A Game Based Learning Design for Virtual Flipped Classrooms

Game-based learning and the flipped classroom method are relatively new approaches of engaging university students and enhancing their learning experience. A review of the literature shows that there are important areas that need to be further examined including how students’ self-reflection process can be supported in game-based learning and/or flipped classroom environments and the circumstances, under which these approaches are effective. This developmental paper presents a learning design that uses game-based learning and learning analytics to support a flipped classroom that runs fully online. The learning design will be used for the delivery of a Degree Apprenticeship module, offered by a UK Business School. The aim is to understand a) whether such approaches can be followed successfully online and b) whether the learning design can meet the needs of Degree Apprenticeship students. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the proposed methodology that will be followed to answer the above questions

Using the problem based learning method and educational technologies to teach open data: A design-based research approach

With Open Data becoming more popular and more public bodies publishing their datasets, the need for educating prospective graduates on how they can use them has become prominent. This study examines the use of the Problem Based Learning (PBL) method and educational technologies to support the development of Open Data skills in university students. The study follows a Design Based Research approach and consists of three phases: a) examination of stakeholders’ needs, b) design of an Open Data module, and c) re-design of the module based on the outcomes of its first run. The data collected throughout the three phases come from various sources, namely interviews with practitioners, focus groups with students, and tutors’ reflection. The findings suggest that while the PBL method is suitable for Open Data education, special care should be taken to ensure that the potential of educational technologies is fully realised. The study concludes with design principles that aim to guide instructors on how they can incorporate the PBL method and digital tools into Open Data education effectively

Enhancing education and training through data-driven adaptable games in flipped classrooms

The Flipped Classroom (FC) is a set of pedagogical approaches that move the information transmission out of class and exploit class time for active and/or peer learning activities. In this context, students are required to engage with pre- and/or post-class activities in order to prepare themselves for class work. The FC instruction method has already been used in conjunction with other learning strategies. This theoretical paper presents the first developmental steps of a research project, which aims at building the FC through a fully bespoke and personalized experience, by using data-driven adaptable games and problem-based learning elements to improve the learning experience. The project will develop a gaming platform that will support the whole FC in a cyclical perspective, and aims to use the resources of gamification in a more significant manner that could go beyond score tracking and badges. Moreover, the problem-based learning approach will be used to better frame the learning activities included in FCs, while learning analytics features will provide adaptable learning pathways. The potential of this approach is to build a better FC experience for all the stakeholders. Students will be given more agency to calibrate their learning experience, while educators can monitor the students’ progress more effectively and adjust their learning activities accordingly. Finally, researchers will get better insight into the FC learning process, and the mechanics, which contribute to optimize the learning experience

Collaborative Game Design for Learning: The Challenges of Adaptive Game-Based Learning for the Flipped Classroom

In recent years, game-based learning and gamification have increasingly been used within flipped classroom approaches. Many research showed that both approaches were efficient in conjunction in an active learning perspective. However, we observe that few games have been designed with use in the flipped classroom in mind, and there is therefore potential to improve the flipped classroom experience by approaching the development and integration of games with a more holistic and adaptive experience in mind. For that purpose, a focus group of educators was assembled for a pilot project and their educational practices, objectives and gaming experience analyzed. Following this investigation, co-constructed game design choices were made to try and develop a game that could support a variety of subjects and learning experience in the FC. Although the focus group answers showed that a fully adaptive gaming experience needed, for reasons of flexibility, to lean towards a gamified platform, the final design solution can have the potential to support fully the flipped classroom experience for any subject or class desired

Word Embeddings and Their Role in Synonym Ring Construction

During the past couple of months, I have been trying to come up with an efficient way of constructing synonym rings for query expansion in a library discovery system (i.e., the online search interface of a library). I am doing this because I was given a list of e-books on the subject of Digital Humanities (DH) with the purpose of making them more discoverable on KU Leuven Libraries’ discovery platform. In my previous blogpost, I described what synonym rings are, but simply put, you can think ..

DH Commons Fellowship Introduction: Creating Semantic Rings in the DH Sub-collection of E-books

If you had asked me a decade ago to describe a library, I would probably sketch a place where you can borrow books, find a quiet spot to study, or browse the Internet. This assumption changed when, in 2016, I joined the New York Public Library (NYPL) for an externship, supported by the Embassy of the United States in Athens. My assignment was to assist NYPL's TechConnect team in designing and promoting the coding classes that they were (and still are) offering to patrons throughout the city. ..

Examining the opportunities and challenges of using online flipped classrooms in Degree Apprenticeships

Degree Apprenticeships (DA) are relatively new programmes of study in the UK Higher Education that aim to help employees achieve a university degree and progress their career. While these programmes are quite promising in boosting regional economies and there is lot of research in the area of relevant policies, little is known about the pedagogical approaches that could be used to support this unique type of students. The current developmental paper reviews the literature in the area of Flipped Classroom (FC) and tries to understand whether such a model could be effective in the case of DA students, especially in a fully online environment. It concludes with an overview of a re-designed DA module that follows the online FC approach, along with suggestions about the methodology that can be used to answer the research question

Examining Students’ Perceptions on the Success of Open Data Education Based on PBL and Digital Technologies

With Open Data becoming more popular and more public bodies publishing their datasets, the need for educating citizens on how they can use them has become prominent. The current study is based on a pilot undergraduate module that aimed to facilitate the development of Open Data skills by students. The module used learning technologies (i.e. Moodle, Tableau) and followed a Problem Based Learning approach. A focus group methodology has been chosen in order to understand students' shared experience during the pilot. ‘Tutor guidance’, ‘Open Data and PBL skills’, and ‘use of learning technologies’ have emerged as the main themes from the preliminary analysis. While the students felt that they have gained various skills, they seemed unsure about their role in the PBL process and the importance of learning technologies