Impact of Thermal Comfort on Online Learning Performance

Online learning has drawn much more attention since the outbreak of COVID-19. Most related studies have focused on online platform design and instructional design. However, the physical environment where online learning is conducted (e.g., students’ homes) is rarely studied. To understand the thermal conditions in students’ online learning environment and its impact on students’ thermal comfort and their performance during online learning, an experiment, including both objective measurement and subjective assessment, was conducted in a student’s apartment. Thirty university students participated in this experiment, and they were randomly assigned into six groups (three thermal conditions (i.e., control, cold, and hot) × two-course durations). Results showed that participants’ thermal sensation was positively correlated with their mean skin temperature (MST) and the operative temperature (To) in the apartment, yet it had no relation with their personal characteristics. Moreover, inverted U-shape relationships were identified between participants’ perceived performance and their thermal sensation/MST/ To. When students felt slightly cool, their thought they could reach their best performance. This study revealed the impacts of the thermal environment on students’ online learning performance, more performance tasks could be conducted in the future to examine the impacts in more detail.