Abstract:
The objective of this research is to introduce the behavior of non-verbal features of e-Learners in the virtual
learning environment to establish a fair representation of the real user by an avatar who represents the e-Learner
in the virtual environment and to distinguish the deportment of the non-verbal features during the virtual learning
session. The eye blink and the head pose, which can be considered as important non-verbal cues are detected by
using a web-camera utilizing mainly the geometric method. Then the detected non-verbal cues are transferred to
the virtual environment. When the e-Learner blinks eyes or/and moves his/her head, the movements are appeared
in the virtual environment through an identical avatar. The result of the experiment depicts that the avatar
appearance which can detect the real user non-verbal behavior has got a notable impact on the viewers’
impression. In addition to that, the successful establishment of the real user’s non-verbal behavior in the virtual
environment enhances the effectiveness of the communication since avatar is able to facilitate the fair
representation to the real user with visualizing the real user non-verbal behavior in the virtual environment. The
analysis of the non-verbal behavior during the virtual learning activity specified that the eye blinking rate has
decreased by 35% during the problem based learning session than the relaxing time in virtual learning due to low
stress level, attractive environment and visual fixation. Furthermore, results demonstrate that there is a
relationship between the internal statuses of an e- Lerner with the rate of eye blinking.
