Emerging Metaphors and Constructs from Pedagogical Agent Networks

This article explores directions that networked pedagogical agents might take in learning environments now in development. The agent networks described here may produce significant advantages for learning, particularly insofar as they promote new kinds of learner-learner interactions. These advantages are described through four metaphors: interactional bandwidth (how much interaction the learning environment can sustain); cognitive density (the level of cognitive richness in the classroom interactions); pedagogical agent hybrids (blending of human and virtual identities in agents); and classroom flow (as analog to individual flow).