Traversing the Pass: Improving the Knowledge Retention of Serious Games Using a Pedagogical Agent
Proceedings of the 23rd ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, Würzburg, Germany, Association for Computing Machinery, (2023)DOI: 10.1145/3570945.3607360
Abstract
Machine learning is an essential aspect of modern life that many educational institutions incorporate into their curricula. Often, students struggle to grasp how neural networks learn. Teaching these concepts could be assisted with pedagogical agents and serious games, which both have proven helpful for complex topics like engineering. We present "Traversing the Pass," a serious game that utilizes a mentor-like agent to explain the underlying machine learning concepts and provides feedback. We optimized the agent’s design in a pre-study before evaluating its effectiveness compared to a text-only user interface with experts and students. Participants performed better in a second assessment two weeks later if they played the game using the agent. Although criticized as repetitive, the game created an understanding of basic machine learning concepts and achieved high flow values. Our results indicate that agents could be used to enhance the beneficial effects of serious games with improved knowledge retention.
