Exploring indicators of engagement: applications for gamification of online training systems

In recent years, gamification is being used in business organization for an increased employee engagement in the work place. However, less has been said about engagement of employees in online training to learn new skills and knowledge that may help or improve status quo in the organization. This paper explores the engagement indicators and game elements that may foster employee engagement in online training. The study employs an iterative step-by-step methodology that is used in information technology for the development of artefacts. As a result, a framework to implement the gamification technique in online training is proposed. The framework consists of a gamification construct that contains a set of commonly used game elements such as points, levels, challenges, rewards, competition, progress bar, leaderboard, badges, and feedback. The framework also contains three engagement dimensions including behavioural, emotional, and cognitive dimensions. To achieve the main objective of the study, an iterative process used by information technology researchers to develop new artefacts and their constructs is employed. As for the formulation of the hypothesis, for the evaluation of gamification’s influence on employee engagement when attending an online training, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is employed

The potential role of ePortfolios in the Teaching Excellence Framework

Current debates on HE policy in the UK are dominated by the evolving Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) which will soon involve the government establishing key metrics.  In this context, and seizing this valuable moment in policy formation, we here provide a brief foray into the multiple aspects of ‘teaching excellence’ (TE) as a basis to highlight both the complexity of identifying ways to measure it and the shortcomings of existing official developments.  In the absence of a clear conceptual understanding of the learning processes and the role of teaching which apparently underpins the TEF, we present a model of the learning process to which the indicators currently proposed by the authorities can be related.  We propose that ePortfolios can play a special role in the TEF in capturing the qualitative outcomes of learning processes which, importantly, reflect the student perspective in terms of goals, learning experiences and achievement.  These are both crucial yet missing elements of the proposals to date. Finally, we provide some examples of how information from ePortfolios could be used by HE institutions to enhance their institutional submissions to the TEF.

The ‘responsibility’ factor in imagining the future of education in China

Design and creativity have been a considerable force for improving life conditions. A lot of effort has been invested in explaining the design process and creativity mainly through the design thinking methodology, but design accountability and responsible actions in the design process are, yet, to be fully explored. The concept of design ethics is now increasingly scrutinized on both the level of business organization and of the individual designer. A 4-day design workshop that involved creativity techniques provided the base to explore responsibility in the fuzzy front end of the design process. The future of education in 2030 was defined as the workshop's theme and fifty-six students from China were asked to create detailed alternative scenarios. A number of imagination exercises, implementation of technological innovations and macro-environment evolutions employed in the workshop are discussed. The aim was to incite moral and responsible actions among students less familiar with creative educational contexts of student-led discovery and collaborative learning. This paper reflects on the use of creativity methods to stimulate anticipation in (non)design students

Participatory systems modelling for youth mental health: an evaluation study applying a comprehensive multi-scale framework

The youth mental health sector is persistently challenged by issues such as service fragmentation and inefficient resource allocation. Systems modelling and simulation, particularly utilizing participatory approaches, is offering promise in supporting evidence-informed decision making with limited resources by testing alternative strategies in safe virtual environments before implementing them in the real world. However, improved evaluation efforts are needed to understand the critical elements involved in and to improve methods for implementing participatory modelling for youth mental health system and service delivery. An evaluation protocol is described to evaluate the feasibility, value, impact, and sustainability of participatory systems modelling in delivering advanced decision support capabilities for youth mental health. This study applies a comprehensive multi-scale evaluation framework, drawing on participatory action research principles as well as formative, summative, process, and outcome evaluation techniques. Novel data collection procedures are presented, including online surveys that incorporate gamification to enable social network analysis and patient journey mapping. The evaluation approach also explores the experiences of diverse stakeholders, including young people with lived (or living) experience of mental illness. Social and technical opportunities will be uncovered, as well as challenges implementing these interdisciplinary methods in complex settings to improve youth mental health policy, planning, and outcomes. This study protocol can also be adapted for broader international applications, disciplines, and contexts

Cultivating a Community of Practice model to support and encourage innovative T&L practices to engage practitioners and enhance student success

Communities of Practice (CoPs) are naturally forming groups of individuals who come together through a shared passion or goal and learn collectively by reciprocating knowledge and experiences. With competing demands of faculty, universities are increasingly challenged to provide professional development opportunities that actively encourage innovative pedagogical practices to enhance student success and quality of the learner experience. We report on four embryonic CoPs, based on collaborative processes, supporting institutional transformation and the formation of a new education model at Ireland’s first Technological University (TU). Juxtaposing a series of planned learning innovations with spontaneous interactions and actions of CoP members, we draw out common themes with respect to how these members developed as professional educators, how they accelerated the adoption of new innovations and their perceived factors for CoP success. Findings from this funded initiative are first reported as separate case-studies each covering a six-month period. The CoP model is then evaluated as a professional development strategy to initiate and sustain practice-based change. Finally, a thematic analysis of our shared perceptions across the four CoPs is undertaken. Whilst selection bias is inherent in these perceptions, we nevertheless conclude from our shared experiences that CoPs are particularly attuned to rapid and extensive adoption of teaching and learning practice innovations and organisational transformation in Higher Education (HE). Consequently, CoPs can serve as vehicles for sustainable professional development in teaching and learning practice. Based on our findings, we offer recommendations for fostering CoPs in supporting strategy-as-practice in the technological university sector

System dynamics gamification: A proposal for shared principles

open3siAs gamification has been gaining ground in research practice, system dynamics is no exemption. Despite the long tradition of system dynamics gamification, capitalizing on lessons learned from previous experiences is still challenging for practitioners. Specifically, the extant literature introduces a repertoire of system dynamics-based simulators and games under quite divergent perspectives and nomenclatures, while a comprehensive set of practical 'how-to-gamify' guidelines and a resource repository are lacking. Thus, this research aims to propose a set of shared principles by (i) providing an embryonic definition of system dynamics gamification and (ii) framing the most relevant challenges and drivers, to fill in the literature gaps and allow for effective knowledge accumulation. Overall, this work anticipates rendering gamification as a recognized branch of the systems dynamics domain by establishing a common language and recommending directions to improve practice and research efforts.openCunico, G; Aivazidou, E; Mollona, ECunico, G; Aivazidou, E; Mollona,

Technological and Implementation Issues in Moodle-Based Digital Badge System

Digital badges, touted as a gamification tool that can potentially influence learner motivation, engagement and participation, are being used increasingly in a variety of educational domains to facilitate and motivate learning. Using a badge system design implemented in the Moodle learning management platform, data was collected from four experiments from 2015 to 2017 to examine the effects of gamification with the use of digital badges on introductory programming students' intrinsic motivation. This paper provides an in-depth examination of seldomly discussed technological and implementation issues we encountered in implementing our Moodle-based badge system, worthy of exploration to support future gamification studies in this area. Our gamified implementation is analyzed according to five main factors primarily adopted from an IT implementation framework: (1) assessment of needs, (2) choice of technology, (3) technological infrastructure, (4) system and environmental factors and (5) evaluation. The findings highlight enabling and challenging factors associated with the technology and badge implementation. Our experience shows that badge systems may be influenced by contextual factors such as cost and scale of implementation. We provide recommendations to guide educational stakeholders, particularly those considering Moodle as their badge implementation platform

Teaching Difficult Subjects in a Digital Society: Investigating the Application of Games and Technology for Inclusive Sex Education

Sex education in schools has become a topic of controversy in several Ontario communities since the launch, repeal, and re-launch of an update to the 1998 Health & Physical Education (H&PE) curriculum in 2015-2019. This research project investigates the relationship between children, education, technology and sexuality, with a focus on leveraging digital games for inclusive learning around difficult subjects that help to foster engagement and strengthen parent-teacher-student relationships. Various literature, pedagogical approaches, and game-based methods are analyzed, and a sex education game prototype, Inclusafe, is used as a test subject to establish a framework for digital game-based learning for difficult subjects. A new, remixed model is proposed, which the game is tested against, and recommendations are provided for future improvement. Although the focus of this paper is on sex education, the proposed model has potential to be reused and applied to the teaching of other difficult subjects