The ever developing field of technology continues to change and shape our lives every day. As we migrate towards a world that is more technalized than ever, it is inevitable that technology eventually begin to be able to do human functions such as recognizing emotions. The Facial Action Coding system is a prime example of this with many valuable assets. The use of this technology to read students' emotional expressions is valuable in a classroom as it can be used for online lessons, can allow teachers to see how individual students feel about certain topics, and can allow students to connect with online learning.

Online lessons are a amazing example of how valuable this technology can be in classrooms. As Dr. Huang predicted in the article, "Making Mona Lisa Smile," classroom computers with this technology could moniter a student's emotions and then modify the lesson accordingly. If a student already knew the information and was bored, the computer could detect this and the lesson could move on to something more challenging. If the student was confused, the lesson could go into greater depth in its explanation. The possibilities are endless. This is extremely valuable when it comes to online lessons. Online education is becoming increasingly popular but the problem is, it is hard to modify the lessons based on the student's individual needs as a teacher can when teaching in person and seeing the student's reactions firsthand. This technology would allow teachers to have online lessons in their classroom with the lessons still being fitted to the student's individual needs.

Sometimes it is hard for teachers to gauge how students feel about certain topics. Students are not always honest with how they feel, especially when they need help. This new technology provides the solution to this problem. The computer could monitor the student's emotions during certain lessons on certain topics and then compile this information for the teacher to analyze. Using this data, the teacher could see how each individual kid is feeling about topics and know who is confused and needs more help and who is ready to move on to something harder. The teacher could also see the percentage of the student's emotions as shown in the article. This is priceless for teachers as it allows them to gain undertsanding of their student's emotions towards what they are learning and allows the teacher to act accordingly.

When learning from a physical teacher, students can emotionally connect with them which enables them to feel more comfortable with the material and what they are learning. Computers do not have this. However, with this new facial action recognition technology students would be able to connect with the computer more because they know the computer is recognizing their emotions and acting accordingly. The students would feel understood. Students being able to connect more with online learning is a major development and could ultimately revolutionalize online education.

Critics of this technology may argue that it cannot replace human interaction and the human connection between student and teacher. While this is true, this technology is not aiming to replace this interaction but instead, enrich it. If the teacher is more aware of the student's emotions, the connection can deepen and the teacher can help the student in ways the teacher did not know the student needed help previously. This technology allows education to grow and become more personalized. It is not trying to replace the human interaction and connection of teaching but enable it to grow.

Modifying online lessons based on the student's emotions, teachers having knowledge of how their students feel about topics, and students being able to connect with online learning are all perfect examples of how valuable this technology in classrooms truly is. Some people may argue that technology can not replace human interaction, but that is not what this technology is for. It is for enhancing the connection between students and teachers. This new technology has many assets and many ways that it can be valuably used in a classroom.