Student Fatigue in Virtual Learning Environments and Active Breaks as a Prevention Strategy

Abstract

The general aim of this article is to describe the effects of tele-fatigue in virtual learning environments (VLE); it also describes the usefulness of using active breaks to prevent such conditions. Therefore, the following theoretical references have been reviewed United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Ministry of Education of Ecuador, Lovón and Cisneros. As a methodological process, the quantitative approach was adopted from the descriptive and projective research under the transectional field design with the administration of an instrument to a random sample of 255 students of the Universidad Tecnológica Israel (UISRAEL) in Quito, Ecuador, in the academic year 2022/A; the results obtained allowed the analysis of the data and descriptive statistics. It is concluded that there is a high level of tele-fatigue in six of the eight indicators studied: emotional disturbance, school performance, learning inequality, student role dependency, eye fatigue and osteo-muscular injuries. Demotivation shows a moderate level of fatigue and auditory fatigue shows a high but moderate level of fatigue. It should be noted that fatigue is characterised by a decrease in physical, mental and emotional capacity, resulting in tiredness, weakness, indisposition and exhaustion.

Finally, recommendations are proposed.