ETHNOGRAPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGY APPLIED TO GAME RESEARCH: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Ethnography and Phenomenology are qualitative research methods, frequently adopted in the field of social and human sciences and also in the field of human computer interaction, but not in game research. In order to identify how computer science research uses and adapts phenomenological and ethnographic methods to the context of games, we proceeded a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) in papers published between 2015 and 2016 at ACM Digital Library and also at Proceedings of SBGames. There were two search strings: (ethnograph* and game) and (phenomenolog* and game) . The initial search returned 140 scientific articles for phenomenology and 425 for ethnography that, after applying the search filters and the inclu- sion criteria, were reduced to 6 articles related to phenomenology and 17 to ethnography. This SLR process provided information about research goals and reasons for choosing the method, samples size, target public, research duration, procedures applied for data collection and data analysis. We highlight that articles reporting similar research were not found in the literature. Considering the relevance of qualitative research methods for research in which the focus is on the human factor (which includes some studies in the field of games) the results of this work can contribute for the understanding of how the methods of phenomenology and ethnography can be applied. Consequently, game researchers know when they can choose each method to improve the methodological approach, the conduction of data collection of their studies and finally, the reliability of the results of their work

Digital learning for development in Asia : final technical report

The research examined how digital learning may be used in developing countries in Asia to address issues of equity, quality, and efficiency at all educational levels. This final technical report highlights key learnings from research activities conducted by the digital learning for development (DL4D) Network, which generated 11 digital learning innovation studies, 19 expert papers and meta-reviews, and two policy and practices guides. The research was organized around three themes: learning at scale, learning analytics, and digital game-based learning. The sub-granting process was complex, involving institutions in multiple countries

Bibliometría aplicada a la gamificación como estrategia digital de aprendizaje

Este trabajo se interesa por un tema de actualidad como es la gamificación en educación,una interesanteestrategia didácticapara responder a los alarmantes datos sobre fracaso y abandono escolar obtenidos año tras año enlas pruebas diagnósticas realizadas enel ámbito europeo. A través del estudio bibliométrico de la producción científicase ha analizado las principales tendencias en gamificación,como práctica mediada por la tecnología en las aulas de las diferentes etapas educativas, a través de 137documentos alojados enlabase de datos Scopus y publicados en la última década. Enlosresultados se revela que el número de documentos se ha incrementado notablemente en los últimos años; sin embargo, el impactoen las prácticas digitalizadas de aulasigue siendo escaso,exceptuando algunos casos.Se destaca que el peso del continente europeo es notable en este campo,si lo comparamos con el americano o el asiático. Y también que la mayoría de las publicaciones se sitúan en Primaria, existe un cierto equilibrio entre asignaturas científicas y humanísticas y los dispositivos de preferenciason las tabletas. Concluimosapuntandocontrastar sistemáticamente estudiospor etapasyreflexionarsobre las estrategias educativas en el contexto de la sociedad digital

A etnografia como método de pesquisa em Informática na Educação: Revisão Sistemática de Literatura

Etnografia é um método de pesquisa qualitativa pouco citado em pesquisas na área de informática na educação no Brasil. Com o objetivo de demonstrar o potencial de utilização deste método e sua aplicação para a comunidade da área no Brasil, foi realizada uma Revisão Sistemática da Literatura (RSL) na base da Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), avaliando artigos publicados entre 2015 e 2016. O método etnográfico é muito relevante para pesquisas onde o foco está no fator humano, inclusive pesquisas em educação. Assim, consideramos que os resultados deste trabalho podem contribuir para que grupos de pesquisa da área no Brasil conheçam a aplicação do método no contexto internacional, assegurando a assertividade da abordagem etnográfica afim de incentivar sua apropriação pelos pesquisadores área de Informática na Educação, amplificando a confiabilidade dos resultados das pesquisas, e por consequência, beneficiando a prática educacional em seus vários níveis e modalidades

Challenges of rapid migration to fully virtual education in the age of the Corona virus pandemic: experiences from across the world

The social disruption caused by the sudden eruption of the Corona Virus pandemic has shaken the whole world, influencing all levels of education immensely. Notwithstanding there was a lack of preparedness for this global public health emergency which continues to affect all aspects of work and life. The problem is, naturally, multifaceted, fast evolving and complex, affecting everyone, threatening our well-being, the global economy, the environment and all societal and cultural norms and our everyday activities. In a recent UNESCO report it is noted that nearly a billion and a quarter (which is 67,7 % of the total number) of learners have been affected by the Corona Virus pandemic worldwide. The education sector at all levels has been one of the hardest hit sectors particularly as the academic/school year was in full swing. The impact of the pandemic is widespread, representing a health hazard worldwide. Being such, it profoundly affects society as a whole, and its members that are, in particular, i) individuals (the learners, their parents, educators, support staff), ii) schools, training organisations, pedagogical institutions and education systems, iii) quickly transformed policies, methods and pedagogies to serve the newly appeared needs of the latter. Lengthy developments of such scale usually take years of consultation, strategic planning and implementation. In addition to raising awareness across the population of the dangers of the virus transmission and instigating total lockdown, it has been necessary to develop mechanisms for continuing the delivery of education as well as demanding mechanisms for assuring the quality of the educational experience and educational results. There is often scepticism about securing quality standards in such a fast moving situation. Often in the recent past, the perception was that courses and degrees leading to an award are inferior if the course modules (and sometimes its assessment components) were wholly online. Over the last three decades most Higher Education institutions developed both considerable infrastructure and knowhow enabling distance mode delivery schools (Primary and Secondary) had hardly any necessary infrastructure nor adequate knowhow for enabling virtual education. In addition, community education and various training providers were mainly delivered face-to-face and that had to either stop altogether or rapidly convert materials, exercises and tests for online delivery and testing. A high degree of flexibility and commitment was demanded of all involved and particularly from the educators, who undertook to produce new educational materials in order to provide online support to pupils and students. Apart from the delivery mode of education, which is serving for certificated programmes, it is essential to ensure that learners’ needs are thoroughly and continuously addressed and are efficiently supported throughout the Coronavirus or any other future lockdown. The latter can be originated by various causes and reasons that vary in nature, such as natural or socioeconomical. Readiness, thus, in addition to preparedness, is the primary key question and solution when it comes to quality education for any lockdown. In most countries, the compulsory primary and secondary education sectors have been facing a more difficult challenge than that faced by Higher Education. The poor or in many cases non-existent technological infrastructure and low technological expertise of the teachers, instructors and parents, make the delivery of virtual education difficult or even impossible. The latter, coupled with phenomena such as social exclusion and digital divide where thousands of households do not have adequate access to broadband Internet, Wi-Fi infrastructure and personal computers hamper the promising and strenuous virtual solutions. The shockwaves of the sudden demands on all sectors of society and on individuals required rapid decisions and actions. We will not attempt to answer the question “Why was the world unprepared for the onslaught of the Coronavirus pandemic” but need to ascertain the level of preparedness and readiness particularly of the education sector, to effect the required rapid transition. We aimed to identify the challenges, and problems faced by the educators and their institutions. Through first-hand experiences we also identify best practices and solutions reached. Thus we constructed a questionnaire to gather our own responses but also experiences from colleagues and members of our environment, family, friends, and colleagues. This paper reports the first-hand experiences and knowledge of 33 co-authors from 27 institutions and from 13 different countries from Europe, Asia, and Africa. The communication technologies and development platforms used are identified; the challenges faced as well as solutions and best practices are reported. The findings are consolidated into the four areas explored i.e. Development Platforms, Communications Technologies, Challenges/Problems and Solutions/Best Practices. The conclusion summarises the findings into emerging themes and similarities. Reflections on the lasting impact of the effect of Coronavirus on education, limitations of study, and indications of future work complete the paper