Zhenhua Xu

Biography

Zhenhua, once a Montessorian, is now a behavioral scientist working towards the completion of her PhD at the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development (APHD) at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto, Canada.  Her research focuses on using multi-channel data to understand the role of emotion, motivation and (meta-)cognition during learning with advanced technologies. Her research interest also includes measurement of learning phenomena in digital environments.

In her studies, she has applied an interactive gaming platform (https://www.facebook.com/Sifteo/) to explore motivation and the notion of gamification in K-12 students’ learning experience. She also uses cutting-edge instruments (i.e., facial expression technology, EEG and GSR) to assess learner’s affective, cognitive and motivational processes in performing scientific tasks in both a gamified digital learning environment and an asynchronized online environment.