Cognitive Load Levels While Learning with or Without a Pedagogical Agent

Abstract

An eye-tracking study examining the benefits of a proactive human-computer-interaction has been conducted. Regarding the beneficial aspects of knowledge transfer, the data shows a clear benefit once the system has been enhanced by the so called electronic educational instance which tracks a user’s gaze and thereby infers whether or not someone is actually looking at a screen while the e-learning software is conveying its knowledge. To further show how a physiological input might be used as a form of input, current literature of smoothing pupillary response data is discussed and a preliminary tool is presented. Due to this, pupillary data can be used to indicate cognitive load levels while learning and would therefore allow a proactive system to change the e-learning program accordingly.