A study on eye fixation patterns of students in higher education using an online learning system

Abstract

We study how the use of online learning systems stimulate cognitive activities, by conducting an experiment with the use of eye tracking technology to monitor eye fixations of 60 final year students engaging in online interactive tutorials at the start of their Final Year Project module. Our findings show that the students' visual scanning behaviours fall into three different types of eye fixation patterns, and the data corresponding to the different types relates to the performance of the students in other related academic modules. We conclude that this method of studying eye fixation patterns can identify different types of learners with respect to cognitive activities and academic potentials, allowing educators to understand how their instructional design using online learning environments can stimulate higher-order cognitive activities.