FAIS: A System for Effectively Learning Students Names and Faces in Massive Courses

Abstract

Low classroom engagement and distractions are important challenges of massive courses. The literature shows that those problems could decrease when the teacher addresses the students by their names. Learning all the names and faces for a small course is not a difficult task. However, in massive courses, this becomes a tedious and time-consuming task, making it not very practical. This work presents FAIS, a system for effectively learning students names and their corresponding faces, especially designed for massive courses. The system is based on memorization by repetition and gamification techniques, requiring less effort and including a playful perspective. A preliminary experience shows the learning of 105 students names and surnames, just during the daily commutes of the 10 days previous to the start of the course.