College - Author 1
College of Liberal Arts
Department - Author 1
Graphic Communication Department
Degree Name - Author 1
BS in Graphic Communication
Date
12-2025
Primary Advisor
Hocheol Yang, College of Liberal Arts, Graphic Communication Department
Abstract/Summary
AI powered educational agents are programs that are capable of interpreting their environment and then making decisions based on that (Cordova-Esparza, 2025). Agentic programs like these can be helpful in an educational setting because they can be used to provide personalized feedback to students, assist instructors with grading, and adapt learning materials in real time to match each student’s progress. However, there are a multitude of concerns raised by agentic programs as well, causing experts to consider the ethical implications of integrating them into school curricula. The Cal Poly Graphic Communication Department wanted to study how participants would respond when receiving a lesson on lighting for photography in a VR environment from a simulated AI educational agent. In doing so, they aimed to test the viability of agentic programs for future use in education. Additional considerations included testing participants using two different instructors (one human, one freeform), and informing them that AI was present in the simulation for some of the test runs. How the participant perceived social presence was also measured.
In terms of importance and industry relevance, this project will serve as a good indicator of what the general consensus is about using an AI powered educational agent to provide classroom instruction. When used correctly, AI can be a great tool for helping students learn, such as large language models being able to break down problems for students and explain them so the student can understand the content better. This project takes that a step further by putting the AI in a leadership (instructor) role versus more of an assistant role. If it is found that participants do not mind receiving instruction from AI, this may allude to a broader acceptance of educational agents used in the classroom.
For the production plan and schedule, Week 4 was dedicated to meeting with the project advisor (HY) and learning more about the project, Week 5 was dedicated to the first in-person team meeting, Week 6 was dedicated to launching the project in Unity and learning more about the software, as well as combing through other project materials in OneDrive, Week 7 is dedicated to testing out the simulation for the first time and creating duplicate avatars to create the illusion of other classmates in the classroom during the simulation, Weeks 8-9 are dedicated to testing, and Week 10 is dedicated to analysis, reporting findings, and preparing presentation materials.
URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/grcsp/320