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Title: Synchronized eye movements predict test scores in online video education
Experienced teachers pay close attention to their students, adjusting their teaching when students seem lost. This dynamic interaction is missing in online education. We hypothesized that attentive students follow videos similarly with their eyes. Thus, attention to instructional videos could be assessed remotely by tracking eye movements. Here we show that intersubject correlation of eye movements during video presentation is substantially higher for attentive students and that synchronized eye movements are predictive of individual test scores on the material presented in the video. These findings replicate for videos in a variety of production styles, for incidental and intentional learning and for recall and comprehension questions alike. We reproduce the result using standard web cameras to capture eye movements in a classroom setting and with over 1,000 participants at home without the need to transmit user data. Our results suggest that online education could be made adaptive to a student’s level of attention in real time.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1660548
PAR ID:
10211957
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Volume:
118
Issue:
5
ISSN:
0027-8424
Page Range / eLocation ID:
e2016980118
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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