Multimodal learning analytics in a laboratory classroom

Sophisticated research approaches and tools can help researchers to investigate the complex processes involved in learning in various settings. The use of video technology to record classroom practices, in particular, can be a powerful way for capturing and studying learning and related phenomena within a social setting such as the classroom. This chapter outlines several multimodal techniques to analyze the learning activities in a laboratory classroom. The video and audio recordings were processed automatically to obtain information rather than requiring manual coding. Moreover, these automated techniques are able to extract information with an efficiency that is beyond the capabilities of human-coders, providing the means to deal analytically with the multiple modalities that characterize the classroom. Once generated, the information provided by the different modalities is used to explain and predict high-level constructs such as students’ attention and engagement. This chapter not only presents the results of the analysis, but also describes the setting, hardware and software needed to replicate this analytical approach.