I'm currently working on an exciting project in collaboration with professors at the University of Toronto Mississauga. This initiative allows students to share their emotions in real-time during classes, helping to foster a more connected and interactive learning environment. Students can rate their emotions and view the overall class sentiment, making it a shared experience with their peers.
So far, I've developed 5 different dashboards—four for individual classes and one for the Fall 2024 orientation week, which was used by over 500 psychology undergraduates. Each class dashboard offers more than just real-time emotion rating; students can also leave anonymous comments and open-ended feedback. These inputs are summarized and shared with instructors to help them better understand and respond to student needs.
Instructors can create polls and check students' responses, like an advanced iClicker, enhancing class participation and making lectures more engaging. I've also integrated different LLM-powered chatbots tailored to each course. These chatbots can answer questions about the course syllabus, reducing the waiting time for students seeking clarification on basic course-related inquiries.
This tool has been especially beneficial for students who feel uneasy about speaking up in class, including international students who might lack confidence in participating verbally. By providing a platform for anonymous feedback and questions, the project aims to gradually build students' confidence, making them more comfortable in the classroom setting.
Seeing the positive impact it has had on students' classroom experiences has been really rewarding. I'm looking forward to further improving these dashboards and discovering innovative ways to use technology to make education more interactive and accessible.