USING PRAISE TO INCREASE VISUAL ATTENDING IN AN ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: AN EYE TRACKING STUDY

With the emergence of online courses in the mid-1990s, the number of students enrolled in online courses has been growing at an exponential rate (Schwirzke, Vashaw, & Watson, 2018). This trend brings with it new problems, such as familiarity with evidence-supported behavioral techniques that will maintain student engagement and improve likelihood of academic success in online learning environments. The purpose of the present study was to examine how the use of praise may affect visual engagement with video lectures with the assistance of commercially available eye tracking technology. A secondary objective of the study was to identify how praise affects performance on post-lecture knowledge assessments of information delivered through online videos. Results indicated that three out of four undergraduate participants were visually engaged with the video lecture more when provided praise than in the absence of praise, while the fourth participant showed ceiling effects. Results also indicated that praise did not have a significant effect on post-lecture knowledge assessment accuracy. These results indicate that praise may have utility in improving visual engagement in online learning environments and that inexpensive eye tracking technology may be useful for measuring visual engagement in these environments

Measurement with Persons: A European Network

The European ‘Measuring the Impossible’ Network MINET promotes new research activities in measurement dependent on human perception and/or interpretation. This includes the perceived attributes of products and services, such as quality or desirability, and societal parameters such as security and well-being. Work has aimed at consensus about four ‘generic’ metrological issues: (1) Measurement Concepts & Terminology; (2) Measurement Techniques: (3) Measurement Uncertainty; and (4) Decision-making & Impact Assessment, and how these can be applied specificallyto the ‘Measurement of Persons’ in terms of ‘Man as a Measurement Instrument’ and ‘Measuring Man.’ Some of the main achievements of MINET include a research repository with glossary; training course; book; series of workshops;think tanks and study visits, which have brought together a unique constellation of researchers from physics, metrology,physiology, psychophysics, psychology and sociology. Metrology (quality-assured measurement) in this area is relativelyunderdeveloped, despite great potential for innovation, and extends beyond traditional physiological metrology in thatit also deals with measurement with all human senses as well as mental and behavioral processes. This is particularlyrelevant in applications where humans are an important component of critical systems, where for instance health andsafety are at stake

Game-Based Learning, Gamification in Education and Serious Games

The aim of this book is to present and discuss new advances in serious games to show how they could enhance the effectiveness and outreach of education, advertising, social awareness, health, policies, etc. We present their use in structured learning activities, not only with a focus on game-based learning, but also on the use of game elements and game design techniques to gamify the learning process. The published contributions really demonstrate the wide scope of application of game-based approaches in terms of purpose, target groups, technologies and domains and one aspect they have in common is that they provide evidence of how effective serious games, game-based learning and gamification can be

The Use of Multiple Representations in Undergraduate Physics Education: What Do we Know and Where Do we Go from Here?

Using multiple representations (MR) such as graphs, symbols, diagrams, and text, is central to teaching and learning in physics classrooms. While different studies have provided evidence of the positive impact of the use of MR on physics learning, a comprehensive overview of existing literature on the use of MR in physics education, especially at the undergraduate level, is missing. This manuscript addresses this gap in the literature by reporting on the outcomes of a systematic review study that aimed to provide an overview of the existing knowledge base, to identify gaps in the knowledge base, and to propose future research about the use of MR in the context of undergraduate physics education. For the purpose of this study, we reviewed 24 empirical studies published between 2002 and 2019 in scientific, peer-reviewed journals in the context of undergraduate physics education. The outcomes of this review study are discussed under these themes (a) In what ways does the use of MR in instruction support student learning? (b) What kinds of representations do students use? (c) What difficulties do students face in using MR? (d) What is the relation between students’ use of MR and students’ problem-solving skills? and, (e) What is the added value of technology integration in teaching with MR? We identify gaps in the existing knowledge base, and we propose future research directions in these three areas: (a) Exploring the use of MR in university physics textbooks; (b) Blending of different kinds of MR; and, (c) The use of virtual reality applications