FearNot’s Appearance: Reflecting Children’s Expectations and Perspectives

Abstract

Abstract. This paper discusses FearNot, a virtual learning environment populated by synthetic characters aimed at the 8-12 year old age group for the exploration of bullying and coping strategies. Currently, FearNot is being redesigned from a lab-based prototype into a classroom tool. In this paper we focus on informing the design of the characters and of the virtual learning environment through our interpretation of qualitative data gathered about interaction with FearNot by 345 children. The paper focuses on qualitative data collected using the Classroom Discussion Forum technique and discusses its implications for the redesign of the media used for FearNot. The interpretation of the data identifies that the use of fairly naïve synthetic characters for achieving empathic engagement appears to be an appropriate approach. Results do indicate a focus for redesign, with a clear need for improved transitions for animations; identification and repair of inconsistent graphical elements; and for a greater cast of characters and range of sets to achieve optimal engagement levels.

Benefits of Virtual Pedagogical Characters - A Learning Style Perspective

“…However, the recommendation may be of less importance in the case of educational software for young people. The result of the study presented in this paper as well as of several other studies on children, show positive attitudes towards the general idea of pedagogical characters in a large majority of children [11,17]. Furthermore, digital characters are integrated and natural aspects of the digital life of young people, with many popular consumer interfaces, such as instant messaging clients, on-line forums, console games and computer games, featuring digital characters.…”

“…In these a social dimension can be represented by movements, gestures, and facial expressions as well as by voice, dialogue, etc. Examples are Herman the Bug [10] and the characters in FearNot [11]. Other digital characters are not, or very limitedly, animated.…”

Fully generated scripted dialogue for embodied agents

“…We believe there to be a wealth of applications, ranging from "edutainment" (e.g., VirtualConstructor, [60]) to advertising and e-drama (witness Carmen's Bright IDEAS [48], FearNot! [35], [4] and Façade [56], where it can be useful to generate a dialogue as a whole. Similarly, FGSD could be used to increase the variety of dialogues produced by story generation systems (e.g.…”

“…We believe there to be ample space for other, similarly direct applications of the fully-generated scripted dialogue (FGSD) technology, for example because there will always be a place for noninteractive radio, film and television. Perhaps most importantly, however, we see a substantial future role for hybrid systems that combine FGSD with much extended facilities for letting the user influence the behaviour of the system (as exist in interactive drama, for example, see [55], [35], [4], [56]). 14 .…”

Process drama in the virtual world – a survey

“…(Fun with Empathic Agents Reaching Novel Outcomes in Teaching) is an interactive drama focused on training children ages 8-12 to cope with bullying situations Hall et al, 2006;Watson et al, 2007). Children in school get subjected to many scenarios where they are being victimised or bullied by other children within a classroom or school environment.…”