• Esgin, E., Bayram, S. & Erdoğan, Y.
• Proceedings of International Conference on Educational Technology (ICET 2009), 24-26 June, Paris.

---

Abstract
The aim of the study is to examine the effects of gender and age of students on choosing pedagogical agent as a learning companion. In this research, correlational design was used. 349 students (180 female and 169 male) from three schools (one high school and two upper intermediate schools) participated in the study. They were provided different agents as a learning companion to choose from, each differing by gender (male, female), affective expression (neutral, smiley and angry) and realism (realistic, cartoon). The data driven from online survey was analyzed by Chi-Square Test. The results revealed that while choosing a pedagogical agent as a learning companion gender is a significant factor (χ2=40.86, p is smaller than 0.01), however age is not a significant factor (χ2=2.73, p>.05). Female students at the age 11 to 14 have chosen female pedagogical agents (71.2 %) more likely than female students at the age 15 to 18 (46.3 %). Also male students at the age 11 to 14 have chosen male pedagogical agents (73 %) more likely than male students at the age 15 to 18 (56.5 %). These results imply that students at the level of upper intermediate prefer same gender pedagogical agents but this preference does not seem at high school level. In addition, affective expression of a pedagogical agent was an important factor that 67 % of the participants have chosen pedagogical agents which have smiley expression, 24.1 % of the participants have chosen pedagogical agents which have neutral expression and 8.8 % of the participants have chosen pedagogical agents which have angry expression. Another important result was that students prefer realistic pedagogical agents (89.1 %) rather than cartoon pedagogical agents (10.9 %).