Learner Control Aids Learning from Instructional Videos with a Virtual Human

Experimental research around virtual humans acting as pedagogical agents has often taken place in learner-paced learning environments. However, virtual humans are increasingly embedded in educational materials such as instructional videos, where the pacing of the environment can be fundamentally different than a stand-alone learner-controlled software package. This study examined the influence of three types of pacing with varying levels of learner control when learning from an instructional video with an embedded virtual human. The results of our three-group randomized study indicate that increased learner control led to the strongest learning outcomes, although moderate learner control was the most instructionally efficient. The results suggest that some aspects of learner control can be beneficial when learning from instructional videos with embedded virtual humans.