Improving Student Learning Satisfaction by Using an Innovative DASH-Based Multiple Sensorial Media Delivery Solution

Recently, innovative technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Multi-Sensorial Media (mulsemedia) have introduced new sensorial effects including vibration, smell, airflow, etc. to human life. These effects which have been largely deployed for entertainment, and gaming have positively impacted user satisfaction. This paper explores the potential of mulsemedia in the education context. It describes a novel Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH)-based Multi-sensory Media Delivery Solution (DASHMS) which supports adaptive mulsemedia content distribution based on the operational environment which includes network, device, and user settings.DASHMS was evaluated in a real-life educational experiment involving 44 students in an Irish university. The evaluation focused on both learner satisfaction, and the impact on learning. The results demonstrate the potential of adaptive multi-sensorial media delivery to result in a statistically significant increase in user experience. In terms of benefit to learning outcomes however, it was only memory recall which was statistically improved in the experiment.