Biases influence the decisions people make in everyday life, even if they are unaware of it. The current study investigates the extent bias behavior transfers into social interactions in virtual worlds by investigating the effect of aversive racism on helping behaviors and learning within a virtual world for medical triage training. In a 2 × 2 × 2…

In an effort to create meaningful user experiences, instructional designers participate in continuous projection and reflection during design. Empathic design draws on instructional designers' sensitivity toward their learners as a reference for design. Empathic forecasting, or predictions about an emotional reaction to future events, is an…

Increased recognition of the role of the body and environment in cognition has taken place in recent decades in the form of new theories of embodied and extended cognition. The growing use of ever more sophisticated computer-generated 3D virtual worlds and avatars has added a new dimension to these theories of cognition. Both developments provide…

During the past two decades, the popularity of computer and video games has prompted games to become a source of study for educational researchers and instructional designers investigating how various aspects of game design might be appropriated, borrowed, and re-purposed for the design of educational materials. The purpose of this paper is to…

Teaching and learning are highly social activities. Seminal psychologists such as Vygotsky, Piaget, and Bandura have theorized that social interaction is a key mechanism in the process of learning and development. In particular, the benefits of peer interaction for learning and motivation in classrooms have been broadly demonstrated through…

This study examined the effect of video-based contextualized advisement and competition on transfer of mathematics skills in a computer-based simulation game in which participants helped their "aunt and uncle" fix up a house. Participants were 123 seventh- and eighth-grade students. Results indicated an interaction between competition…

Explores how users interact and learn during computer-based simulations given graphical and textual forms of feedback. Graduate students were randomly assigned computer simulations with graphical feedback, textual feedback, or graphical plus textual feedback. Findings indicate that graphical feedback provides experiential learning, but that these…

This study was designed to examine the effects of the competency (low vs. high) and interaction type (proactive vs. responsive) of pedagogical agents as learning companions (PALs) on learning, self-efficacy, and attitudes. Participants were 72 undergraduates in an introductory computer-literacy course who were randomly assigned to one of four…