Inducing positive emotional state in Intelligent Tutoring Systems

The emotional factor has been never taken into account in Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) until recently. However, emotions play a crucial role in cognitive processes particularly in learning tasks [4]. Thus, our purpose in this research study was to analyse the effect of some tutoring actions on the learner's emotional state in order to ascertain the feasibility of positive emotions inducing in ITSs. To achieve this aim, we developed a data structure web course and a virtual tutor using different pedagogical actions to induce positive emotions in the learner. We have conducted an experiment to collect participants' physiological responses after the tutoring actions. The results of this experimental study showed that certain actions have significant positive effects on the learner's emotional state.