Exploring the impact of the ‘RUEU?’ game on Greek students’ perceptions of and attitudes to European identity

European identity is a complex, multi-faced and inherently imprecise concept relating to a range of socio-political and psychological factors. Addressing this topic in educational practice, particularly with respect to Higher Education students, constitutes a complex and open problem for research. This paper reports on an experimental study designed to explore the effectiveness of the educational game “RUEU?” in supporting university students in understanding the key socio-political issues regarding European identity. Quantitative data regarding Greek university students’ (N = 92) attitudes to European identity, before and after playing the game, were collected. Students’ performance of the game group (N = 46) was compared with that of a control group (N = 46) who explored the same issues about European identity through a tutor-guided discussion. The findings showed that both instructional interventions were effective but in different ways. The participants in the game-based group appeared more attached to the EU after the intervention and moved toward a more balanced description of their Greek and European identity. On the other hand, the students in the control group rated higher what “European identity” and being EU citizen means to them. The findings indicated the potential of game-based interventions to deliver not only academic content but also to promote students’ reflection and influence them at an attitudinal and emotional level

Assessing the Role of Computer Simulation in Chemistry Learning

Simulation and Computation make a versatile teaching strategy, and may be an important way to motivate students and lecturers to achieve meaningful learning. Indeed, this work refers to a study whose main objective is to set the influence that a teaching approach based on the use of computer simulation would have on students’ learning, compared to the one in use today. This work involved the participation of two classes of 11th grade at a Secondary School in Lisbon, Portugal, where the main goal is to teach a specific topic to an untried student’s group. With regard to the simulation environment, it will be grounded on a Proof Theoretical approach to Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, which caters for the handling of incomplete, unknown or even self-contradictory information or knowledge

Analysing interactions in a teacher network forum: a sociometric approach

This article presents the sociometric analysis of the interactions in a forum of a social network created for the professional development of Portuguese-speaking teachers. The main goal of the forum, which was titled Stricto Sensu, was to discuss the educational value of programmes that joined the distance learning model in Brazil. The empirical study focused on the sociometrie analysis of the social interactions that take place in asynchronous online environments. This approach, according to literature, allows for new means to observe, analyse, and interpret the reality of a new social paradigm. This type of analysis tries to understand the relationship established between the different actors, seeking to verify if the roles they play in both the access to information and the construction of shared knowledge. The data collected allow the researchers to deduce that the indicators used in the analysis are important for understanding and intervening in the dynamics and functioning of the network to propose improvements in its structure and organisation. In the specific case of the aforementioned discussion forum, the results of the sociometrie analysis of the perceived interactions were not surprising, considering that the nature of the topic did not demand deep reflection to contribute to the debate.This work is funded by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the doctoral grant SFRH/BD/60677/2009

Self-directed learning in e-portfolios: Analysing students’ performance and learning presence

E-portfolios constitute a dynamic research topic in e-learning, since they foster a new philosophy for learning and personal development, which is characterised by open, participatory, self-directed, reflective and collaborative processes. This paper presents an investigation on students’ learning presence in a blended post-graduate course, designed to promote self-directed learning through e-portfolio activities. The theoretical foundations and the key dimensions of e-portfolio learning activities are outlined, i.e. students’ construction, reflection and collaboration. Following are presented the organizational and the analysis framework of students’ self-directed learning and constructive activities within the e-portfolio. Combining both, descriptive analysis and Social Network Analysis of the research data, we have revealed important information regarding individual performance and students’ learning presence, interaction and collaboration among participants as well as the overall operation of the e-portfolio community

Self-directed learning in e-portfolios: Analysing students’ performance and learning presence

E-portfolios constitute a dynamic research topic in e-learning, since they foster a new philosophy for learning and personal development, which is characterised by open, participatory, self-directed, reflective and collaborative processes. This paper presents an investigation on students’ learning presence in a blended post-graduate course, designed to promote self-directed learning through e-portfolio activities. The theoretical foundations and the key dimensions of e-portfolio learning activities are outlined, i.e. students’ construction, reflection and collaboration. Following are presented the organizational and the analysis framework of students’ self-directed learning and constructive activities within the e-portfolio. Combining both, descriptive analysis and Social Network Analysis of the research data, we have revealed important information regarding individual performance and students’ learning presence, interaction and collaboration among participants as well as the overall operation of the e-portfolio community