Dear Plass,

Also, sound types of characterhas an impact on students' emotions and learning outcomes. For instance learners' own teachers' voice, robotic voice.

I think that you most look at "design" broadly, to include things such as curriculum design.  Students are most likely to be engaged and positively motivated when they clearly see the value of learning activities.

Jan,

I've thought about your question a bit and it seems to me that it's both complex and deserves a bit of consideration. If I'm up to date on your work and the games you and your group have been designing, then the types of cues and variables you've described seem likely to evoke some reaction. But my hesitation stems from what appears to be an underlying assumption inherent to the question. Color, shape, etc. may/do have biological links. Red has been shown in psychology to evoke a certain type of response in certain situations. Biologically linked variables like that seem to be universal. However, gesture, sound (notably, spoken tone), or other interpersonal cues are less universal. Consider, for example, that gestures in one culture have varying significance. Hand holding is quite common in the United States, but is a sign of advanced romantic affection in Japan. By extension, maintaining gaze in a conversation is a sign of respect in one culture, while averting gaze is a sign of resect in others.

I've written about the challenges games researchers face when generalizing the term games to mean more than they should. Tetris isn't World of Warcraft. Neither are the games you've been designing. I don't assert that this is happening here, but I caution against seeking general variables that are linked to culture. In that case, you're certainly going to be establishing a context to which your findings are applicable and others to which they are not.

For the most broadly applicable variables, I would look into elements of the Uncanny Valley as it applies to graphics (as opposed to human traits), motion and refresh rates, distracting elements, and maybe the alignment of expected affordances (or anticipated ones based on the system) and actual affordances. I could expand on any of these ideas if you're interested. Ultimately, they would likely have a mitigating impact on affect. But understanding that is just as important for design purposes as knowing how to promote growth and positive affect, right?

PG

Dr. Plass, In a recent study, we have found including instructor's upper body with gesturing, eye contacts, facial expressions, etc. in online mathematics video induced positive emotions (e.g., satisfaction, perceived learning) on college learners. 

Hi Jan 

as I mentioned when we met last year we are working on pedagogies that incormporate strategies to chnage behaviour like emorion regulation for SEN pupils in particular. We find that teachers adapt the games they use to elicit certain behaviours so they can support their pupils's development.

Maria

Hi Dr. Plass, 

Besides colour, shapes and characters ( avatar), some studies have used music, images and sounds to induce emotions (positive and negative). However, one of the most important aspect that should be considered (in my opinion) is the emotional link these elements have with the user and how users perceive online learning itself.  I agree with Dr.Schrader, it is not advisable to generalize variables as the choice of multimedia might vary depending on  different cultures. In my study, I explored how emotional intelligence (EI) effects cognitive and affective learning outcomes and found that EI is a better predictor in regards to affective outcome.  

Jeya

Thank you all for your very thoughtful responses! I completely agree that we need to consider whether a specific design feature / variable is of a more general nature or whether it depends on the learners' culture and context. In fact, we should probably consider this a continuum on which each variable can be placed. Our next variable to investigate for its emotional impact will be sound, specifically 3D sound in VR environments. Has anybody seen any research on this?

I share P.G. Schrader's sentiments.

Based on Keller's ARCS model (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction), Astleitner proposed the FEASP approach (fear, envy, anger, sympathy, and pleasure) to design emotionally sound instruction. This approach / model allows a macro view of emotional instruction design.

While Jan's research is definitely pertinent to emotional instruction, I feel the situation-specific aspect (which includes culture specificity, amont others) should not be overlooked.

Astleitner / Leutner (2000): Designing Instructional Technolgy from an Emotional Perspective. In: Journal of Research on Computing in Education (32), 497-510.

Keller, John (2016): Motivation, Learning, and Technology: Applying the ARCS-V Motivation Model. http://www.partedres.com/archieve/issue_3_2/1-per_16-06_volume_3_issue_2_page_1_15.pdf

Dear Dr Plass,

In my study, I have shown that presenting emotional events such as showing emotionally arousing pictures that are unrelated to instructional materials improves learning . Interestingly, this study demonstrated that presenting emotional pictures ***AFTER*** learning enhanced recognition memory performance.

You may access this study from the following link:

Article The effect of post-learning arousal on memory in education

How about ambient music, kaleidoscopic patterns, and motivational video clips...