Methods
          User-Computer Interface
          Cognition
          Cues
          Affect
          Emotional Regulation
          Outcomes of Education Evaluation
          Human
          Funding Source
          China
          Randomized Controlled Trials
          Random Assignment
          Emotions
          Arousal
          Heart Rate
          Skin Physiology
          Questionnaires
          Motivation
          Judgment
          Decision Making
          Learning
          Descriptive Statistics
          Analysis of Covariance
          Regression
          Scales
      ab: Background: Online learning is becoming increasingly popular among learners. To enhance the effectiveness of online learning, researchers have embedded an affective pedagogical agent (PA) on the computer screen to help regulate learners' emotions and support their learning. However, previous research has paid little attention to the effects of affective PA on learners' metacognitive processing. It has also been shown that learners often do not spontaneously engage in metacognitive regulation behaviors without intervention. This study addresses this gap by examining whether affective PA provides metacognitive prompts can lead to better learning outcomes. Objectives: To explore the effects of aligning instructional design methods (e.g., adding an affective PA to computer screen) with appropriate instructional prompts (e.g., metacognitive prompts) on students' affective processing, cognitive processing, metacognitive processing, and learning performance in an online learning scenario. Methods: In a 2 (Affective PA: Affective PA vs. Neutral PA) × 2 (Metacognitive prompts: With vs. Without) between‐subjects design, one hundred and twenty‐four college students learned about 10 psychological concepts delivered either by an affective PA or a neutral PA. All participants' physiological arousal was recorded throughout the learning process, followed by a series of learning outcomes. More specifically, learners' physiological arousal was recorded via heart rate and skin conductance sensors, and their self‐reported emotions and learning outcomes were measured using validated questionnaires. Results: The results showed that (a) Learning with an affective PA had higher physiological arousal, germane cognitive load, and transfer performance than learning with a neutral PA; (b) Metacognitive prompts improved transfer performance; (c) A neutral PA inducing learners to engage in metacognitive processing led to better learning outcomes, while affective PA providing metacognitive prompts did not facilitate learning. Conclusions: The findings demonstrated the positive role of affective PA and metacognitive prompts in promoting learning. The results of this experiment identified the interplay effects between affective PA and metacognitive prompts, which provided new perspectives for understanding the role of combining instructional design and learners' active processing to facilitate learning.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        pictorial
        research
        tables/charts
        randomized controlled trial
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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