Motivation:
Passive learning is a teacher-centered method where students absorb information by listening, reading, or watching without significant interaction, such as in-person lectures or online video learning. This approach has traditionally been used to deliver large amounts of information to diverse student populations [1]. However, research has documented several drawbacks of passive learning, including decreased learning motivation [2], poor knowledge retention [3], and attention decline during instruction [4]. In contrast, active learning is a student-centered approach that engages students actively and experientially in the learning process [5]. While active learning has demonstrated significant benefits, its implementation faces practical barriers including limited instructor bandwidth, scalability challenges, and time constraints[1]. This work explores how an embodied conversational AI tutor in Mixed Reality can democratize access to personalized, interactive learning experiences by transforming existing passive e-learning content into active tutoring dialogues—preserving content fidelity while enabling learner-initiated interaction at scale.