Is the Facial Action Coding System Useful in Classrooms?

What if there was a machine capable of not only reconizing, but also understanding feelings via facial expressions? There actually is a machine that could do that. It is called the Facial Action Coding System, or FACS. This technology could be very useful in classrooms, it could reconize the emotions of the students, it could help identify or even prevent certain situations before they even happen by identifying a problem, and it could help give teachers much needed feedback on the class that they wouldn't verbally recieve.

FACS constructs a 3-D model of the face. It takes into account all 44 maajor facial muscles to determine the feelings or emotions of a person. For example, if you raise your forntalis pars lateralis, or the mucles above your eyes, you are displaying surprise. Using this technology in classrooms could help learn the emotions of students and show how they are feeling.

Identifying emotions in the classroom could be very useful. Students on average sit in classrooms for 6-8 hours a day. Their emotions are still developing and they themselves are still maturing. Sometimes, students may have breakdown or outburst because of various reasons. A student might be stressed out about their grades and begin to preform poorly. Usinng FACS this behavior could be predicted and prevented, letting the teacher know that that student needs a little extra encouragement or more academic assitment. Also, the school enviroment has many variables aside from classrooms alone and that could also cause problems. A student who becomes angry at their classmates has the possibilty of putting them in trouble, It coould either lead to a fight, confrontation, bullying, an other things. Yet, if the problem could be determined becore it could even start, it could help defuse or prevent the situation from escalating resulting in a safer learning enviroment. Considering this FACS could become a very useful additions to the schools as a community.

FACS could not only help the school as a whole, but more specifically, it could help the teachers. Dr. Huang claimes that, " Most human communication is nonverbal, including emotional communication." Using this statement we can recognize that not all information and feedback is being recieved by neither student nor teacher. A teacher's job is to help educate and prepare their students for the future. However, that becomes difficult when a single teacher has to take responsibilty of a large ammount of students. Some students express their concerns and questions but others choose to remain silent. Using FACS a teacher could now determine which students are confused and worried and which students are doing fine. By using this information a teacher could offer additional help for a student that a student wouldn't normally ask for. Knowing where to focus on and which students need help could help a teacher tremendously. It would facilitate a teacher's job and help them teach with greater efficientcy.

Facs would recognize student's emotions, help identify and prevent certain situations before they occur, and it would give teachers feedback on the class that they wouldn't recieve otherwise. FACS would help education by targeting students that are well of and students that need additional help instead of having a teacher assume the whole class is confused or content. FACS is an innovative piece of technoly that could bring forth a new age of education if placed in schools.