Studying stress on e-Learning users

Serie : Lecture notes in computer science, ISSN 0302-9743, vol. 8154E-Learning, much like any other communication processes, has been significantly shaped by technological evolution. In its original form, e-Learning aimed to bring the education closer to people, making it more modular and personalized. However, in reality, we observe that it represents a separation between student and teacher, simplifying this relationship to the exchange of ”text-based messages”, leaving aside all the important contextual richness of the classroom. We are addressing this issue by devising a contextual layer for e-Learning platforms. Particularly, in this paper we describe a solution to convey information about the level of stress of the students so that the teacher can take better and more informed decisions concerning the management of the learning process

Monitoring and improving performance in human-computer interaction

Monitoring an individual's performance in a task, especially in the workplace context, is becoming an increasingly interesting and controversial topic in a time in which workers are expected to produce more, better and faster. The tension caused by this competitiveness, together with the pressure of monitoring, may not work in favour of the organization's objectives. In this paper, we present an innovative approach on the problem of performance management. We build on the fact that computers are nowadays used as major work tools in many workplaces to devise a non-invasive method for distributed performance monitoring based on the observation of the worker's interaction with the computer. We then look at musical selection both as a pleasant and as an effective method for improving performance in the workplace. The proposed approach will allow team coordinators to assess and manage their co-workers' performance continuously and in real-time, using a distributed service-based architecture. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.This work is part-funded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by the national funds through the Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT; Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within projects FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980 (PTDC/EEI-SII/1386/2012) and project PEst-OE/EEI/UI0752/2014.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Avaliação como momento de aprendizagem : análise de Stress num ambiente de e-Learning

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia InformáticaA avaliação é um momento determinante na elaboração de estratégias de sucesso da aprendizagem. Em ambientes presenciais o educador pode observar o comportamento dos seus alunos e determinar caminhos que facilitem a avaliação e não induzam o stress e as consequências negativas no resultado da aprendizagem. Nos ambientes de aprendizagem de e-Learning torna-se impossível o contacto direto e, como tal, terão de existir formas facilitadoras de detetar e prevenir as situações de stress nos momentos de avaliação. Urge portanto analisar o stress e determinar estratégias de resolução dos problemas que são causados por ele. Neste trabalho pretende-se desenvolver um módulo de análise de stress em momentos de avaliação em contextos de aprendizagem em linha que possa indicar ao educador os momentos mais propícios para intervir assim como os conteúdos que causam maiores dificuldades. Desta forma o educador poderá intervir de forma mais eficiente junto dos alunos que mais precisem.Evaluation is a key moment in the development of strategies for successful learning. In traditional environments the teacher can observe the behavior of their students and determine ways that facilitate evaluation and do not induce stress and negative consequences on learning outcomes, this is possible because there’s a physical presence. In an e-Learning environments it becomes impossible to promote de physical contact a there for there’s de need of tools that can help to detect a prevent stress situations in evaluation moments. It is therefore urgent to analyze the stress and determine strategies for solving the problems that are caused by it. This work aims to develop a stress analysis module for evaluation moments for e-Learning environments that indicate the educator the proper occasion for his intervention as well as the contents that cause difficulty to the students. In this way the teacher can intervene more effectively with students who need more.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Projeto FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980.FEDER através do Programa Operacional Fatores de Competitividade - COMPETE