Lecture 'Using eye tracking to understand the learning process'

Learning is an ongoing process, in which we take in a lot of information via our eyes. Hence, large parts of this process rely on what we actually look at. An eye tracker is an apparatus that enables us to measure where someone looks at, for how long and in which order. In this lecture, Halszka Jarodzka will present three application areas of eye tracking to understand learning and facilitate its instruction. First, eye tracking can help us to improve the instructional design of computer-based learning and testing material. Second, eye tracking sheds light onto the development of expertise within professions that strongly rely upon visual information. Third, eye tracking can also be used directly as a learning tool to guide learners’ attention. In that, Jarodzka will show that eye tracking is not only a research tool, but shows potential to enter our educational practice.

Workshop eye tracking

Eye tracking is being increasingly used as a tool to investigate cognitive processes, such as learning. In this workshop, Jarodzka will address three topics that are important when conducting eye tracking research in this field. First, she will present different factors that influence the quality of eye tracking data, including setting up a recording laboratory, eye tracking hardware, participants’ eye physiology, and calibration procedures. Second, she will provide a brief introduction into the visual system and discuss three different influences on where our eyes move, namely top-down, bottom-up influences, and systematic tendencies. Third, she will discuss different ways of analyzing eye tracking data from event detection, along basic eye tracking measures, analysis of video stimuli, up to advanced-measures, such as scanpath analysis.

More information

More information on Halszka Jarodzka and the FSW lectures can be found on the website of Antwerp University.