Learning through play: an educational computer game to introduce radar fundamentals

The information exchange has evolved from traditional books to computers and Internet in a few years' time. Our current university students were born in this age: they learn and have fun with different methods as previous generations did. These digital natives enjoy computer games. Thus, designing games for learning some selected topics could be a good teaching strategy for such collective and also for undergraduate university students. This paper describes the development and test of an educational computer game revolving around radar. The objective of the game RADAR Technology is to teach students about the fundamentals of radar, while having fun during the learning experience. Based on the principle that you learn better what you practice, the authors want to induce students to discover a difficult to understand topic by proposing them a different experience, in a format better adapted to their generation skills. The computer game has been tested with actual students and the obtained results seem to be very promising

Towards a Serious Game to Help Students Learn Computer Programming

International audienceVideo games are part of our culture like TV, movies, and books. We believe that this kind of software can be used to increase students' interest in computer science. Video games with other goals than entertainment, serious games, are present, today, in several fields such as education, government, health, defence, industry, civil security, and science. This paper presents a study around a serious game dedicated to strengthening programming skills. Real-Time Strategy, which is a popular game genre, seems to be the most suitable kind of game to support such a serious game. From programming teaching features to video game characteristics, we define a teaching organisation to experiment if a serious game can be adapted to learn programming

Modeling educational quizzes as board games

In last decades, online computer games are used for e-learning purposes with significant success which determines steadily increasing interest in game development. Board games are special group of computer games where figures are manipulated on a surface according predefined rules. The paper presents a new, formalized model of traditional quizzes, puzzles and quests as multimedia board games created for facilitating the construction process of games of such types. By several examples authors show the model is quite general in order to support not only quiz, puzzle and quest presentation but also any instructional set of teaching activities presented as a race game. An adaptive game control strategy is proposed where dices are used for random selection of complexity of next questions. The model is going to be used as a basic paradigm for construction of a software platform for multimedia game development for adaptive education

Current Trends of Teaching Computer Programming in Undergraduate CS Programs: A Survey from Ecuadorian Universities

Abstract. Computer programming has become a relevant element of the modern era. Practically it is involved in all sectors of modern society. Currently, many universities around the globe offer bachelor’s degree programs that contain computer programming related courses. In order to gain insight into how computer programming is taught in Ecuadorian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), we have conducted the first national survey on teaching computer programming in undergraduate CS programs. In this survey participated 53 respondents from 13 Ecuadorian HEIs. We report on programming paradigms, programming languages, integrated development environments and teaching strategies used in the programming learning process. We found that the object-oriented paradigm along with the Java programming language are the most often used. The NetBeans integrated development environment is the most commonly used among the respondents. Concerning teaching strategies, e-learning platforms are commonly used as part of computer programming courses. More than half of the respondents use collaborative strategies such as pair programming in their courses. Finally, a half of the respondents use traditional computer labs for teaching programming; however, other approaches such as mobile devices, games and simulations, Arduino kits and robots start to be used as a teaching strategy. Our findings can serve as a starting point for addressing reforms in computer programming courses taught in Ecuadorian CS undergraduate programs

Exploring Technological Innovation towards Inclusive Education: Building Digital Games – An Interdisciplinary Challenge

AbstractPolicy on inclusion in education lacks methodological frameworks and technological resources to assist students with disabilities during their teaching-learning process. This paper proposes a strategy to join interdisciplinary areas, such as education, game design and computer science, to enable affordable educational digital games development with natural and universal interface design. We also present the intended results we expected to achieve by using this interdisciplinary approach such as an educational game development based on natural user interface using Microsoft Kinect as an interaction device

Computer Game-Based Learning Media as a Strategy to Increase Students' Motivation Learning

The success of teaching and learning activities is determined by one of the methods and media of learning. This study aims to determine the needs of learning media, develop learning media based on computer games, and determine the effectiveness of learning media based on computer games on students' motivation and interest in learning. This type of research is Research and Development (RD), referring to the ADDIE development model. Data collection techniques using observation and questionnaires. The data analysis technique is done by analyzing the questionnaire. The results showed that students needed new learning media with the criteria of using computer technology, game-based, having a colorful display, involving an active role in student participation, easy to operate, equipped with characters, login, and voice access rights. A computer game-based learning media application has been developed called "BEBEB" with a very proper assessment from Media Experts and Material Experts. The effectiveness of the "BEBEB" application as a learning media based on computer games increased learning motivation by 16.5% and interest in learning by 24.33%. The study results indicate that the development of computer-based learning media as a strategy to increase students' motivation and interest in learning at SMK Muhammadiyah 2 Andong Boyolali has been able to be implemented properly. This implies that teachers need to provide learning media that can arouse students' motivation and interest in learning, one of which is using computer game-based learning media

Computer Game-Based Learning Media as a Strategy to Increase Students' Motivation Learning

The success of teaching and learning activities is determined by one of the methods and media of learning. This study aims to determine the needs of learning media, develop learning media based on computer games, and determine the effectiveness of learning media based on computer games on students' motivation and interest in learning. This type of research is Research and Development (RD), referring to the ADDIE development model. Data collection techniques using observation and questionnaires. The data analysis technique is done by analyzing the questionnaire. The results showed that students needed new learning media with the criteria of using computer technology, game-based, having a colorful display, involving an active role in student participation, easy to operate, equipped with characters, login, and voice access rights. A computer game-based learning media application has been developed called "BEBEB" with a very proper assessment from Media Experts and Material Experts. The effectiveness of the "BEBEB" application as a learning media based on computer games increased learning motivation by 16.5% and interest in learning by 24.33%. The study results indicate that the development of computer-based learning media as a strategy to increase students' motivation and interest in learning at SMK Muhammadiyah 2 Andong Boyolali has been able to be implemented properly. This implies that teachers need to provide learning media that can arouse students' motivation and interest in learning, one of which is using computer game-based learning media

Profiling the educational value of computer games

There are currently a number of suggestions for educators to include computer games in formal teaching and learning contexts. Educational value is based on claims that games promote the development of complex learning. Very little research, however, has explored what features should be present in a computer game to make it valuable or conducive to learning. We present a list of required features for an educational game to be of value, informed by two studies, which integrated theories of Learning Environments and Learning Styles. A user survey showed that some requirements were typical of games in a particular genre, while other features were present across all genres. The paper concludes with a proposed framework of games and features within and across genres to assist in the design and selection of games for a given educational scenari