An experimental study on an adaptive e-learning environment based on learner’s personality and emotion

Abstract

E-learning enables learners to learn everywhere and at any time but this kind of learning lacks the necessary attractiveness. Therefore, adaptation is becoming increasingly important and the recent research interest in the adaptive e-learning system. Since emotions and personality are important parts of human characteristics, and they play a significant role in parts of adaptive e-learning systems, it is essential to consider them in designing these systems. This paper presents an empirical study on the impact of using an adaptive e-learning environment based on learner’s personality and emotion. This adaptive e-learning environment uses the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) model for personality and the Ortony, Clore & Collins (OCC) model for emotion modeling. The adaptive e-learning environment is compared with a simple e-learning environment. The results show that students deal with the adaptive e-learning environment (experimental group) gained high scores than others (control group). The rate of progress in quiz score of the experimental group is almost 4.6 times more than the control group. Also, the rate of hint use is decreased more among the experimental group rather than the control group because the level of their knowledge is increased through learning in an adaptive environment. Furthermore, the findings display that the control group tries more to answer the questions in post-quiz while the experimental group has a low effort. Finally, the students expressed the adaptive e-learning environment is more attractive and close to their personality traits. Moreover, it can understand their emotional state better, has a suitable reaction to them, and improves their learning rate.