Participants who saw the inset video of the actual lecturer replaced by an animated human lecturer recalled less information than those who saw the recording of the human lecturer.
An initial proof-of-concept demonstrates that although a human lecturer is preferable, robotic and virtual agents may be viable alternatives if designed properly.
Nelly Ali, a human rights lecturer and activist for children's rights based in London, said, "These really are dangerous months".
Agent-based alternatives for a talking head were assessed with an experiment comparing human and agent lecturers in a video from a popular online course.
That said, students also need a human connection to their lecturers and simply disclaiming this through referral to 'the specialists' is not enough.
Among them were two policy makers with expertise in human resources management, two lecturers with expertise in human workforce development in primary care and community health, two practitioners and an expert in measurement development.
Bhaskar Vira is senior lecturer in environment and development and David Nally is senior lecturer in human geography at the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, and both are fellows of Fitzwilliam College.
Dr Katherine Brickell is lecturer in human geography at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Graham Dietz is a senior lecturer in human resource management at the Durham Business School, Durham University.
"The map is mapping us," says Martin Dodge, a senior lecturer in human geography at Manchester University.
