Games in Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources Education

Educational games provide learners with team-based, experiential, and problem-centered learning opportunities. Therefore, educational games are recommended to encourage learner success in an increasingly complex and collaborative world. Research exploring interventions to increase teacher affinity toward games is needed to inform expansion of games within classrooms. The current study leveraged the input, environment, and outcomes model to analyze perceptions of games held by school-based agriculture, food, and natural resources (AFNR) educators before and after a professional development experience focused on educational games. Results indicate teachers held a favorable perception of games before engaging in the professional development. Engagement in the professional development was related to only minimal increases in the perceptions held by teachers regarding educational games. Importantly, individual items within the construct illuminate an expanded view of educational games and their utility within AFNR classrooms as a result of the professional development experience. Specifically, respondents saw educational games as being valuable to engage learners in new content, not just as a review tool. Findings suggest a professional development experience related to games may help expand teacher conceptualizations of educational game utility. Specific recommendations are included to expand teacher understanding and use of educational games

Utilización en el aula de herramientas de gamificación para incrementar la motivación del alumnado por la asignatura Dirección de Operaciones del Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas

Para la mayoría del alumnado universitario las lecciones magistrales impartidas en el aula son tediosas, generándole una desmotivación traducida en su pasiva actitud. La distracción de los dispositivos móviles de comunicación que portan, cuando no los utilizan con fines educativos, empeora el problema. El resultado es su falta de compromiso con su aprendizaje, demostrado con la caída de asistentes a clase, y con la obtención de resultados académicos mediocres. Una posible solución es incorporar a las clases actividades lúdicas que, implementadas con las nuevas tecnologías ya presentes en la vida diaria, trasladen al ámbito educativo las bondades del juego. Durante el curso 2018/2019, y para mejorar la motivación y las calificaciones del alumnado de Dirección de Operaciones II, asignatura del cuarto curso del Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas de la Universidad de Cádiz, se gamificaron las clases impartidas en los Campus de Jerez de la Frontera y de Algeciras utilizando la app gratuita Kahoot! y los teléfonos móviles del alumnado. Aun existiendo otros muchos factores explicativos, la experiencia supuso notables mejoras respecto al curso 2017/2018, aumentando la motivación (el alumnado no presentado a examen descendió un 21,7%) y mejorando las calificaciones (la media de aprobados creció un 7,41%)

Play and Learn: Teachers’ Perceptions About Classroom Video Games

The use of video games to support learning in the classroom became popular over the last two decades. Even though games have proved to be successful not only to improve the learning outcomes but also skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, it is still a challenge to adapt them to the classroom routine. Issues such as the lack of video games that cover the school curriculum, limited time to cover curriculum content and lack of technological resources are some of the barriers that influence teachers’ decisions not to adopt video games. In order to look for solutions that may facilitate the implementation of classroom video games, we collected information of what teachers think about these games. Data was collected through a survey answered by 714 primary and secondary school teachers, which gathered participants’ demographic information and their perceptions about learning through video games. Using Logistic Regression and Decision Tree models, we identified factors that influence or inhibit the adoption of video games by teachers. The results suggest that the adoption of video games is influenced by students’ primary language (English or non-English speaking), motivational features of the video games, how the game relates to the curriculum and the pedagogical underpinning of the game. A significant group of teachers thinks games that are targeted for use in the classroom are pedagogically poorly designed and do not fit for purpose. Other barriers teachers face to using games in class are lack of time and lack of technological resources. These results are important as they indicate which features should be present in an educational game and how these games are used in classroom nowadays. Furthermore, identifying teachers’ opinions and the challenges they face in the classroom video games implementation allow developers and researchers to look for solutions that may facilitate this process

Juegos digitales y gamificación aplicados en el ámbito de la educación

Digital games and gamification strategies maintain players' attention, require them to solve problems, acquire new knowledge and learn new skills. Despite the considerable emotional investment, including frustration, players persist and educators have realised that they can also learn from the success of games and use game principles to 'gamify' learning activities.  It is not surprising then that the idea of incorporating digital games or gamification into the classroom has taken hold of teachers and researchers during last years. This monographic shows how digital games and gamification are be used in education, while also pointing out some related concerns.Los juegos digitales y las estrategias de gamificación mantienen la atención de los jugadores, les exigen que resuelvan problemas, adquieran nuevos conocimientos y aprendan nuevas habilidades. A pesar de la considerable inversión emocional, incluida la frustración, los jugadores persisten y los educadores se han dado cuenta de que también pueden aprender del éxito de los juegos y utilizar los principios del juego para "gamificar" las actividades de aprendizaje. No es de extrañar entonces que la idea de incorporar juegos digitales o gamificación en el aula se haya apoderado de profesores e investigadores durante los últimos años. Este monográfico muestra cómo se usan los juegos digitales y la gamificación en la educación, al tiempo que señala algunas preocupaciones relacionadas

Capítulo 12: Juego para la gerencia de mercadeo

Este proyecto busca el desarrollo de competencias de análisis en la toma de decisiones gerenciales, que permitan al estudiante comprender el mercado y plantear estrategias para el desarrollo de productos en una compañía. También pretende analizar el impacto en la asignación de precios a nivel de cobertura, participación de mercado, satisfacción del consumidor y rentabilización de una organización; por medio de un ambiente inmersivo que se desarrolla como estrategia didáctica en el Módulo de especialización Juego Gerencial. El diseño pedagógico de la experiencia de aprendizaje se centra en la toma adecuada de decisiones dentro de una organización en su área de mercadeo. Para ello, se propuso un “juego serio” como herramienta didáctica que acompañe el proceso de aprendizaje. Proceso donde el estudiante pueda proponer el desarrollo de un producto, asignarle un precio e interactuar en un mercado. El propósito central es que el estudiante pueda comprender la implicación de las decisiones tomadas frente a la aceptación o rechazo del producto por parte del mercado, y se convierta en una experiencia educativa práctica y memorable

Impact of pre-service teachers’ gaming behaviours on their confidence and competence in applying game-based learning approaches: implications for teacher educators

Despite the increased popularity of Game-based Learning (GBL), there is still a lack of empirical evidence supporting GBL as an approach and the need for ongoing research is widely advocated (Hainey et al., 2016). In particular, the area of teacher education in GBL is identified as an area of research that warrants increased attention. According to Foster, Shah & Duvall (2015), teachers’ in-ability to use GBL is compounded by the lack of teacher education or professional learning programmes that focus on developing teacher confidence and competence in adopting GBL, particularly at the pre-service level. Accepting the belief that pre-service teacher education has a strong influence on teachers’ use of technology in their practice (Hammond et al, 2009), and acknowledging that a significant variable in teacher acceptance and adoption of GBL in the classroom is the teacher’s own prior experience with gaming (Becker and Jacobsen 2005); this research investigates how pre-service teachers’ gameplay behaviours influenced their confidence and competence towards using GBL. It also examines the implications of pre-service teachers’ confidence and competence towards using GBL approaches for teacher educators and the design of pre-service teacher education programs in GBL

Embedding Information and Communication Technology across the curriculum – where are we at?

This article aims to deliberate the current position of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the English secondary (11–16) school curriculum. The arrival of a new National Curriculum Programme of Study in Computing, and a much greater emphasis placed on computing and computer science, potentially terminates ICT as a dedicated subject and an area of important and significant learning for our pupils. However, could this herald a new opportunity for schools to productively embed ICT across their curricula, thus allocating time for Computing to be developed as the fundamental subject it is required to be while still allowing essential ICT skills and capability to be taught? This article briefly considers historical United Kingdom (UK) approaches to cross-curricular ICT provision. It also presents, and draws some conclusions from, results of broad research investigating secondary teacher colleagues’ – and schools’ – ability, technical knowledge and capacity in promoting the successful delivery of a focused cross-curricular ICT programme for their pupils

Every Day You Are Improving: How College Students View the Educational Impact of World of Warcraft

The purpose of the study was to explore college students’ experiences with playing World of Warcraft (WoW) and their views on the application of WoW in educational settings. A qualitative case study design was used to interview three participants who were selected purposively from a Midwestern university. Findings revealed that players thought that playing WoW was fun, relaxing, motivating, but sometimes almost to the point of addiction. The findings also support student perceptions of generalization of teamwork, cooperating, socializing, academic skills, and time management skills learned and practiced in playing WoW to academic settings. Playing WoW games can provide an important link between the virtual world and the real world as players develop academic, time management, collaborative, and critical thinking skills

On motivational tools of gamification in higher education: Theoretical aspect

The digital turn in Russian education brings to the fore the problem of students' motivation, engagement and enjoyment. It is one of the most challenging problems inherent in all forms and levels of education, especially in e-learning. It can be partially solved through gamification. In foreign countries, gamification is a recognized technology having methodological and didactic advantages; it has been actively studied and used for many years. In Russia, this promising and popular technology has been addressed and started developing only recently. It should be noted that most studies on gamification (both Russian and foreign) tend to focus on its stimulus-response patterns without delving into its motivational capabilities underlying its efficiency. There is not enough understanding of the differences between external and internal motivations and their role in gamification to create a long-term and sustainable effect. Our research intends to make a theoretical contribution to this field. For this purpose, we look into gamification in terms of philosophical and cultural approaches and analyze motivation theories with regard to gamification. We will use the key concepts of philosophy of pragmatism and social phenomenology and the Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the flow theory and the Transactional analysis (TA) as a theoretical and methodological framework. The philosophical concepts that we took as a theoretical and methodological basis have never been used in gamification analysis. Thus, they represent scientific novelty of our research. Based on the research results, the authors substantiate the thesis that intrinsic motivation plays an essential (but not an exclusive!) role in gamification. It is game thinking that contributes to the formation of internal motivation, in contrast to the game mechanics ('points, badges and leaderboards'), which is focused on external motivation. Showed that gamification is quite a challenging technology; when it is used, priority attention should be given to maintaining the balance between its utilitarian (educational) and hedonic (recreational) functions. In gamification, as distinct from any games (real and digital), entertainment is a method rather than a purpose; forgetting this obvious fact is fraught with negative consequences. It is concluded that gamification should never be seen as a universal remedy. © 2020 LLC Ecological Help. All rights reserved

Juegos digitales en las aulas catalanas: el punto de vista de los profesores (2)

This paper explains the work that we have been doing since 2012 and related with what primary school teachers think about digital games in Catalan classrooms. The main objective is to discover and understand why teachers in general are not using it. While there is increasing research documenting the progress and outcomes of game- based learning and serious games, relatively little attention is paid to the real use of digital games in classrooms and the teachers perceptions. Depth interviews has been done with primary school teachers in order to have attitudes and teachers point of view. As a results of our work we present several teacher barriers to digital game use, for example, an absence of tecnics and generic tools for assessment “in” and “around” digital games.Postprint (published version