Conversational Agents and Learning
An experimental approach was used to compare two types of web interfaces (text-based vs. conversation-based) to content on the life and theories of Jean Piaget. The content in each interface was identical with the exception of third- vs. first-person references. Fifty-nine students in psychology first completed a pretest of Piagetian knowledge and then were randomly assigned to one of the two interfaces. After 20 minutes of review/conversation, students completed a 35-item exam designed to measure knowledge retention and a questionnaire to measure their perceptions of the assigned interface. Contrary to expectations, the text-based interface was rated significantly higher on measures of enjoyment and utility and led to better learning outcomes in comparison to the
conversational agent. Altogether, the findings indicate that the use of conversational agents in distance education needs to be carefully matched to the learning goals and outcomes.