Toward Scalable Co-located Practical Learning: Assisting with Computer Vision and Multimodal Analytics

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a single ceiling-mounted camera combined with computer vision can effectively analyze teamwork and engagement in practical learning environments, providing insights without wearable sensors.

Contribution

It introduces a scalable, camera-based method for analyzing fine-grained learning behaviors in co-located settings, validated in nursing simulations.

Findings

Behavioral data combined with spatial context reveal performance differences.

The YOLO-based detector achieved high annotation reliability and good detection metrics.

Spatial analysis distinguishes high- and low-performing teams based on activity location.

Abstract

This study examined whether a single ceiling-mounted camera could be used to capture fine-grained learning behaviours in co-located practical learning. In undergraduate nursing simulations, teachers first identified seven observable behaviour categories, which were then used to train a YOLO-based detector. Video data were collected from 52 sessions, and analyses focused on Scenario A because it produced greater behavioural variation than Scenario B. Annotation reliability was high (F1=0.933). On the held-out test set, the model achieved a precision of 0.789, a recall of 0.784, and an mAP@0.5 of 0.827. When only behaviour frequencies were compared, no robust differences were found between high- and low-performing groups. However, when behaviour labels were analysed together with spatial context, clear differences emerged in both task and collaboration performance. Higher-performing teams showed more patient interaction in the primary work area, whereas lower-performing teams showed more phone-related activity and more activity in secondary areas. These findings suggest that behavioural data are more informative when interpreted together with where they occur. Overall, the study shows that a single-camera computer vision approach can support the analysis of teamwork and task engagement in face-to-face practical learning without relying on wearable sensors.