Development and testing of the artificial intelligence based facial expression supported distance education application

In distance education, for various reasons (privacy of private life, inadequacy of internet infrastructure, etc.), students prefer written communication instead of video and audio communication, and this causes some problems in teacher-student communication and interaction. In lessons where students use only written communication, it becomes difficult for the teacher to determine student participation and motivation. However, in face-to-face education, the teacher can easily determine the students' participation and motivation in the lesson from their facial expressions. For this reason, it is of great importance to adapt the comfort experienced by teachers in face-to-face education to distance education. The aim of the research is to develop a web application for use in distance education, based on artificial intelligence-based detection of students' facial expressions and presenting this as feedback to the teacher. During the development phase of the application as a prototype, the necessary literature review was conducted, an actively used teaching management system virtual classroom module interface was examined, and the opinions of experts with distance education experience were taken. Design-based research method was used to design, develop, improve and refine the application. The developed application was used in five lessons with the participation of 2 volunteer faculty members and 14 students at Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Ağlasun Vocational School, and after use, the participants were asked to answer two interview questions prepared with a semi-structured scale. After the interview, a descriptive analysis was made separately of teacher and student opinions regarding the use of the developed application and the distance education process. According to the findings, the participants expressed that they were satisfied with the distance education process they carried out, and the general participant satisfaction achieved can be associated with the application used having a structure that allows interaction. The fact that the developed application has a structure that supports communication and interaction enabled teachers to teach lessons devotedly and students to take an active role in the lessons.