Background: Though pedagogical artificial agents are expected to play a crucial role in the years to come, earlier studies provide inconsistent results regarding their effect on learning. This might be because their potential for exhibiting subtle nonverbal behaviours we know from human teachers has been untapped. What is more, there is little…

As immersive virtual reality (IVR) systems proliferate in classrooms, it is important to understand how they affect learning outcomes and the underlying affective and cognitive processes that may cause these outcomes. Proponents argue that IVR could improve learning by increasing positive affective and cognitive processing, thereby supporting…

The Cognitive-Affective Theory of Learning with Media postulates that affective factors as well as individual learner characteristics impact multimedia learning. The present study investigated how experimentally induced positive and negative emotions influence multimedia learning and how learner characteristics moderated this impact. Results…

In this paper, we explore the idea of weak ties in networked learning. We go back to the original conception of the strength of weak ties and relate this to Bakhtin and a dialogic understanding of networked learning. These theoretical ideas are applied to the examination of two networked settings in which educational leaders exchange ideas and…

Explores gender differences in the use of computer-mediated communication in a specific learning context by a small group of postgraduate distance learners and their tutors at the University of Sheffield. Uses content analysis of online dialog to investigate learning and socioemotional behavior. (Author/LRW)