Meta-analysis reveals significant effects of generative AI pedagogical agents on academic performance in diverse learning contexts, highlighting instructional roles and dialogue modalities.
With the breakthrough advancements in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technology, GenAI-powered pedagogical agents (GenAI-PA) are emerging as a transformative paradigm shift in education. However, there is still debate about whether the use of GenAI-PA is beneficial for learners’ academic performance. Therefore, this study conducted a meta-analysis of 27 experimental and quasi-experimental studies from 2015 to 2025. The results showed that (1) GenAI-PA had a significant effect on learners’ academic performance ( g = 0.401). (2) In a collectivist culture, GenAI-PA had a greater effect on learners’ academic performance. (3) The effect of GenAI-PA in teacher-directed learning was significantly better than in self-directed learning. (4) The dialogue modality of GenAI-PA moderated the effect on learners’ academic performance, with multimodal dialogue showing the highest pedagogical potential. (5) The predictive effect of GenAI-PA on learners’ academic performance was not influenced by grade level, gender, learning domain, learning duration, or the instructional role of GenAI-PA. Ultimately, recommendations for the design and application of GenAI-PA are discussed.
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Cheng et al. (2025) studied this question.
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