Impacts of Pedagogical Agent Gender in an Accessible Learning Environment

Advances in information technologies have resulted in the use of pedagogical agents to facilitate learning. Although several studies have been conducted to examine the effects of pedagogical agents on learning, little is known about gender stereotypes of agents and how those stereotypes influence student learning and attitudes. This study investigates if the pedagogical agent’s gender influences cognitive and affective outcomes in learnerattenuated system-paced environments. The findings reveal that the gender of the agent did not produce any statistically significant effects. This indicates that the effects of learning with pedagogical agents may be independent of the agents’ gender. The implications for theory and practice are discussed, along with future research directions.