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Enhancing Informal Learning Experiences with Affect-Aware Technologies

Although institutions of informal learning, such as museums, science centers, and zoos, seek to convey knowledge, they also seek to influence visitors’ interest, attitudes, and feelings about the topics they address. Upon entering an informal learning environment, visitors are surrounded by choices: they decide what to see, where to invest their time, and how long to stay. The quality of the experiences depends on many factors, including the content and design of the exhibits, the ability of exhibits to promote sustained engagement, and the nature of the conversations visitors have with each other and staff. To succeed, it is critical that visitors have meaningful experiences that simultaneously have educational value. In this chapter, we discuss the role of emotions during informal learning experiences and discuss how affect-aware technologies could be used to enhance cognitive and affective outcomes. Four potential application areas are presented for the use of affect- and user-sensing technologies: (1) automation of evaluation tasks for informal learning, (2) to spark visitor interest and magnify the attracting power of exhibits, (3) to deepen engagement during learning activities, and (4) to promote productive conversational behaviors in groups as well as single visitors (with virtual agents). Key challenges for the future include the development of robust detection algorithms for noisy environments like museums, addressing privacy concerns, tracking visitors beyond single exhibits, and integrating heterogeneous sources of information into useful estimates of visitors’ knowledge, emotions, and goals.