Beyond the Screen: Exploring AI Avatars and Instructor Presence

Beyond the Screen: Exploring AI Avatars and Instructor Presence

The Connection Dilemma

Next Steps

Can AI Avatars Balance Efficiency with Authentic Presence?

Where Do We Go from Here?

The Presence Framework

Implications for Teaching

Balancing Efficiency with Authentic Human Presence

Community of Inquiry as a Lens for AI in Teaching

Exploring the Questions

Key Findings

What Students Said (and Showed)

What AI Avatars Can (and Can’t) Do for Teaching

Study Design

Testing Presence Across Formats

Elizabeth Larson and Jillian Hartman

Community of Inquiry as a Lens for AI in Teaching

Cognitive Presence

Teaching Presence

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Teaching Presence: How instructors design, facilitate, and direct learning. Cognitive Presence: How students construct knowledge through reflection and inquiry. Social Presence: How learners project themselves as “real people” in the digital classroom.

Social Presence

Why it matters:

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework helps us evaluate whether AI avatars can support not just clear instruction, but also the authentic human presence students need to feel connected and engaged.

Testing Presence Across Formats

Setting: Two online GCU courses Method: Within-subjects rotation over 7 weeks Week 1 & 4 → Instructor videos Week 2 & 5 → AI avatar videos Week 3 & 6 → Text-only content Week 7 → Student choice of preferred format Measures: Clarity, Emotion, Relatability, Connection, Preferred Format Data Sources: Surveys + open-ended student comments

What Students Said (and Showed)

Quantitative Results: No significant differences between instructor videos and AI avatars in clarity, emotion, relatability, or connection Slight preference for AI avatar videos overall, but no strong majority Qualitative Results: Clarity: Both formats viewed as effective Authenticity & Warmth: Instructor videos felt more genuine Efficiency & Structure: AI avatars praised for consistency and clarity Concerns: AI avatars sometimes perceived as robotic or less emotionally engaging

The Hybrid Future: Best of Both Worlds

AI Avatars for Efficiency: Routine announcements, structured lectures, scalable content delivery Instructor Videos for Connection: Emotional engagement, authenticity, motivational presence Pedagogical Insight: Presence goes beyond clarity — it’s about trust, empathy, and relational teaching SoTL Contribution: Provides evidence-based recommendations for balancing efficiency and authenticity in AI-enhanced classroom

The Connection Dilemma

Can AI Avatars Balance Efficiency with Authentic Presence? Challenge: Online classrooms often struggle to sustain human connection and student engagement, leaving students feeling distant. Opportunity: AI avatars can deliver content with efficiency and clarity, but questions remain about their ability to foster authentic presence, warmth, and emotional connection.

Framework Used

Where Do We Go from Here?

Scale Up: Expand to larger samples for stronger generalizability Long-Term Impact: Explore how avatars influence student learning outcomes over time Cross-Discipline: Compare effects across fields and course levels Hybrid Models: Test combinations of avatars + instructor videos to find the best balance

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Your Presence Matters

✨ True pedagogy goes further than delivering clear content—it cultivates trust, empathy, and motivation through authentic human connection.

What AI Avatars Can (and Can’t) Do for Teaching

Can AI avatars deliver comparable clarity, emotion, and connection as instructor-created videos? How do students perceive differences in presence between AI avatars, instructor videos, and text-only materials? What is the potential impact of integrating AI avatars on student learning and engagement? How might these findings inform future AI-enhanced teaching practices at GCU?