Measuring engagement in a classroom: Synchronised neural recordings during a video presentation.

The efficacy of learning in a classroom depends on how engaged students are with the learning material. Is it possible to assess studentsu0027 engagement, not with questionnaires or surveys, but directly from their brain activity without distracting them from the material at hand? We demonstrate that classroom engagement can be measured using studentsu0027 neural responses to a naturalistic stimulus. Many aspects of attentional modulation, which were previously demonstrated in a laboratory setting are reliably reproduced here in a classroom with portable low-cost electroencephalography (EEG) recorded simultaneously from multiple students. The present data suggests that evoked neural responses to video stimulus, known to be modulated by attention, can be used to assess the engagement of a group of students in real-time.