Smartbands and Behavioural Interventions in the Classroom: Multimodal Learning Analytics Stress-Level Visualisations for Primary Education Teachers

Abstract

Students’ stress levels may affect their well-being, attentiveness and learning outcomes in primary education classrooms. Positive behavioural interventions and support actions conducted by teachers may alleviate students’ stress levels, especially when addressing special educational needs. In this multimodal learning analytics study, students in a classroom were all given a smartband for their wrist during regular curriculum activities. Data comprised the semester of a single subject as a part of a research project conducted in Sweden. Biobehavioural stress-related arousal of students’ autonomic nervous system was visualised and analysed through distinguished behavioural modes. Additional data include naturalistic observational notes and two short teacher interviews. Research methodology and strategies for innovative implementation were presented and discussed alongside contextual details. For example, stress-level visualisations can aid actionable adjustments of behavioural intervention intensity and provide students’ attentiveness overview for teachers that sequence curricular activities during planning. Findings show an interdisciplinary basis for cost-effective real-time dynamic solutions that involve visual dashboards with advantages to understanding student learning, both at a school-wide system level and for the classroom, if viewed optimistically. However, research on the topic is still in its infancy, notably with ethical risks as a growing pain.