Exploiting Vision and Speech in Advanced E-learning Systems

Technological advances offer new paradigms for training, allowing novel forms of teaching and learning to be devised; unfortunately, however, many e-learning systems are still based on complex procedures and unusable interfaces, which are regarded as intimidating, confusing or simply frustrating by the user. In this paper we consider the possibility of exploiting vision and speech as intuitive communication channels, to enhance the quality of the interaction between users and e-learning platforms. Through an analysis of current research in the field of vision-based and speech-based perceptive interfaces, we will discuss some application scenarios for e-learning, stressing the important role that such natural communication forms could play in improving the interaction process.