Learning about pain through observation: the role of pain-related fear

Observational learning may contribute to development and maintenance of pain-related beliefs and behaviors. The current study examined whether observation of video primes could impact appraisals of potential back stressing activities, and whether this relationship was moderated by individual differences in pain-related fear. Participants viewed a video prime in which back-stressing activity was associated with pain and injury. Both before and after viewing the prime, participants provided pain and harm ratings of standardized movements drawn from the Photograph of Daily Activities Scale (PHODA). Results indicated that observational learning occurred for participants with high levels of pain-related fear but not for low fear participants. Specifically, following prime exposure, high fear participants showed elevated pain appraisals of activity images whereas low fear participants did not. High fear participants appraised the PHODA-M images as significantly more harmful regardless of prime exposure. The findings highlight individual moderators of observational learning in the context of pain

IT EDUCATION IN TAIWAN: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-EFFICACY AND ACADEMIC INTEGRATION AMONG STUDENTS

This study examined the relationship between academic integration and self-efficacy with regard to institution types and students’ majors among IM (Information Management) and CS (Computer Science) students. A Taiwanese National survey database was used to achieve the research objective. MANOVA was used to analyze the interaction effects between academic integration and self-efficacy. The independent variables were institution types and students’ majors. The results showed that students of public institutions have higher levels of self-efficacy than students of private ones. Another finding is that IM students seem to have better study strategies and habits than CS students while CS students were found to have better collaboration and satisfaction with their institutions than IM students. Counselling services and team projects are suggested to enhance students levels of academic integration and self-efficacy

Evaluating Persuasion in a Digital Learning Environment

The massification of higher education has produced cohorts of students with varying motivation and ability to meet their academic potential. Providing individualised support is not always feasible for instructors as class sizes continue to grow, so this research evaluates the persuasive design of a digital learning environment (DLE) to address the aforementioned issue. A system with persuasive features called Task-Test-Monitor (TTM) was used by students for a semester at an Australian university. At the conclusion of the semester, students were surveyed on their experience of using the system. Results showed students were strongly in favour of using such a system to help them study, with a significant portion of respondents reporting that the system influenced how they studied. Educators and system designers can benefit from these findings by applying persuasive design principles used in this research in their own pedagogy or system designs

Teaching Business Process Management with Simulation in Graduate Business Programs: An Integrative Approach

Games offer people engaging and motivating experiences. The process of recreating this type of experience in systems that are not typically considered games is called “gamification.” Improving engagement and motivation in a learning environment is desired by many educators as traditional approaches do not seem to be as engaging as they once were with students. Hence, gamification may be a useful tool to improve the learning environment. As a precursor to the development of a game-like learning system, we survey 51 undergraduate IT students to obtain their perceptions on game elements, which are the building blocks of what makes a game identifiable as such. All game elements that were presented to the respondents were highly rated. It was found that undergraduate students have a positive perception of systems that use game elements and are interested in its use for learning. Overall, students favored social interaction, engagement, feedback, and increased learning, which suggests that gamification is particularly suited to learning approaches such as social constructivism. We suggest that future work should include the development of a prototype for a game-like educational system that helps to provide useful feedback for students about their learning progress

IMPROVING STUDY HABITS USING A BEHAVIOUR CHANGE FRAMEWORK INCORPORATING SOCIAL MOTIVATION AND GAMIFICATION

Students entering into their first year of university studies are subject to a jarring difference between the learning experiences of high school and university. High schools typically take a very structured approach to teaching whereas university expects students to take ownership of their learning. This dramatic shift often means students are not adequately prepared to form positive study habits on their own, or existing habits are likely to break down. Further complicating this issue is the rising popularity of video games and social networking amongst students. These two areas provide fun and engaging experiences for their users where traditional learning environments struggle to do so. In this research-in-progress paper, we propose a framework that can be used by instructors to improve learning environments so that their students are better engaged and encouraged to form positive study habits. The framework utilises a hybrid of the Transtheoretical model of behaviour change (TTM) and the SNAP model of motivation. Social networking and gamification are used as triggers that enable the process to occur. It is envisaged that this research will lead to instructors creating more effective learning environments with less effort, and making academic learning a more enjoyable pursuit for students

COMBINING THE FOGG BEHAVIOURAL MODEL AND HOOK MODEL TO DESIGN FEATURES IN A PERSUASIVE APP TO IMPROVE STUDY HABITS

Using technology to persuade people to behave in a certain way is an ever-increasing field of study. The ability to persuade individuals is quite clear in e-commerce, where individuals are persuaded to make purchasing decisions. However, it can also be applied to other disciplines, such as education where improving the study behaviour of students would be particularly useful. Forming good study habits can be a challenge for university students who have not done so in the earlier years of their education, or where the pressures of external commitments have eroded previously good habits. We use a combination of the Fogg Behavioural Model and the Hook model to design features for an app as a component of a larger persuasive system to help improve three key areas of study habits: study scheduling, class preparation and group study. The app will be built and tested in a university setting targeting undergraduate students

Not “Just” an Undergrad: Undergraduate Journals as a Portal to Participating in Academic Discourse Communities

This essay examines a case study that investigated how students learned and how they applied their writing skills as they pursued publication in an undergraduate scientific journal at a Canadian university. As we conducted a genre analysis of student drafts submitted to the journal and interviewed students who published in the journal’s inaugural year, we noted the desire and eagerness that students had to publish at the undergraduate level. We also noticed certain barriers to students fully participating in research for their discourse communities, including challenges accessing publication opportunities and revising their work for new audiences and contexts. Undergraduate journals offer a tremendous space for them to hone a variety of skills in a supportive environment while also taking the first steps to fully participating in scholarly practice

Technology education in secondary schools

The author outlines his background and refers to current relevant attitudes. He considers changes which have influenced the curriculum for manufacturing in resilient materials in schools. The word technology is currently in common use. Having examined a range of sources for common themes, the author synthesises a definition and examines some implications. He uses the example of the development of the electronic computer to illustrate the difference between science and technology before arguing that 'new technology', in schools, properly belongs within the framework of 'Craft Design & Technology' (CDT). Using references from industry, education and elsewhere, he describes the process of designing and upholds its predominance as a skill to be fostered. Arising from its cyclic nature are implications for the assessment of performance. As labour saving devices, windmills and robots are widely separated by time but both require control and the author seeks to explore this link. The components of control are also identifiable in the work of pupils over many years. He contrasts industrial robots with those of their prophets. The need far a review of the education service was established in 1976. The consequent chain of political initiatives in Britain is described highlighting the nature of politics. He considers a case history when those who 'do' become championed by those who would have it done’. Durham Local Education Authority's progress in CDT in-service training is described and the world of 'lower school' technology is explored by considering both pupil and updated teacher. The author describes industrial reality and intimates a curriculum possibility - the design, by lower school pupils, of automatic systems. He sees the computer in the CDT curriculum both as design tool and as part of solutions to human needs