Exploring Collective Physiology Sharing as Social Cues to Support Engagement in Online Learning

Insufficient social cues between distributed learners in online learning could result in lack of engagement and social bonds. With the development of wearable sensing, sharing physiological data can be used to enhance mutual understanding and connectedness among sharers. Our work aims to explore the potential of sharing heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) collected from distributed learners to enhance their online learning experiences. We implemented a physiological streaming system and conducted a field study with 11 learners in online classes. This paper describes the study and discusses our interview findings by contrasting the influence of visualized collective physiological data from viewpoints of data contributors and viewers. Our exploratory results suggest streaming collective HR and HRV from multiple distributed learners could be used in online classes to improve engagement and sense of community.