Understanding Students’ Engagement in Learning Emerging Technologies of Construction Sector: Feasibility of Wearable Physiological Sensing System-Based Monitoring

Abstract

Considering the imminent ubiquity of emerging technologies in the construction industry, the workforce needs to possess multidisciplinary skills to realize the full potential of incumbent technologies. Despite the importance of education to gain required expertise, there is dearth of in-depth understanding of the effectiveness of current pedagogies. Engagement is an essential aspect of any pedagogical experience, directly affecting knowledge retention. However, the traditional evaluation methods are unsuitable for objectively understanding engagement. Interpretation of physiological response can provide insight into the emotional state of learners. Recent advancements in wearable technologies and physiology offer objective approach to measure the engagement level. In this regard, this study aims to assess the feasibility of wearable physiological sensing technologies for understanding the engagement level of students learning emerging technologies in construction. The potential of electrodermal activity (EDA), photoplethysmography (PPG), and skin temperature (ST) was investigated in detecting the engagement level of students. Ten minutes of biosignals were acquired from 5 students in two different learning experiences (i.e., passive learning through slides and active learning through didactic videos). Different metrics (electrodermal level, the mean value of PPG, mean skin temperature, etc.) were calculated from the time domain and frequency domain to investigate the potential of the suggested biosignals. Results indicated a statistically significant difference in the physiological metrics extracted from biosignals of the student in different learning setups with varying levels of engagement. Findings demonstrated the feasibility of wearable sensors to evaluate the students’ engagement level in their learning of emerging technologies of construction.