Learners Learn More and Instructors Track Better with Real-time Gaze Sharing

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DOI

Shared gaze visualizations, where the real-time gaze location of group members is shared with one another, have become increasingly studied over the last decade by HCI researchers due to their potential in facilitating communication and increasing group performance. Studies involving peer collaborators find improved outcomes and better collaboration. Less is known, however, on how gaze sharing may aid learners and instructors. In our study, an instructor teaches a learner how to assemble and program a simple microcontroller, communicating either through a webcam feed (webcam condition), a field-of-view video feed (HMC condition), or a field-of-view video feed with a gaze location pointer (gaze condition). We find that with the gaze condition, learning gain is highest, especially for low achievers. Moreover, we see that instructors predict learner post-scores more accurately, suggesting gaze sharing helps instructors track the cognitive state of the learner. This effect was also most salient for low achievers. We find that the HMC condition that only lacked this single dot, many of the benefits for both learning and teaching were lost. The paper concludes with discussions on how gaze visualization may have supported learning and teaching, as well as the tool’s limitations and conditions for usefulness.