Supporting Teachers in the Gamification Process of Learning Situations

La inclusión de elementos típicos de los videojuegos en entornos de aprendizaje (i.e. gamificación) está actualmente reportanto beneficios educativos como el aumento de la motivación e involucración de los estudiantes en la realización de actividades de aprendizaje. Dada la dificultad de los docentes para la creación de situaciones de aprendizaje gamificadas, algunos autores han propuesto herramientas de autoría que permiten gamificar situaciones de aprendizaje. Sin embargo, actualmente existe un salto entre los sistemas propuestos para la creación de actividades gamificadas y las herramientas existentes que típicamente usan los docentes, como son entornos de aprendizaje virtual (VLEs) (e.g. Moodle), herramientas Web 2.0 (e.g. Google Drive), clientes móviles de realidad aumentada (e.g. Junaio), o globos terráqueos virtuales 3D (e.g. Google Earth). Por eso, este Trabajo Fin de Máster pretende ayudar a los profesores en el proceso de creación de situaciones de aprendizaje gamificadas. Para ello: (i) Se explora la literatura existente sobre gamificación; (ii) Se propone una arquitectura y un modelo de datos que permita la creación de situaciones gamificadas formadas por herramientas existentes de los tipos señalados (VLEs, herramientasWeb 2.0, clientes móviles RA, globos terráqueos virtuales 3D); (iii) Se desarrolla un prototipo que implementa la arquitectura y el modelo de datos propuestos; (iv) Se realiza una prueba de concepto del prototipo. Como base para el trabajo, se parte del sistema GLUEPS-AR. Este sistema permite completar el diseño educativo y desplegar situaciones de aprendizaje con las características descritas previamente, pero su capacidad de gamificación es limitada.Departamento de Teoría de la Señal y Comunicaciones e Ingeniería TelemáticaMáster en Investigación en Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicacione

Creating Engaging Experiences in MOOCs through In-Course Redeemable Rewards

Gamification strategies have been proposed to mitigate student disengagement and dropouts in massive online environments, due to the positive results shown by these strategies at lower scales. Among various gamification strategies, redeemable rewards have been identified as an effective element to intrinsically motivate students and increase their engagement in educational settings, including MOOCs. Yet, effective design, implementation and enactment of this gamification strategy in MOOC contexts might face new challenges, given the unique characteristics of these learning settings such as massiveness. As an attempt to help teachers use redeemable rewards in MOOCs, this paper analyzes the characteristics of MOOCs that influence its integration and presents a proposal of a system supporting the design, implementation and enactment of such rewards. The envisioned system is illustrated by a scenario that describes the main features of this system for teachers and students.This research has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, under project grants TIN2014-53199-C3-2-R and TIN2017-85179-C3-2-R, and the Regional Goverment of Castilla y Leo ́n together with the European Regional Development Fund, under project grant VA082U16. The authors thank the rest of the GSIC-EMIC research team for their valuable ideas and support

Aprendizaje colaborativo en entornos híbridos: dos casos en Interacción Persona-Ordenador

Las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) pueden ser muy eficaces para apoyar el trabajo en grupo, pero presentan limitaciones cuando se trata de actividades de aprendizaje colaborativo en entornos híbridos, en los que hay interacción síncrona entre estudiantes y profesorado in situ y a distancia. En este trabajo se describe un diseño de aprendizaje para Interacción Persona-Ordenador basado en el patrón jigsaw y su implementación en dos actividades de aprendizaje híbridas apoyadas por TIC. Se presentan los resultados de un estudio sobre la percepción del alumnado y profesorado acerca de ambas implementaciones. De este estudio se extrae una serie de retos por resolver para que el potencial de las TIC sea aprovechado en el apoyo al aprendizaje colaborativo en entornos híbridos.Information and communication technologies (ICT) can be very effective in supporting group work, but have limitations when it comes to collaborative learning activities in hybrid environments,understood as those in where there is synchronous interaction between students and faculty in situ and at a distance. This paper describes a learning design for Human-Computer Interaction based on the jigsaw pattern and its implementation in two hybrid learning activities supported by ICT. The results of a study on the perception of students and teachers about both implementations are presented. From this study, a series of challenges to be solved is extracted so that the potential of ICT is used to support collaborative learning in hybrid environments.Esta investigación es parte del proyecto de I+D+i PID2020-112584RB-C32 financiado por MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033

Understanding student behavior and perceptions toward earning badges in a gamified MOOC

Producción CientíficaDespite the advantages of MOOCs, such as the open and free access to education, these courses are criticized for students’ lack of motivation and their high dropout rates. Gamification is a technique used to increase student motivation and engagement in small-scale educational contexts. However, the effects of gamification on student engagement have been scarcely explored in MOOC environments, and the findings so far are inconsistent. To address this gap, this research work examines the students’ behavior toward earning badges and how it relates to their engagement in a gamified MOOC. According to the results, the behaviors toward badges of the active students were generally positive and significantly correlated with other variables measuring their engagement (e.g., pageviews, submitted tasks, forum posts), although this positive behavior seems to decrease throughout the course. Additionally, students that reported high motivation by badges at the end of the course showed a higher engagement level than those that were not appealed by badges.European Regional Development Fund, under project grants TIN2014-53199-C3-2-R and TIN2017-85179-C3-2-RJunta de Castilla y León (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación - Ref. Project VA082U16 and VA257P18)European Commission, under project grant 588438-EPP-1-2017-1-EL-EPPKA2-KA

To reward and beyond: Analyzing the effect of reward-basedstrategies in a MOOC

Producción CientíficaDespite the benefits of MOOCs (e.g., open access to education offered by prestigious universities), the low level of student engagement remains as an important issue causing massive dropouts in such courses. The use of reward-based gamification strategies is one approach to promote student engagement and prevent dropout. However, there is a lack of solid empirical studies analyzing the effects of rewards in MOOC environments. This paper reports a between-subjects design study conducted in a MOOC to analyze the effects of badges and redeemable rewards on student retention and engagement. Results show that the implemented reward strategies had not significant effect on student retention and behavioral engagement measured through the number of pageviews, task submissions, and student activity time. However, it was found that learners able to earn badges and redeemable rewards participated more in gamified tasks than those learners in the control group. Additionally, results reveal that the participants in the redeemable reward condition requested and earned earlier the rewards than those participants in the badge condition. The potential implications of these findings in the instructional design of future gamified MOOCs are also discussed.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (projects TIN2017-85179-C3-2-R / TIN2014-53199-C3-2-R)Junta de Castilla y León (project VA257P18)European Commission (project 588438-EPP-1-2017-1-EL- EPPKA2-KA

GamiSpace: una plataforma de juegos abierta y configurable con soporte para analíticas

El uso de juegos en el ámbito educativo ha mostrado potenciales beneficios para los estudiantes universitarios, incluyendo una mayor implicación y motivación para con sus asignaturas y contenidos. Sin embargo, la creación, adaptación y monitorización de estos juegos por parte de los docentes se ha identificado como una limitación para su uso y adopción. Este trabajo presenta una plataforma de juegos serios (GamiSpace) que permite a los docentes añadir, configurar, eliminar y ocultar juegos, pudiendo ser utilizada por diferentes asignaturas simultáneamente. La plataforma incorpora una API que permite recopilar analíticas de la interacción de los estudiantes con los juegos (game analytics). De esta manera, los docentes pueden monitorizar la participación y la progresión de los estudiantes de una forma menos intrusiva, y usar esa información para el diseño de sus clases. Finalmente, la plataforma también permite la configuración de competiciones individuales o por equipos, pudiendo fomentar así la colaboración/competición entre los estudiantes. La plataforma, junto con una serie de juegos instalados en ella, ha sido evaluada en la asignatura de Fundamentos de Programación del Grado en Ingeniería Informática de una universidad española, obteniendo resultados prometedores para su uso en otras asignaturas.The use of serious games in the educational landscape has shown potential benefits for university students, including a higher engagement and motivation with the learning activities. However, creating, adapting and monitoring these serious games have been identified as an important drawback for teachers, hindering its use and adoption. This paper presents a digital platform for hosting educational games (GamiSpace) that enables teachers to add, configure, hide and remove games. The platform can be used simultaneously by multiple teachers from different areas, each of them with their own configurations. The platform has an API that permits the collection of game analytics, thus enabling the monitoring of students’ progress and participation. This information can be used by the teachers to better adapt the design of their classes. Finally, the platform allows the configuration of individual and group-based challenges to Foster students’ collaboration and/or competition. The platform and a set of built-in games have been evaluated in a course on “Programming Fundamentals” of the Bs. of Computer Science, obtaining promising results for its use in other courses

Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST) and its relationship with germline mutations

We present the case of a 38-year-old man with a history of abdominal paraganglioma 10 years ago, who consulted for hematemesis and asthenia of 5 days' evolution. An upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed where a raised submucosal lesion, about 2 cm, with ulceration on its surface, was observed at the corporal-antral junction. The CT scan revealed nodular thickening of the gastric wall at the level of the lesser curvature. After the resolution of his hematemesis, it was decided to intervene on the patient, performing a partial gastrectomyUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Oligodendrocyte metabolism throughout its differentiation: immunocytochemistry study and its impact in remyelination

Introduction: Oligodendrocytes (OL) role in demyelinating pathologies such as multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases is only recently being subject of extensive research. While the genetic and molecular aspects have been thoroughly studied, their metabolism was overshadowed. In order to develop new therapies to promote remyelination of already damaged axons, we need to accurately describe how OL metabolism affects axon myelination and trophic support (1). The objective of this study is to obtain cytological evidence of the extent of both glycolytic metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation by immunocytochemistry throughout the development of OL. Methods: Oligodendroglia cells from post-natal mice cortices were obtained and cultured. A wide assortment of differentiation-stage-specific cell surface antigens, a glycolytic and an oxidative phosphorylation marker were combined in several immunofluorescences to study both metabolic pathways in each step of differentiation. Results: After analysing them under confocal microscopy and imaging software, we observed a constant upregulation of glycolytic metabolism throughout differentiation, while oxidative phosphorylation seemed to increase with differentiation to then decrease when oligodendrocytes achieved their final maturation stage. Conclusions: Therefore, oxidative phosphorylation may be crucial in the differentiation of precursors and glycolysis would thus be the preferred metabolic pathway for fully matured OL. [1] Rosko L. et al. Neuroscientist. 2019;25(4):334–43.Supported by UMA and IBIMA and funding from two ongoing projects: - ‘Modulation of oligodendrocyte metabolism via blood vessel remodelling as target to promote remyelination’ (funding by NEURATRIS). - ‘Blood vessel remodelling modulates remyelination by oligodendrocyte metabolic reprogramming’ (funding by Arsep Foundation). Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

A Predictive Model and Risk Factors for Case Fatality of COVID-19

This study aimed to create an individualized analysis model of the risk of intensive care unit (ICU) admission or death for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients as a tool for the rapid clinical management of hospitalized patients in order to achieve a resilience of medical resources. This is an observational, analytical, retrospective cohort study with longitudinal follow-up. Data were collected from the medical records of 3489 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 using RT-qPCR in the period of highest community transmission recorded in Europe to date: February-June 2020. The study was carried out in in two health areas of hospital care in the Madrid region: the central area of the Madrid capital (Hospitales de Madrid del Grupo HM Hospitales (CH-HM), n = 1931) and the metropolitan area of Madrid (Hospital Universitario Príncipe de Asturias (MH-HUPA) n = 1558). By using a regression model, we observed how the different patient variables had unequal importance. Among all the analyzed variables, basal oxygen saturation was found to have the highest relative importance with a value of 20.3%, followed by age (17.7%), lymphocyte/leukocyte ratio (14.4%), CRP value (12.5%), comorbidities (12.5%), and leukocyte count (8.9%). Three levels of risk of ICU/death were established: low-risk level (20%). At the high-risk level, 13% needed ICU admission, 29% died, and 37% had an ICU-death outcome. This predictive model allowed us to individualize the risk for worse outcome for hospitalized patients affected by COVID-19

ECO D2.5 Learning analytics requirements and metrics report

In MOOCs, learning analytics have to be addressed to the various types of learners that participate. This deliverable describes indicators that enable both teachers and learner to monitor the progress and performance as well as identify whether there are learners at risk of dropping out. How these indicators should be computed and displayed to end users by means of dashboards is also explained. Furthermore a proposal based on xAPI statements for storing relevant data and events is provided.Part of the work carried out has been funded with support from the European Commission, under the ICT Policy Support Programme, as part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) in the ECO project under grant agreement n° 21127