By Kim Ducharme on January 13, 2019
Learning is a complex task involving and affected by a whole host of factors. Understanding a learner’s journey is even more complex. In my ETEC 500 Research Methods course, my group proposed to measure students’ behavioral, cognitive, emotional engagement through the course of a project-based STEM makerspace program. We proposed a mixed-methods study to collect quantitative data at the end of the six each distinct phases of a project, followed by qualitative data collection to further explain the general picture of what was going on for a range of diverse learners — to measure and understand the nature of the differences.
While we produced a solid research proposal, I wondered in the end how close we could really get to the truth. Even Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset Scale — a survey which relies on self-reporting about about how much students agree with whether their efforts can change their intelligence — seems iffy. I am struck by how difficult it is to truly know what’s going on for the learner, and more importantly, why. What if there were mobile technologies that enabled you to “see” the inner workings of a learner, in order to get better insights into the what and the why?
I came across Elliott Hedman’s brilliant work at mPath (buildempathy.com) using sensors that help capture the emotional profile of a person through an experience, consumers and learners alike. He uses skin-conductive stress sensors to understand the relationship between actions and emotional spikes, and creates learning “emototypes” (emotional prototypes — love it!) that combine the stress sensors with interviews and video analysis to help tell a more complete story of children’s learning experiences.
How might mobile technology be leveraged extend this idea into a network of cooperating sensors and devices to support better insights, and thus more effective designs for better learning experiences?
Reference
P’Pool, K. (2012). Using Dweck’s Theory of Motivation to Determine How a Student’s View of Intelligence Affects Their Overall Academic Achievement. Masters Theses & Specialist Projects, Paper 1214. Accessed 13 January 2019, http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1214.
With a student-centred approach, what the student is going through is the most important part – but how do we really know what that is?
As teachers, we do this all the time, guessing how are students are feeling, if they are learning, or how an activity is going. Overall, I think humans do a pretty good job at seeing the big picture or macro effects although there is definitely room for improvement.
Elliot Hedman’s work, exploring the use sensors to get immediate feedback and minute responses – the micro response, called the ‘Emototypes’.