O papel dos jogos no envolvimento dos estudantes

O presente estudo tem como objetivo fornecer uma revisão abrangente da literatura sobre gamificação, jogos sérios e envolvimento dos alunos, a fim de sintetizar a informação disponível e determinar o papel da gamificação e da implementação de jogos no processo de aprendizagem para aumentar o envolvimento dos alunos. O estudo examinará o contexto da gamificação e dos jogos sérios na educação, explorará o problema do desinteresse dos alunos nas abordagens de aprendizagem tradicionais e investigará a forma como a gamificação e a aprendizagem baseada em jogos podem resolver este problema. A questão de investigação que orienta este estudo é: "Qual é o papel da gamificação e da implementação de jogos no processo de aprendizagem no envolvimento e motivação dos alunos?" Para responder à questão de investigação, será efetuada uma revisão narrativa da literatura. Estudos, artigos e publicações relevantes serão reunidos e analisados para identificar as principais conclusões e tendências relativas à eficácia da gamificação e da aprendizagem baseada em jogos no reforço do envolvimento dos alunos. A metodologia envolverá a realização de um questionário abrangente que avaliará as perceções dos alunos e dos professores sobre a gamificação e a implementação de jogos no processo de aprendizagem, bem como o impacto dos jogos na aprendizagem, e analisará os dados extraídos. Espera-se que os principais resultados deste estudo forneçam informações sobre os benefícios e desafios da utilização da gamificação e da aprendizagem baseada em jogos na educação. Prevê-se que os resultados demonstrem o impacto positivo da gamificação no envolvimento, motivação e resultados de aprendizagem dos alunos. Além disso, o estudo explorará fatores que contribuem para a implementação bem-sucedida de estratégias de gamificação, como a conceção dos elementos do jogo, o alinhamento da mecânica do jogo com os objetivos de aprendizagem e a importância de incorporar feedback e recompensas. A investigação também irá lançar luz sobre potenciais limitações e barreiras à utilização eficaz da gamificação na sala de aula. Este estudo tem implicações para educadores, designers instrucionais e decisores políticos no domínio da educação. Os resultados informarão o desenvolvimento de melhores práticas e diretrizes para a incorporação da gamificação e da aprendizagem baseada em jogos em contextos educativos, com o objetivo de aumentar o envolvimento dos alunos e promover experiências de aprendizagem significativas.The present study aims to provide a comprehensive review of the literature on gamification, serious games, and student engagement in order to synthesize the available information and determine the role of gamification and game implementation in the learning process to increase student engagement. The study will examine the context of gamification and serious games in education, explore the problem of student disengagement in traditional learning approaches, and investigate how gamification and game-based learning can address this issue. The research question that guides this study is: "What is the role of gamification and the implementation of games in the learning process on student engagement and motivation?" To address the research question, a systematic review of the literature will be conducted. Relevant studies, articles, and publications will be gathered and analyzed to identify key findings and trends regarding the effectiveness of gamification and game-based learning in enhancing student engagement. The methodology will involve conducting a comprehensive questionaire evaluating student and teacher perceptions on gamification and the implementation of games in the learning process as well as the impact of games on learning and analyzing the data extracted from these. The main results of this study are expected to provide insights into the benefits and challenges of using gamification and game-based learning in education. It is anticipated that the findings will demonstrate the positive impact of gamification on student engagement, motivation, and learning outcomes. Additionally, the study will explore factors that contribute to the successful implementation of gamification strategies, such as the design of game elements, the alignment of game mechanics with learning objectives, and the importance of incorporating feedback and rewards. The research will also shed light on potential limitations and barriers to the effective use of gamification in the classroom. This study has implications for educators, instructional designers, and policymakers in the field of education. The findings will inform the development of best practices and guidelines for incorporating gamification and game-based learning into educational settings, with the aim of enhancing student engagement and promoting meaningful learning experiences

Assessing cognitive presence using automated learning analytics methods

With the increasing pace of technological changes in the modern society, there has been a growing interest from educators, business leaders, and policymakers in teaching important higher-order skills which were identified as necessary for thriving in the present-day globalized economy. In this regard, one of the most widely discussed higher order skills is critical thinking, whose importance in shaping problem solving, decision making, and logical thinking has been recognized. Within the domain of distance and online education, the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model provides a pedagogical framework for understanding the critical dimensions of student learning and factors which impact the development of student critical thinking. The CoI model follows the social-constructivist perspective on learning in which learning is seen as happening in both individual minds of learners and through the discourse within the group of learners. Central to the CoI model is the construct of cognitive presence, which captures the student cognitive engagement and the development of critical thinking and deep thinking skills. However, the assessment of cognitive presence is challenging task, particularly given its latent nature and the inherent physical and time separation between students and instructors in distance education settings. One way to address this problem is to make use of the vast amounts of learning data being collected by learning systems. This thesis presents novel methods for understanding and assessing the levels of cognitive presence based on learning analytics techniques and the data collected by learning environments. We first outline a comprehensive model for cognitive presence assessment which builds on the well-established evidence-cantered design (ECD) assessment framework. The proposed assessment model provides a foundation of the thesis, showing how the developed analytical models and their components fit together and how they can be adjusted for new learning contexts. The thesis shows two distinct and complementary analytical methods for assessing students’ cognitive presence and its development. The first method is based on the automated classification of student discussion messages and captures learning as it is observed in the student dialogue. The second analytics method relies on the analysis of log data of students’ use of the learning platform and captures the individual dimension of the learning process. The developed analytics also extend current theoretical understanding of the cognitive presence construct through data-informed operationalization of cognitive presence with different quantitative measures extracted from the student use of online discussions. We also examine methodological challenges of assessing cognitive presence and other forms of cognitive engagement through the analysis of trace data. Finally, with the intent of enabling for the wider adoption of the CoI model for new online learning modalities, the last two chapters examine the use of developed analytics within the context of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Given the substantial differences between traditional online and MOOC contexts, we first evaluate the suitability of the CoI model for MOOC settings and then assess students’ cognitive presence using the data collected by the MOOC platform. We conclude the thesis with the discussion of practical application and impact of the present work and the directions for the future research