Enhancing the Motivation and Learning Performance in an Online Classroom With the Use of Neuromarketing

Abstract

In recent years, the newly emerging discipline of neuromarketing, which employs brain (emotions and behaviour) research in an organisational context, has grown in prominence in academic and practice literature. With the increasing growth of online teaching, COVID-19 left no option for higher education institutions to go online. As a result, students who attend an online course are more prone to lose focus and attention, resulting in poor academic performance. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to observe the learner's behaviour while making use of an online learning platform. This study presents neuromarketing to enhance students' learning performance and motivation in an online classroom. Using a web camera, we used facial coding and eye-tracking techniques to study students' attention, motivation, and interest in an online classroom. In collaboration with Oxford Business College's marketing team, the Institute for Neuromarketing distributed video links via email, a student representative from Oxford Business College, the WhatsApp group, and a newsletter developed explicitly for that purpose to 297 students over the course of five days. To ensure the research was both realistic and feasible, the instructors in the videos were different, and students were randomly allocated to one video link lasting 90 seconds (n=142) and a second one lasting 10 minutes (n=155). An online platform for self-service called Tobii Sticky was used to measure facial coding and eye-tracking. During the 90-second online lecture, participants' gaze behaviour was tracked overtime to gather data on their attention distribution, and emotions were evaluated using facial coding. In contrast, the 10-minute film looked at emotional involvement. The findings show that students lose their listening focus when no supporting visual material or virtual board is used, even during a brief presentation. Furthermore, when they are exposed to a single shareable piece of content for longer than 5.24 minutes, their motivation and mood decline; however, when new shareable material or a class activity is introduced, their motivation and mood rise.
 
 JEL: I20; I21
 
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Exploring the Untapped Potential of Neuromarketing in Online Learning: Implications and Challenges for the Higher Education Sector in Europe

“…Ref. [4] conducted a study aimed at understanding the potential of online classrooms to enhance learning performance with a sample of 297 students from Oxford Business College. This study utilized stimuli-based gaze analytics to assess the impact of short and long video lectures on student motivation and learning.…”

“…These techniques have been widely applied to various educational tools, including website design, the creation of engaging educational materials and handouts, ebooks, and multimedia, which are of interest to contemporary educators. Based on the findings of Sola's [4] study utilizing facial coding and eye tracking software, it is suggested that academics incorporate visual shareable content every 4-5 min, utilize a visual board, and introduce class discussions to maintain student attention during long lectures. This is because prolonged lectures, exceeding 5.24 min, without shareable content result in decreased attention and poor recall and information retention.…”

“…The practice of employing neuromarketing in online learning involves measuring neural and physiological signals to gain insight into learners' decisions, motivation, learning, and preferences [4]. Physiological tracking, which encompasses facial coding and eye movement measurements, is a frequently used method in this field.…”