Abstract:
Research on detecting student emotions from their interactions with educational software is now nearly a decade old, and we are beginning to explore how students’ affective experiences relate to their learning. Our results are sometimes surprising. While many of the hypothesized relationships occur, they are often infrequent.
This talk will cover some of the methods used to generate the models we use to detect student affect when sensor data is impractical or altogether impossible (e.g., when analyzing retrospective data). It will then discuss how those models have been used to explore the relationship between student affect and learning in different contexts, including the implications of conflicting findings.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Jaclyn Ocumpaugh is the Associate Director of the Penn Center for Learning Analytics at the University of Pennsylvania and serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Learning Analytics and Computer-Based Learning in Context. Her work often combines log file analysis with field observations to better understand how students engage with STEM learning systems, with an emphasis on the contextual factors involved with those processes. With a PhD in Linguistics, where focused on the English language patterns of underrepresented minorities, she has extensive experience in fieldwork. She has used this background in her role as a learning scientist to co-develop the BROMP method for measuring student engagement (which is now being used by over 150 researchers worldwide), to develop software for English Language Learners, and (of relevance to this project) to lead efforts to interview students about their affective experiences in Betty’s Brain. Her works have helped guide the development of two different applications designed to facilitate fieldwork, including Human Affect Recording Tool (HART) which implements the BROMP observations, and the Quick Red Fox (QRF) application, which facilitates qualitative interviews of students based on their interactions with online learning systems. Ocumpaugh has collaborated on — and led — a range of major research projects.
Watch Dr. Jaclyn Ocumpaugh’s talk now!
You may access her slides here.
