Abstract
E-learning has become a fundamental part of child education, higher education, and corporate training. In the design of adaptive e-learning environments, it is important to track and analyze learner behavior and preferences, and this is possible by recording their eye movements. Eye tracking is a technology developed to monitor eye movements allowing us to analyze the recorded gaze data. The main goal of this chapter is to determine the potential of eye tracking in the field of e-learning and the various applications of eye movement analysis for e-learning platforms. Results can be used to design an adaptive e-learning environment able to collect, analyze, and understand learner online behavior, preferences, and needs, and then offer an educational content adapted to each learner's needs by generating new customized learning situations.
TopIntroduction
The main purpose of e-learning systems is to develop and maintain successful learning processes, and it’s more complicated than the ordinary situation of a teacher in a classroom, because there is no human visual interaction. In addition, learners -especially children who are more enthusiastic and talkative than adults- can lose concentration and motivation easily if the platform is not tailored to their needs. In a virtual learning environment, educators need to take into account all learners’ individual differences that teachers spontaneously use in a classic classroom to improve the learning situation, like behavior, motivation, cognitive development, learning style and level of attention.
Eye tracking technology has progressed fast in the few last years, especially in virtual reality, advertising, gaming and market research industry. The acquisition of eye tracking companies like OculusVR, EyeFluence, GazeHawk and EyeTribe by Google and Facebook, and also the collaboration between Tobii and Microsoft to bring eye-tracking support in Windows 10 are prelude to the new human-computer interaction paradigm that rely on future technological advances, which aim to transform interface devices into embeddable and wearable objects. In education industry, eye tracking technology can be used to study perceptual, cognitive, and social emotional development for children, and also to improve the learning process on adaptive e-learning environments.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Cognitive Load: A theory proposing that differences in performance were due to the total amount of mental activity used for the storage of information in working memory.
Visual Perception: The ability to perceive, organize and interpret the environment through vision. The visual perception is related to the effectiveness in the design of graphical user interfaces (GUIs).
Adaptive Learning: An educational concept focusing on the adaptation of learning materials and activities to the particular skills, needs, and individual differences of each learner.
Cognitive Style: The typical mode of an individual of thinking, perceiving, problem solving, and remembering information.
Multimedia Learning: A form of learning presenting visual and verbal information for a better understanding and memorization of the content.
Learning Style: A theory suggesting that people differ in how they learn, and they can be classified by the analysis of their cognitive style in a learning situation.
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI): The science that studies interactions between people and computers. The HCI uses computer technology for the design of the interfaces between humans and machines.