Tracking Learners’ Visual Attention of a Virtual Platform during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Eye Movements

Due to COVID-19, higher education institutions around the world are resorting to real-time online platforms as a solution to the impacts of the pandemic. This study used a portable eye tracker and an eye movement analysis software to explore learners’ visual attention of online learning platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study recruited 40 students studied in the school of information and design at a university in southern Taiwan. With the Google Meet online learning platform as material, eye-tracking technology was used to collect the participants’ eye movement data, and their fixation data were analyzed with eye movement indicators to infer the participants’ visual attention behavior based on attention-based regions of interest (ROIs). The finding results showed that (1) the shared screen of learning material on online learning platform received the most visual attention and first attracted the attention of the participants; (2) the featured area of learning material has the greatest capacity to hold attention; and (3) the shared screen has a stronger visual attention than any other areas. The results can illustrate the cognitive behavior presented in online learning from eye movement behaviors in the post-pandemic era, and can serve as reference for educators to provide adaptive assistance according to the learners’ cognitive processes, which can help maintain educational quality with high effectiveness despite the threat of the pandemic.