Using eye-tracking technology to investigating the use of online resources and media for learning
Using eye-tracking technology to investigating the use of online resources and media for learning
In today’s world, technology has been acknowledged as a significant driver behind changes that will bring about innovations in educational design and delivery. Various research studies have revealed the immense possibilities of widespread changes with the use of present-day technological advancement. Thus, one of the main focuses of the research group is on the introduction of technological innovations towards enhancing teaching and learning.
Students nowadays inhabit a borderless world offering limitless connection, data and mobility. This means that they would want an education system that meets their individual needs, and give them opportunities to connect to what is happening around the globe. This is the other driving force towards introducing technological innovations in the students’ learning environment.
Starting from 2014, we have decided to focus on using eye tracking technology to investigate into the processes of learning online through various online resources and media. A great deal of research on processes of learning online has been done using conventional research methods like surveys, interviews, reflection diaries etc. This is the first time in Malaysia that a research team is using eye-tracking technology to investigate the processes of learning online among Malaysian university students on such a large scale.
To move into this field we need experts to give us the necessary orientation to this field of research and we were fortunate to be able to invite Prof Dr Hong-Fa Ho from the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) to come to Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik (PPBL), Fakulti Sains Sosial dan kemanusiaan to share his expertise with us. Interested staff members from other faculties as well as other universities came to join the one-week seminar given by Prof Ho. This has culminated in the following exciting activities:
(1) signing of an MOU between Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU);
(2) future loan of eye-tracking devices from NTNU to UKM;
(3) UKM sending a visiting fellow (who has received a one-year sponsorship from the Taiwan Government) to learn the necessary skills and knowledge so that he can come back to support us. NTNU has also agreed to send a technical assistant to help us in the beginning;
(4) A laboratory for eye-tracking is now being prepared at PPBL;
(5) The ultimate goal of this collaboration is joint research and publication between the teams from the two universities. We still have a long way to go but the future of eye-tracking research in UKM is indeed promising.
