Affective Computing Applied to the Virtual Learning Environment: the Possibility of Neurocognitive Mapping of Students in Distance Education

Abstract

 Since the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the reality of different work sectors in 2020, forcing adaptation to remote and/or home office models, nearly countless areas had to reposition themselves in relation to their audiences. In education, it was no different. For example, there was an observed increase in the use of digital tools for teaching, especially through online experiences. This, in turn, led to concerns about the emotional impact on people during their studies. In this context, the general objective of the research was to develop a hypothetical neurocognitive strategy capable of affectively accompanying the online learning of students in Distance Education, with the purpose of identifying possible emotional needs during studies in virtual learning environments. The research question that guided this study was: what strategy could contribute to the affective monitoring of online learning for students in Distance Education, that is, to identify the emotional needs during studies via a virtual learning environment? The methodology was bibliographic, qualitative, and exploratory. It sought to establish a joint relationship between five fields of study: 1) Neuroeducation, a contemporary area of educational knowledge that investigates human emotions and the learning process; 2) Pedagogical Architecture, which analyzes the integration of strategies and learning objectives from end to end in distance education environments; 3) Affective Computing, a field of study that aims to investigate how computers, through hardware and software, can simulate human emotions; 4) Informational Ethics, which reflects on important ethical issues related to user privacy and their sensitive emotional data in virtual environments; and 5) Actor-Network Theory, a theoretical field that addresses the interrelation between human and non-human through active traces in physical and virtual networks. Finally, a framework was used, initially of a conceptual nature, to strategically structure the hypercomplex organization of agents involved in Distance Education (DE). In the future, this framework could also serve as an instrument for mapping emotions, to be implemented as a learning platform management system. The results highlight that Affective Computing allied with Actor-Network Theory could serve as a strategy applied to Distance Education, through an instrument inspired by a framework, potentially designed and coupled to the virtual online learning platform capable of mapping emotions. Thus, serving as a facilitator of neurocognitive identification, that is, capable of indicating and understanding the cognitive and emotional processes of students.

Keywords: Neuroeducation. Emotions. Pedagogical architecture. Affective computing. Actor-network theory.