Pedagogical agents do not significantly affect learners' engagement (g = -0.02, non-significant)¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesisr2·q3
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i? Across 57 comparisons from 8 studies, PAs showed a small, non-significant effect on engagement (g = -0.02, p = 0.73). → Gladstone 2025
Evidence¶
Gladstone 2025¶
Gladstone, J. R., Schroeder, N. L., Heidig, S., Zhang, S., Palaguachi, C., & Pitera, M. (2025). Do Pedagogical Agents Enhance Student Motivation? Unraveling the Evidence Through Meta-Analysis. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10050-2
q3 · i? · quant-synthesis · r2
Three-level meta-analysis with CHERVE of PA-versus-non-PA comparisons measuring engagement. The pooled effect was near zero and non-significant, with significant heterogeneity (Q(56) = 217.68, p < 0.001).
"The result of a random effects 3LMA with CHERVE meta-analysis found that the impact of PAs on learners' engagement was small and non-significant (g = − 0.02, p = 0.73, kcomparisons = 57, kstudies = 8)."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Pedagogical agents significantly improve learners' self-efficacy expectations (g = 0.29), with effects moderated by grade level, facial expressions, and reliability reporting — related
- Pedagogical agents have a small, statistically significant positive effect on learners' broadly defined 'motivation' (g = 0.20) — related
- Pedagogical agents show essentially no effect on learners' intrinsic motivation (g = 0.00) — related
- In one quasi-experiment in EFL writing classes, students given AI-peer integrated feedback reported higher posttest cognitive engagement than students given conventional peer feedback — related
- Pedagogical agents do not significantly affect learners' value beliefs (g = 0.09, non-significant) — related
- Pedagogical agents enhance learning compared with learning environments that do not feature agents — related
- Pedagogical agents significantly improve learners' interest (g = 0.30), with the effect depending on the type of control condition — related
- Agent appearance (iconic vs realistic) shows no significant difference in retention, transfer, or interest — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
pa-no-effect-engagement |
title |
Pedagogical agents do not significantly affect learners' engagement (g = -0.02, non-significant) |
description |
Pedagogical agents do not significantly affect learners' engagement (g = -0.02, non-significant) |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
weak |
newest_evidence |
2025 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-19 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — gladstone-2025 |
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