158,911 research outputs found
Autonomy in Video Games and Gamification
In the past decade, gamification (using game elements in non-gaming tasks to enhance motivation and engagement) has become a popular concept in many industries, but few studies have explored the principles under which it works. Self-determination theory suggests three psychological needs that gamification fulfills: competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Autonomy, a person\u27s perception that they have the ability to act however they choose, has emerged as an important, yet less-studied aspect in gamification. Inclusion of autonomy in gamification should foster engagement, enjoyment, and better performance. An experiment inspired by the above was carried out in which a sample of college students (N = 57) played a video game called Super Mario Bros. Crossover with either the choice to customize the aesthetics of their character and background (autonomy-supportive) or no choice of aesthetics (non-supportive). It was hypothesized that conditions involving more choice would lead to higher perceived autonomy and performance, and that perceived autonomy would be positively correlated with engagement, enjoyment, and performance. The manipulation resulted in no significant difference in perceived autonomy or performance, and perceived autonomy was only significantly positively correlated with enjoyment. Prior Super Mario Bros. experience was also found to positively correlate with perceived autonomy in the autonomy-supportive condition. The choice of aesthetics does not appear to have been sufficiently strong enough to increase perceived autonomy in this context
Underwater Hacker Missile Wars: A Cryptography and Engineering Contest
For a recent student conference, the authors developed a day-long design
problem and competition suitable for engineering, mathematics and science
undergraduates. The competition included a cryptography problem, for which a
workshop was run during the conference. This paper describes the competition,
focusing on the cryptography problem and the workshop. Notes from the workshop
and code for the computer programs are made available via the Internet. The
results of a personal self-evaluation (PSE) are described.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, uses amsrefs.sty v2.0 and cryptologiabib.sty
(included); to appear in Cryptologi
Game Based Learning for Safety and Security Education
Safety and security education are important part of technology related education, because of recent number of increase in safety and security related incidents. Game based learning is an emerging and rapidly advancing forms of computer-assisted instruction. Game based learning for safety and security education enables students to learn concepts and skills without the risk of physical injury and security breach. In this paper, a pedestal grinder safety game and physical security game have been developed using industrial standard modeling and game development software. The average score of the knowledge test of grinder safety game was 82%, which is higher than traditional lecture only instruction method. In addition, the survey of physical security game shows 84% average satisfaction ratio from high school students who played the game during the summer camp. The results of these studies indicated that game based learning method can enhance students' learning without potential harm to the students
An Overview of the New ACM/IEEE Information Technology Curricular Framework
ACM and IEEE have developed a curricular report titled, âInformation Technology Curricula 2017: Curriculum Guidelines for Baccalaureate Degree Programs in Information Technology,â known also as IT2017. The development of this report has received worldwide content contributions from industry and academia through surveys as well as many international conferences and workshops. An open online publication of the report was made available in December 2017. This paper presents a digest of the content of the report, the IT curricular framework, and suggestions for its use in developing new information technology programs or enhancing existing ones. The heart of the IT curricular framework is a set of competencies identified through knowledge, skills, and dispositions, as supported by pedagogical research. The paper also describes ways in which institutions could use the curricular framework not only to develop information technology degree programs, but also to improve and enhance related computing programs
LO-MATCH: A semantic platform for matching migrants' competences with labour market's needs
Citizens' mobility and employability are receiving ever more attention by the European legislation. Various instruments have been defined to overcome lexical and semantic differences in the descriptions of qualifications, résumés and job profiles. However, the above differences still represent a significant constraint when abilities of non-European people have to be validated either for education and training or occupation purposes. In this work, a web platform that exploits semantic technologies to address such heterogeneity issues is presented. The platform allows migrants to annotate their knowledge, skills and competences in a shared format based on the European tools. The resulting knowledge base is then used to enable the automatic matchmaking of job seekers' abilities with companies' needs. The platform can additionally be used to support students and workers in the identification of their competence gap with respect to a given education or occupation opportunity, so that to personalize their further trainin
A course on digital electronics based on solving design-oriented exercises by means of a PBL strategy
Recently, new syllabuses are being implemented accordingly to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) in Spain.
This paper describes the methodology and assessment strategy applied in the subject ââDigital Circuits and Systemsââ (CSD)
in the third semester course in the Telecommunications Engineering degree at the Castelldefels School of Telecommunications
and Aerospace Engineering (EETAC) of the Universitat Polite`cnica de Catalunya (UPC). The courseâs main learning
objective is that students be able to analyse and design simple combinational and sequential circuits by means of hardware
description languages for programmable devices and program applications using microcontrollers and C language.
Small groups of two or three students work in cooperation using PBL techniques to solve design-oriented assignments,
while instructors act more as mediators than lecturers in order to facilitate project development and knowledge acquisition.
The experience we describe corresponds to the spring term of 2011, a period in which this methodology was applied to 46
students.
This work compares statistically the influence of the studentsâ background on their academic performance in our subject.
A significant correlation has been detected between test marks and the final grade, based on continuous assessment.
Studentsâ opinions have been obtained by means of a survey at the end of the course. Although the high workload and
involvement, because this methodology requires constancy and commitment from the students, most of them have positive
opinions on the development of the subject, due to the fact that they realise that they have put into practice several
competences or cross-curricular skills, while acquiring the course content, and furthermore, most of them have passed the
course, even with higher grades than the ones from other subjects in the same semester.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Can a five minute, three question survey foretell first-year engineering student performance and retention?
This research paper examines first-year student performance and retention within engineering. A considerable body of literature has reported factors influencing performance and retention, including high school GPA and SAT scores,1,2,3 gender,4 self-efficacy,1,5 social status,2,6,7 hobbies,4 and social integration.6,7 Although these factors can help explain and even partially predict student outcomes, they can be difficult to measure; typical survey instruments are lengthy and can be invasive of student privacy. To address this limitation, the present paper examines whether a much simpler survey can be used to understand student motivations and anticipate student outcomes.
The survey was administered to 347 students in an introductory Engineering Graphics and Design course. At the beginning of the first day of class, students were given a three-question, open-ended questionnaire that asked: âIn your own words, what do engineers do?â, âWhy did you choose engineering?â, and âWas there any particular person or experience that influenced your decision?â Two investigators independently coded the responses, identifying dozens of codes for both motivations for pursuing engineering and understanding of what it is. Five hypotheses derived from Dweckâs mindset theory7 and others8,9 were tested to determine if particular codes were predictive of first-semester GPA or first-year retention in engineering.
Codes that were positively and significantly associated with first-semester GPA included: explaining why engineers do engineering or how they do it, stating that engineers create ideas, visions, and theories, stating that engineers use math, science, physics or analysis, and expressing enjoyment of math and science, whereas expressing interest in specific technical applications or suggesting that engineers simplify and make life easier were negatively and significantly related to first-semester GPA.
Codes positively and significantly associated with first-year retention in engineering included: stating that engineers use math or that engineers design or test things, expressing enjoyment of math, science, or problem solving, and indicating any influential person who is an engineer. Codes negatively and significantly associated with retention included: citing an extrinsic motivation for pursuing engineering, stating that they were motivated by hearing stories about engineering, and stating that parents or family pushed the student to become an engineer.
Although many prior studies have suggested that student self-efficacy is related to retention,1,5 this study found that student interests were more strongly associated with retention. This finding is supported by Dweckâs mindset theory: students with a âgrowthâ mindset (e.g., âI enjoy mathâ) would be expected to perform better and thus be retained at a higher rate than those with a âfixedâ mindset (e.g., âI am good at mathâ).7 We were surprised that few students mentioned activities expressly designed to stimulate interest in engineering, such as robotics competitions and high school engineering classes. Rather, they cited general interests in math, problem solving, and creativity, as well as family influences, all factors that are challenging for the engineering education community to address.
These findings demonstrate that relative to its ease of administration, a five minute survey can indeed help to anticipate student performance and retention. Its minimalism enables easy implementation in an introductory engineering course, where it serves not only as a research tool, but also as a pedagogical aid to help students and teacher discover student perceptions about engineering and customize the curriculum appropriately
Developing a raster detector system with the J array processing language
All digital copying aims to reproduce an original image as faithfully as possible under certain constraints. In the past, image processing had to be implemented in hardware for performance reasons. Here, a 100% software solution is outlined. In order to find such a solution an appropriate methodology based on the array processing language J is used. Although J is ideal for prototyping such designs, its wider application is seriously hindered by the lack of awareness of array processing languages amongst engineers, and by the lack of available education in this language and methodology
Engineering at San Jose State University, Winter 2005
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/engr_news/1001/thumbnail.jp
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