Cognitive and affective perspectives on immersive technology in education

This research explains the rationale behind the utilization of mobile learning technologies. It involves a qualitative study among children to better understand their opinions and perceptions toward the use of educational applications (apps) that are available on their mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. The researchers organized semi-structured, face-to-face interview sessions with primary school students who were using mobile technologies at their primary school. The students reported that their engagement with the educational apps has improved their competencies. They acquired relational and communicative skills as they collaborated in teams. On the other hand, there were a few students who were not perceiving the usefulness and the ease of use of the educational apps on their mobile device. This study indicates that the research participants had different skillsets as they exhibited different learning abilities. In conclusion, this contribution opens-up avenues for future research in this promising field of study.peer-reviewe

Validating Virtual Reality as an effective Training Medium in the Security Domain

Virtual Reality (VR) training simulations are an idea which is being explored in numerous industries and professions. However, evidence purporting to the effectiveness of VR technology in relation to standard real-world exercises is still relatively thin. In this paper, we discuss our approach for validating the effectiveness of a VR training for law enforcement professionals in the context of the AUGGMED project, and present results of the validation study. Our study indicates that realistic VR-based trainings, either by themselves or in combination with the traditional hands-on training, can be as effective as highly resource-intensive practical training sessions

Videogames e educação: análise das tendências de pesquisa

Much has been recently written about the possibilities and controversies of using video games in education. In order to know the research trends, a bibliometric analysis was performed on 226 documents available in the Scopus database. This was supplemented with a content analysis of 62 open-access articles. The results show the interest of studying this question and the boom of the past decade, the weight of countries like Spain, and the strong impact of almost half the articles. According to the Law of Lotka and Bradford, what was expected was confirmed. Research confirms that video games have positive effects on learning, motivation and class dynamics, without forgetting the fundamental role of teachers, and the design and purpose of games. Finally, future research lines related to necessary teacher training or the evaluation of video games from a pedagogical perspective are indicated.Mucho se ha escrito en los últimos tiempos acerca de las posibilidades y controversias del uso de los videojuegos en educación. Para conocer las tendencias en investigación, a través de la productividad, impacto, colaboración y difusión, se realizó un análisis bibliométrico sobre 226 documentos disponibles en la base de datos Scopus. Además, se complementó con un análisis de contenido de los 62 artículos disponibles en acceso abierto. Los resultados muestran el interés por el estudio de esta cuestión y el auge en la última década, el peso de países como España, y el elevado impacto de casi la mitad de los artículos. Además, se confirma lo esperado según la Ley de Lotka y Bradford. Las investigaciones confirman que los videojuegos tienen efectos positivos en el aprendizaje, la motivación y la dinámica de la clase, sin olvidar el papel fundamental del profesorado, el diseño y la finalidad del propio juego. Por último, se señalan futuras líneas de investigación vinculadas a la necesaria formación del profesorado o la evaluación de los videojuegos desde una vertiente pedagógica.Muito tem sido escrito nos últimos tempos sobre as possibilidades e controvérsias do uso de videogames na educação. Para conhecer as tendências da pesquisa, por meio da produtividade, impacto, colaboração e disseminação, foi realizada uma análise bibliométrica em 226 documentos disponíveis no banco de dados Scopus. Além disso, foi complementada por uma análise de conteúdo dos 62 artigos disponíveis em acesso aberto. Os resultados mostram o interesse no estudo dessa questão e o boom da última década, o peso de países como a Espanha e o alto impacto de quase metade dos artigos. Além disso, o que é esperado é confirmado de acordo com a Lei de Lotka e Bradford. Pesquisas confirmam que os videogames têm efeitos positivos na dinâmica de aprendizado, motivação e classe, sem esquecer o papel fundamental dos professores, o design e o objetivo do jogo. Por fim, são apontadas futuras linhas de pesquisa relacionadas à necessária formação de professores ou à avaliação de videogames sob uma perspectiva pedagógica

Juegos serios educativos como servicio: retos y desafíos

Cloud computing is a distributed computing technology that facilitates access to the resources in a dynamic, scalable and highly available manner. One of its service models is SaaS (Software as a Service) which allows executing Web applications in a flexible and elastic way while offering collaborative characteristics. The integration of SaaS in educational environments promotes academic performance and facilitates knowledge management, allowing for storage, exchange, access and synchronization of information. On the other hand, educational serious games promote among the people involved: collaboration, communication, social abilities, critical thinking and problem solving. The main objective of this investigation is to analyze the challenges that SaaS, with its collaborative and multitenancy characteristics present to the execution of educational serious games. This is named ESGaaS - Educational Serious Games as a Service. The analysis was developed based on a review of the existing literature through the methodology known as Systematic Mapping Studies (SMS) which facilitated the generation of investigation questions, search strategies, key words and inclusion and exclusion criteria applied to identify articles in several sources. This investigation facilitated the development of a list of functional characteristics that the educational serious games will acquire when used as software for service.La computación en la nube es una tecnología de computación distribuida que ofrece acceso a los recursos de manera dinámica, escalable y con alta disponibilidad. Uno de sus modelos de servicio, es el SaaS (Software as a Service) que permite ejecutar aplicaciones Web de manera flexible y elástica, además de ofrecer características colaborativas. La integración del SaaS en los entornos educativos potencia el rendimiento académico y facilita la gestión del conocimiento permitiendo almacenar, intercambiar, acceder y sincronizar información. Por su parte los juegos serios educativos potencian, entre los involucrados, la colaboración, comunicación, habilidades sociales, pensamiento crítico y resolución de problemas. El objetivo principal de esta investigación consistió en analizar los retos que SaaS, con sus características colaborativas y multiinquilino, ofrece a la ejecución de juegos serios educativos, lo cual denominamos ESGaaS – Juegos Serios Educativos como Servicio. El análisis fue realizado a partir de una revisión de literatura existente a través de la metodología denominada Systematic Mapping Studies (SMS) la cual permitió generar preguntas de investigación, estrategias de búsqueda, palabras claves y criterios de inclusión y exclusión que fueron aplicadas para localizar artículos en diversas fuentes. Como resultado del trabajo se elabora una lista de características funcionales que los juegos serios educativos adquirirían al ser utilizados como software como servicio.Facultad de Informátic

An analysis of winning streak's effects in language course of “Duolingo” *

This paper explores the effects of the winning streak on users' motivation and engagement in Duolingo's language course. The winning streak has been used in sport and video games to describe a consecutive number of successful actions and increase players' attention to complete their goal. Similarly, in gamified education system, the winning streak is employed as a game element to boost up motivation of learners. By applying game refinement theory as an assessment method, enjoyment of two user groups in Duolingo is measured to compare. The results indicate that the winning streak can boost up learners' motivation and attention to complete their goals. It also expressed that the winning streak is more significant for advanced learners who are in the high level of milestone than those who are in the low level of milestone

Co-designing Cards on Social Issues for Creating Educational Games

This paper presents a participatory methodology to design cards on social issues with the purpose to democratise knowledge among co-designers on the learning content of educational games. Situated on the topic of everyday sexism, the methodology has been developed through an iterative process involving two collaborative workshops, two iterations of card design and a feedback survey. Extracting findings from the workshops and the feedback gathered on the co- designed cards, this paper presents insights that could be used to inform similar studies using cards to inspire and foster reflection on social issues

ITEM DINAMIS BERBASIS FUZZY DALAM AKTIVITAS DESIGN PADA GAME BERBASIS APPRECIATIVE LEARNING

AbstractIn a serious game, activity design plays an important role in the gameplay design. However, the design of these activities has not been well conceptualized. This study uses Appreciative Learning in designing in-game activities. There are four stages, namely Discovery, Dream, Design and Destiny, with the focus of this research being the Design stage. Design activity is a player's process in achieving goals, but often this process becomes tedious because it is not supported by dynamic elements. The purpose of this research is to use fuzzy logic to regulate dynamic behavior of game-generated items, where dynamic items become a support to enhance the experience of Design activities. The dynamic elements in design activities in this study are applied to educational games for disaster mitigation. The input parameters used by fuzzy logic are Health Points and the number of errors made by the player, which results in the dynamic frequency of appearing items. The items that appear are the types of items that help players win the game, namely items to increase Health Points, slow down the game and double the score obtained. The results of this study indicate items that appear dynamically according to player performance.Keywords : Appreciative Learning, dynamic item, fuzzy logic, game activity, serious gameDi dalam suatu serious game, yang dalam penelitian ini adalah serious game untuk edukasi, perancangan aktivitas memegang peranan penting dalam penyajian materi edukasi. Namun dalam penelitian-penelitian tentang penggunaan serious game, perancangan aktivitas tersebut belum terkonsep dengan baik. Penelitian ini menggunakan konsep Appreciative Learning pada perancangan aktivitas dalam game. Konsep Appreciative Learning dibagi empat tahap, yaitu Discovery, Dream, Design dan Destiny, dengan fokus penelitian ini adalah pada tahap Design. Aktivitas Design dalam Appreciative Learning adalah proses pemain dalam mencapai tujuan, namun sering terjadi proses ini menjadi membosankan karena tidak didukung oleh elemen dinamis. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah menggunakan logika fuzzy untuk mengatur perilaku dinamis pada item yang dihasilkan oleh game, dimana item dinamis menjadi pendukung untuk meningkatkan pengalaman pada aktivitas Design. Elemen dinamis pada aktivitas Design pada penelitian ini diaplikasikan ke game edukasi untuk mitigasi bencana. Parameter input yang dipakai logika fuzzy adalah Health Point dan jumlah kesalahan yang dilakukan pemain, yang menghasilkan frekuensi kemunculan item-item secara dinamis. Item-item yang muncul adalah adalah jenis item yang membantu pemain dalam memenangkan game, yaitu item untuk menambah Health Point, memperlambat jalannya permainan dan menggandakan skor yang diperoleh. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan item yang muncul secara dinamis sesuai dengan performa pemain.Kata Kunci : Aktivitas Game, Item Dinamis, Logika Fuzzy, Serious Gam

The students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to engage with digital learning games

A relevant literature review suggests that today’s children are increasingly immersing themselves in ubiquitous technologies, including interactive media and digital games. Therefore, this research uses valid measures to investigate the primary school students’ motivations toward playing educational games, at home and at school. The study was carried out amongst year-3 students in a small European state. The findings reported that there were strong correlations between the students’ perceived usefulness of the educational games and their behavioral intention to use them for their learning. The results also indicated that there was no significant relationship between the perceived ease of gameplay and the children’s enjoyment in engaging with the school’s digital games. To the best of our knowledge, there is no other study in academia that has explored the children’s technology acceptance,normative pressures and their intrinsic motivations to use digital learning games in the context of primary education. Therefore, this contribution opens future research avenues, as this study can be replicated in other contexts.peer-reviewe

Mobile learning via educational apps : an interpretative study

This research explains the rationale behind the utilisation of mobile learning technologies. It involves a qualitative study among children to better understand their opinions and perceptions toward the use of educational applications (apps) that are available on their mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. The researchers organised semi-structured, face-toface interview sessions with primary school students who were using mobile technologies at their institution. The students reported that their engagement with the educational apps has improved their competencies. They acquired relational and communicative skills as they collaborated together in teams. On the other hand, there were a few students who were not perceiving the usefulness and the ease of use of the educational apps on their mobile device. This study indicates that the research participants had different skill-sets as they exhibited different learning abilities. In conclusion, this contribution opens-up avenues for future research in this promising field of studypeer-reviewe

Digital game-based learning for D&I: conceptual design of an educational digital game Chuzme

[EN] There is a demand for tools facilitating intercultural, diversity and inclusion (D&I) education. Video games are one of the most advanced new media technologies, so it is only natural to suppose that they can offer remarkable possibilities for fostering learning in the area of intercultural, D&I education. This article explores theoretical guidelines in the design of Chuzme, a serious educational game that focuses on raising cultural selfawareness, the acknowledgement of cultural bias, and aims to generate positive attitudes towards migrants, refugees and expatriates amongst its players and to train to be an inclusive leader. It is hoped that this will serve as a useful reference to guide the development of similar titles in the future.Shliakhovchuk, O.; Muñoz García, A. (2020). Digital game-based learning for D&I: conceptual design of an educational digital game Chuzme. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 409-419. https://doi.org/10.4995/INN2019.2019.10561OCS40941