This paper presents an interaction study with a mixed-cultural Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA) that investigates the impact of perceived ingroup similarity on the empathy of human interlocutors, and the perceived competence and warmth of the IVA. We herefore implemented an interactive scenario with either an IVA that should be perceived as an ingroup member or a neutral IVA. Our results show that the IVA in the ingroup condition triggered significantly more empathy and was rated significantly more competent than the IVA in the neutral condition. Regarding perceived warmth, both IVAs were rated rather high, revealing no significant differences. With these results we contribute to the goal of raising empathy towards IVAs with mixed-cultural backgrounds, to be potentially used in scenarios that aim at studying and reducing implicit racial bias.

Learning in universities challenges students to engage in self-directed learning, which requires a high degree of self-motivation while individual support by teachers is limited. Research on social robots has already demonstrated their potential to support students in their learning process. In this paper, we focus on the benefits of adaptivity of a robotic tutor in a higher education scenario. To this end, we conducted a field study over three sessions over the course of a semester and implemented two conditions (adaptive and non-adaptive) of a robotic tutor to support students with exam preparation. After participant learned with both version in random order in the first two sessions, their preferred condition was used in the third session. Our results show that significantly more students preferred to learn with the adaptive robotic tutor. Additionally, participation resulted in significantly better exam performance compared to the average of the course. However, there was no significant difference in the learning experience such as motivation or need satisfaction between conditions.

Social robots are applied in several fields such as education and entertainment. Using the method of storytelling, these two fields can be combined to allow for informal learning. As social robots can benefit students' motivation and learning process and storytelling is a consolidated method for vocabulary acquisition, integrating learning content into a robotic storyteller's narration might facilitate implicit learning. Focusing on language learning, we conducted an online study to compare a robotic storyteller for vocabulary learning to traditional media, e.g. text. Results show that a robotic storyteller is as effective as traditional media concerning long-term memory. While it is also perceived equally useful, participants were more satisfied when reading text. No differences were indicated for transportation into the story. This preliminary online study indicates the suitability of robotic storytelling for implicit language learning, however, future studies should examine live and co-located scenarios to investigate their full potential.

Separating and recycling waste is an important topic to protect our environment and achieve a more sustainable future. However, recycling also is a complex process, as each type of waste needs a specific recycling method. This comes along with multiple recycling containers, each relevant for one specific type of waste. Ensuring a correct recycling process therefore not only requires specific infrastructure, but also a respective attitude and knowledge of the population. Stressing the need for an accessible educational opportunity addressing waste separation, we present a mobile Augmented Reality (AR) application that guides a user through a recycling process and hence scaffolds the learning of proper recycling of each type of waste. The app further provides a prototypical implementation of a product scanner, that identifies the waste type based on a marker and assists the recycling on a case-by-case decision. Using self-determination theory as a framework, we integrated gamification elements, aiming for enhanced need satisfaction, motivation and user experience. In a user study, we compared the gamified version to a control version, with both app versions yielding a high acceptance, user experience, and waste separation behavior. This indicates the importance of providing easy-to-use mobile apps allowing for a learning and assistance of proper recycling.

Abstract Reading is an essential ability and a cornerstone of education. However, learning to read can be challenging for children. To scaffold young learners, a number of reading interventions were developed, including a syllable-based approach in German, which has proven to be successful, but resource and time consuming through individual interaction by educators. To improve the reach of the reading intervention, we present the first step towards a digital intervention, following an iterative design approach. In this contribution, we present the implementation of a digital prototype, developed with the feedback of expert evaluations, as well as an interview study with second graders. The results of interviews with children showed that the app is suitable to be applied in the target age group, that children had fun using it and were motivated to further do so. In a next step towards a meaningful digitalization of the analogue intervention, we extended the application based on the evaluation results and conducted a usability evaluation of the extended app. The study as well as the usability evaluation provides design implications for iteratively transferring the analogue concept into a digital application.

The benefits of social robots in educational contexts were mainly investigated with children, but also bear great potential to support learners and teachers in higher education. To further explore the potential of social robots in the context of university teaching, we implemented a robot-supported learning environment as a complementary training to a university course. To learn more about the students' perspective and attitudes towards the integration of robots in their education, we conducted a field study with qualitative interviews as data collection method. Our results show a clear positive perception of the robot-supported learning environment, and indicate a positive impact on the learning outcomes. Most students suppose an additional value in the presence of the robot compared to traditional on-screen scenario or self-study, and perceived the robot to increase their motivation, attention and concentration. We found a clear interest of the students to use the learning environment again in the future. However, more individualized feedback was desired.

This paper presents an experiment evaluating the effects of virtual agents' language proficiency on whether they are perceived as a native speakers or not. Our first results indicate that beyond 10% word order mistakes and 25% infinitive mistakes, virtual agents are perceived as non-native speakers, even though their appearance and non-verbal behaviour were not altered. We believe these thresholds constitute interesting guidelines possibly simplifying the design of non-native speaker simulations.

This paper presents a novel technique of navigation in Virtual Reality (VR) called Drone-Steering. This technique has been designed to facilitate path learning and traveling in VR by reducing both cybersickness and disorientation. We compared this technique to traditional Hand-Steering in a landmark-free environment. Our first experiment confirmed a significantly lower level of cybersickness during traveling and significantly better path learning. We believe that our technique constitutes a promising alternative to current VR navigation techniques, and will especially interest researchers and developers targeting large VR environments.