Thoughts on Teaching Agents

I feel so far removed from the possibility of using teaching agents in my classroom that both articles appealed to me mainly as presenting curiosities and future potential. As both articles implied that the prevailing view toward the use of teaching agents is one of skepticism, so too am I unsure of how this would improve student learning. More importantly, many schools are still contending with student populations with little access and less fluency with technology than popularly suggested. This in mind, teaching agents undoubtedly are a part of the future, but I am most interested in what will help this moment. Even if teaching agents were available and my students not plagued with access issues, I still place a premium on face-to-face(s) interaction over mediating communication with an avatar. None of this is to suggest that there are not limited situations in which this would be a good idea, but for the majority of classrooms - even ideal ones - I am not convinced this would represent little more than a repackaging of the old in a novel medium. As I have been taught in technology-related courses in my master's of education, we must check our enthusiasm for new tools with the understanding that new is not always better, and the bottom line must always be how it will improve student learning.