A Conceptual Framework for Identifying Emotional Factors Leading to Student Disengagement in VLEs

Higher Education is witnessing a mental health crisis without precedents. Learning analytics offer powerful tools to monitor students engagement, but would instructors in Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) benefit from being able to monitor mental well-being as well? And how can this be implemented in a way that is not disruptive to education? We have devised a conceptual framework addressing this issue, which incorporate the role of the online tutor into an environment "observing" student communicative acts. The conceptual framework is evaluated in a series of experiments and case studies, aimed at assessing the feasibility and appreciate the usefulness of single potential components, and on the basis of expert commentaries.