Multimethod assessment of affective experience and expression during deep learning

Abstract

Inquiries into the link between affect and learning require robust methodologies to measure the learner's affective states. We describe two studies that utilised either an online or offline methodology to detect the affective states of a learner during a tutorial session with AutoTutor. The online study relied on self-reports for affect judgements, while the offline study considered the judgements by the learner, a peer and two trained judges. The studies also investigated the relationships between facial features, conversational cues and emotional expressions in an attempt to scaffold the development of computer algorithms to automatically detect learners' emotions. Both methodologies showed that boredom, confusion and frustration are the prominent affective states during learning with AutoTutor. For both methodologies, there were also some relationships involving patterns of facial activity and conversational cues that were diagnostic of emotional expressions.