Scaffolding Presence: Rethinking AI Avatars in Human-Centered Online Learning
A podcast, video reflection, and downloadable paper on how AI avatars can support orientation, motivation, reflection, belonging, and learner agency—without replacing the teacher (Prof. M. Diack)
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing online education, but not every AI-enhanced tool automatically improves learning. In this post, I share a podcast and video reflection based on my paper, “Scaffolding Presence in AI-Enhanced Online Learning.” The paper argues that AI avatars become educationally meaningful only when they are designed as human-governed, temporary scaffolds that reduce learner confusion, support belonging, and promote independence—not when they simply repeat content or simulate artificial teaching presence.
Podcast Introduction
In this podcast, I introduce the central argument of my paper, “Scaffolding Presence in AI-Enhanced Online Learning: Avatar-Mediated Guidance and Human-Centered Individualized Learning.” The paper proposes a new way to think about AI avatars in education—not as cosmetic media, automated narrators, or replacements for instructors, but as temporary pedagogical scaffolds that help learners navigate complex online learning environments.
The concept of Scaffolding Presence describes how avatar-mediated guidance can support five essential dimensions of learning: orientation, cognitive organization, motivation, reflection, and belonging. The goal is not to make learners dependent on avatars, but to help them gradually develop confidence, independence, scholarly identity, and agency.
Why This Matters
As AI enters online education, the real question is not whether we can add avatars to courses. The deeper question is: What kind of human learning does the avatar help make possible? This podcast invites faculty, instructional designers, researchers, and institutional leaders to think critically about AI-supported learning ecosystems, cognitive congestion, accessibility, JEDI-centered design, and human-in-the-loop governance.
Download the Full Paper
Readers who would like to engage more deeply with the full scholarly argument can download the complete paper here:
Download the full paper: https://zenodo.org/records/20347760
The paper, “Scaffolding Presence in AI-Enhanced Online Learning: Avatar-Mediated Guidance and Human-Centered Individualized Learning,” develops the concept of scaffolding presence as a framework for understanding how AI avatars can support learners without replacing human educators. It examines avatar-mediated guidance through five dimensions: orientation, cognitive organization, motivation, reflection, and belonging, while emphasizing accessibility, JEDI-centered design, cognitive load, and human-in-the-loop governance.
This downloadable version is intended for faculty, instructional designers, researchers, doctoral students, and institutional leaders interested in the future of AI-enhanced online learning, individualized learner support, and responsible educational innovation.
Professor Moustapha Diack is a faculty member in the Doctoral Program in Science/Mathematics Education (SMED) within the College of Science and Engineering (CSE) at Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.