Understanding Physiological Responses of Students Over Different Courses

TL;DR

This study investigates how students' physiological signals vary across different courses in real-world settings, revealing unique engagement patterns and temporal responses that can inform personalized educational strategies.

Contribution

It introduces an analysis of intra-student physiological synchrony across multiple courses using wearable sensors, expanding beyond lab-based or course-specific studies.

Findings

Distinct physiological response patterns among students

Influence of course type on physiological signals

Identification of consistent temporal response patterns

Abstract

Student engagement plays a vital role in academic success with high engagement often linked to positive educational outcomes. Traditionally, student engagement is measured through self-reports, which are both labour-intensive and not real-time. An emerging alternative is monitoring physiological signals such as Electrodermal Activity (EDA) and Inter-Beat Interval (IBI), which reflect students' emotional and cognitive states. In this research, we analyzed these signals from 23 students wearing Empatica E4 devices in real-world scenarios. Diverging from previous studies focused on lab settings or specific subjects, we examined physiological synchrony at the intra-student level across various courses. We also assessed how different courses influence physiological responses and identified consistent temporal patterns. Our findings show unique physiological response patterns among students, enhancing our understanding of student engagement dynamics. This opens up possibilities for tailoring educational strategies based on unobtrusive sensing data to optimize learning outcomes.