Authoring game-based learning activities that are manageable by teachers

The great ambition of using games as the cornerstone of education is hindered by its associated teaching workload. The BEACONING project developed a framework based on an authoring tool for gamified lesson paths, which has been rolled-out in large scale across Europe. It includes stages for planning game-based educational activities, plus their deployment, monitoring, and assessment. Games are great tools for learning and as such many teachers wish to employ them in their teaching practices. Notwithstanding, using games in education is hard. It is hard to plan the time and the teachers’ tasks; the students’ activities; to keep track of what each student is doing; to assess and provide feedback, and so on – and all these obstacles encumber and limit educational adoption of games [1]. The BEACONING project [L1] acknowledges this and created the concept of a gamified lesson path [2], by linking game plots (the narrative and level design) provided by game development companies with educational activities within a triadic assessment model [3]. Using an authoring tool developed at INESC TEC (Figure 1), a learning designer creates a gamified lesson path by selecting a game plot, linking learning activities structured as missions and quests into it, and finally by associating those activities with specific learning goals and challenges (mini-games). Learning designers are either experts at creating educational content, within companies and organisations, or teachers with training in this area. By selecting a gamified lesson path, teachers can automatically deploy games to their students, adapting them to specific individual requirements. Not only students receive the games as part of educational activities from their teachers, but this deployment is also linked to the learning management platforms: teachers can track which students have not yet started learning within a gamified lesson plan, which ones are currently amidst it and where, and which students have finished it and how. Students can also track which teachers and courses have assigned them gamified lesson plans, and how they are progressing in each. All of this linking is done via anonymization, using the BEACONING platform as middleware, so that gaming companies can deploy games to individual students over the Web without actually knowing who each student is: individual details are kept within the learning management system and retrieved directly by the game on students’ smartphones, without being sent to the companies or even to the middleware. BEACONING provides each student’s game with information on the actual web call to retrieve information such as player names, but this transit of information occurs solely between the student’s smartphone and the school’s learning management system. By using BEACONING to track students’ progress, teachers can better manage their time and effort allocation when employing videogames in school, thus reducing their workload and empowering them to use these as a reliable and regular pedagogic approach “anytime and anywhere”. This authoring and deployment pipeline have now been successfully rolled out in large-scale testing across Europe (Figure 2) [L2]. BEACONING’s prototype and authoring pipeline approach holds the potential for application in many other non-traditional learning activities. Beyond gaming, we are exploring and expanding this approach to enable widespread deployment of active learning, location-based learning, immersive environments, outdoor activities, and more.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Inven!RA: a contribution towards platforms aligned with digital transformation in education

O desenvolvimento tecnológico transforma a sociedade, alterando o viver e conviver humano. Na educação, a presença do digital foi impulsionada na pandemia da COVID-19, evidenciando barreiras à transformação. Uma delas refere-se à circunstância de as plataformas digitais atuais reproduzirem ou encorajarem processos pré-digitais de ensino e de aprendizagem. Para potenciar transformações na Educação, precisamos de tecnologias não reprodutoras dos processos atuais. Tecnologias que instiguem professores e estudantes, em vez de os condicionar. O desafio está na proposta de metodologias e práticas; de arquiteturas e plataformas, fundamentadas em epistemologias reticulares que propiciem a conexão entre pessoas e tecnologias, por espaços digitais e físicos, e outras dimensões de complexidade, encaradas por conceitos como inventividade, ato conectivo transorgânico e ecologias inteligentes. Ou seja, a tecnologia precisa de estar alinhada com novas epistemologias, metodologias e práticas pedagógicas. Apresentamos uma proposta de arquitetura tecnológica alinhada a transformação da educação: a Inven!RA, que visa permitir a produção de plataformas capazes de propiciar transformação do ensino e da aprendizagem. Fundamenta-se nas epistemologias reticulares-conectivas e nas metodologias inventivas, onde se entrelaçam ecologias educativas de participantes humanos e não humanos, reconhecendo o surgimento das novas formas atópicas de habitar, bem como a virtualização da educação numa perspectiva de ecossistema.The social transformations empowered by technological development were further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid expansion of generative artificial intelligence. In education, these drivers have highlighted barriers to the acknowledgment and embracing of such transformations. One such barrier is the circumstance that current digital platforms replicate or encourage pre-digital teaching and learning processes. To foster transformative changes in education, we need technologies that do not merely reproduce current processes, but rather inspire stakeholders (teachers, students, administrators, decision-makers) to change, rather than bind them. The challenge lies in designing technological platforms that support new pedagogical methodologies: strategies, practices, and concrete acts grounded in epistemologies that rely on mutual, networked interventions of people and technologies in both digital and physical spaces. Methodologies that aspire to cognitive complexity, acknowledging the hypercomplex nature of current contexts. Educational technologies must therefore be aligned with new epistemologies, with new pedagogical methodologies, and their implementations. In this work, we present a proposal for a technological architecture aligned with the digital transformation of education: Inven!RA, which aims to guide the production of ecological interaction platforms in cognitive ecosystems, within hypercomplex networks of human and non-human participants, where teaching and learning occur.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Media locativos digitais como instrumentos mediadores do contacto com a natureza: estudo de caso sobre a aplicação de um programa de geolocalização

A presente investigação visa analisar as perspetivas de uma comunidade de utilizadores sobre o papel mediador dos jogos locativos digitais no contacto com a natureza. Este estudo foi desenvolvido no contexto do destacamento militar dos Estados Unidos da América em Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, sendo mais concretamente integrado no âmbito do programa de atividades recreativas denominado Outdoor Recreation. O público-alvo é uma comunidade militar no ativo e na reserva, seus familiares diretos e pessoal civil com acesso à instalação, independentemente da idade. Na base desta escolha temática assenta a necessidade de criar um jogo locativo digital capaz de promover aprendizagens ubíquas no contacto com a natureza, através do uso das tecnologias móveis. Neste sentido, prosseguimos à formulação da questão que norteia este trabalho: Como podem os media locativos digitais promover o ócio e, particularmente, o contacto com a natureza? No seguimento desta questão, pretendemos atingir os seguintes objetivos: a) desenvolver um programa de geolocalização mediado por media locativos digitais; b) analisar de que forma o recurso às tecnologias digitais móveis contribui para o desenvolvimento de atividades ao ar livre e consequente reaproximação à natureza; c) explorar as potencialidades dos jogos locativos digitais na aprendizagem ubíqua; d) analisar as experiências e conhecer as perspetivas dos utilizadores do programa. A nível de orientação metodológica, apresentamos um Estudo de Caso orientado pelos princípios do Design-Based Research com recurso a uma metodologia predominantemente qualitativa, pretendendo-se estudar as perspetivas dos utilizadores sobre o uso do jogo locativo baseado na atividade de Geocaching no contexto de uma base militar. Através da implementação de um programa protótipo de geolocalização criado para este propósito pretendemos compreender o papel mediador dos meios locativos para a promoção do contacto com a natureza, numa perspetiva de desenvolvimento humano.The purpose of this study is to examine in which ways locative media can impact the outdoor experience for human development in a community. This study was conducted at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey as part of a program developed by the 87th Force Support Squadrons’ Outdoor Recreation Office, with a target group that included all Active Duty, Reserve and immediate family members, retired personnel and civilians with base access, regardless of the age group. This idea emerged from the need to develop a game capable of harnessing digital technology for worthwhile and life-changing nature experiences in an attempt to find a balance between both worlds. That being said, we developed the following research question to establish the parameters of our study: “In which ways can locative media and technology promote outdoor activity and contact with nature?” To find answers to the main research statement, we also established a series of objectives to steer us in the right direction. Therefore, this study aims to a) develop a geolocation pilot program to promote contact with nature through locative media; b) evaluate in which ways the use of technology can enhance outdoor activities for human development and subsequent proximity to nature; c) recognize the potential of locative media gaming for ubiquitous learning, and d) examine experiences in order to identify gamers’ perceptions. Due to the nature of this study, we carried out a Case Study based on the Design-Based Research method targeting a specific group of individuals at a US military base. The methods used in this study can be identified by a research design, which present components that are predominantly qualitative. By implementing a geolocation pilot program our goal is to better understand the role of the digital and locative media as an intermediary in promoting and enhancing nature leisure for human development.A investigação realizada no âmbito desta Dissertação está integrada nas linhas de investigação da Unidade de Investigação e Desenvolvimento - Laboratório de Educação a Distância e eLearning (UID 4372/FCT), da Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia do Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior

Laboratórios remotos: interação remota com braços robóticos e integração com plataformas de e-learning

A realização de atividades práticas em contexto laboratorial desempenha um papel essencial no ensino das engenharias e de outras áreas científicas. Neste sentido, os laboratórios remotos e virtuais estão a ganhar importância e destaque nas escolas e universidades, pois permitem a redução de custos em equipamentos e manutenção, possibilitam a realização de experiências práticas no ensino à distância e permitem a partilha de recursos entre instituições de ensino. Todavia, a avaliação e acompanhamento de atividades em contextos não tradicionais é um processo complexo e demorado, que traz novos desafios para os professores. Facto que pode limitar a adoção generalizada deste tipo de ferramentas. A presente dissertação descreve o processo de análise, conceção, desenvolvimento e avaliação de um protótipo de um laboratório remoto para o ensino de redes de computadores, integrado com a plataforma Inven!RA. Esta, permite a recolha de analytics relevantes durante a realização de planos de atividades, possibilitando assim, que os professores consultem dashboards de acompanhamento que os auxiliem no processo de avaliação da sua intervenção pedagógica, de acordo com o progresso dos alunos, num ambiente integrado com uma plataforma de e-learning. Os resultados obtidos revelam que o protótipo do laboratório criado, permite o desenvolvimento de diversas atividades de redes de computadores, oferece um contributo efetivo ao acompanhamento dos alunos por parte dos professores, acolhe novas dinâmicas de trabalho dentro e fora da sala de aula e promove metodologias ativas de aprendizagem.The realization of practical activities in a laboratory context plays an essential role in the education of engineering and other scientific areas. The use of remote and virtual laboratories has become increasingly popular solutions in schools and universities. Its use allows for a reduction in equipment and maintenance costs, makes it possible to carry out practical experiences in distance learning contexts and allows the sharing of resources between educational institutions. However, the evaluation and monitoring of activities in non-traditional contexts is a complex and time-consuming process, which brings new challenges for instructors. This fact may limit the widespread adoption of this type of tools. This dissertation describes the process of analysis, design, development and evaluation of a prototype for a remote laboratory for computer network education, integrated with the Inven!RA platform. This enables the collection of relevant analytics during the execution of activity plans, which allows teachers to consult monitoring dashboards that helps them in the process of evaluating their pedagogical intervention, according to the student’s progress, in an integrated environment with an e-learning platform. The obtained results reveal that the created prototype of the laboratory, allows the development of several activities for computer networks, offers an effective contribution to the monitoring of students by instructors, welcomes new dynamics of work inside and outside the classroom and promotes active learning methodologies