Development of a Web Application: Recording Learners’ Mouse Trajectories and Retrieving Their Study Logs to Identify the Occurrence of Hesitation in Solving Word-Reordering Problems

Most computer marking systems evaluate the results of the answers reached by learners without looking into the process by which the answers are produced, which will be insufficient to ascertain learners’ understanding level because correct answers may well include lucky hunches, namely accidentally correct but not confident answers. In order to differentiate these lucky answers from confident correct ones, we have developed a Web application that can record mouse trajectories during the performance of tasks. Mathematical analyses of these trajectories have revealed that some parameters for mouse movements can be useful indicators to identify the occurrence of hesitation resulting from lack of knowledge or confidence in solving problems.