Integration of facial expression detection into the design and assessment of programming teaching materials

The COVID-19 pandemic and advances in technology have resulted in the emergence of online learning as a new trend in the educational sector. However, during online learning, if students cannot seek immediate assistance from teachers, the use of suitable teaching models and easy-to-understand teaching materials is crucial. To address problems concerning the adequate design of teaching materials, this study was divided into two stages. The first stage, namely pre-experimental processing, involved using facial expression recognition technology to assess students’ learning condition while reading teaching materials. When students exhibited more negative expressions and poor performance in a given lesson test, we improved the teaching material for the lesson accordingly to enhance student understanding of the corresponding learning content. The second stage, namely the experimental stage, involved a quasi-experimental design to explore whether students who used the enhanced programming teaching materials significantly improved their learning outcomes and understanding. The results indicated by using the improved programming teaching materials, the experimental group demonstrated a significant increase in learning motivation and a significant reduction in learning anxiety, allowing them to achieve a significant improvement in learning outcomes. Further analysis revealed that female students had significantly higher learning anxiety than male students at the beginning of their studies. However, after learning with the improved teaching materials, a nonsignificant difference in learning anxiety was observed between the male and female students.