Even as schools are reopening in parts of the UAE, virtual lessons which helped to keep education on track during the lockdown, are here to stay. But although online learning opens up several avenues and a plethora of knowledge for students, it does come with its own set of limitations.

Before the pandemic triggered an unprecedented demand for edtech, teachers largely relied on facial expressions and body language of students to measure their level of engagement. But since that isn't possible in a virtual interaction, university students based out of Dubai have created computer vision to measure response from the students for educators.

The smart tool has been created by young minds at the city's Murdoch University, and uses tech called the Emotion-Affective Domain Mapping System to tell if a child is able to understand the subject matter. It recieves visual info about the movement of eyelids and eyebrows along with other expressions through webcams, and then compares them with global standards of behavioral outcomes.

Through this system which makes up for interactions during in person lessons, AI can detect emotions like anger, contempt, surprise, fear and happiness. The end result is a product of combining video analysis based on appearance, with the study of geometrical factors.

For easy understanding and accurate predictions about the understanding of a student, the outcomes are presented in the form of a graphical chart. So far the mechanism has proved to be reliable with inputs generated by computer vision.

The tool is an instrumental addition to the e-learning infrastructure in the Middle East, following measures for surveillance to prevent cheating in online exams. As for behavioral analysis, AI created for public schools in Abu Dhabi is also equipped to protect children from bullying by scanning facial expressions.

Evolution of machine learning has even led to the creation of robots that are designed to teach life skills to children of determination.