Making games in the classroom: Benefits and gender concerns

This paper argues that making computer games as part of a classroom project can develop a range of new media storytelling, visual design and audience awareness skills. This claim is supported by data from the evaluation of a six week game making project in a state funded primary school in which 11–12 year old learners made their own computer games using software called Adventure Author. The paper reports on analysis of the games produced by the children and documents the range of new media storytelling skills used as well as examining how the pupils responded to peer reviews of their games. In light of concerns raised in the literature that girls may be disadvantaged by classroom games projects, it investigates whether there are gender differences in the game making skills displayed by the learners. The results of the study indicate that girls' games score more highly than boys', particularly on skills relating to storytelling.     

The role of design and enactment patterns in orchestration: Helping to integrate technology in blended classroom ecosystems

Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) researchers have been using the word ‘orchestration’ for a number of different reasons in the last years. From this variety of meanings in which it is employed, the notion of orchestration emerges as the appropriation and integration of the different available technologies in classroom practice. This paper introduces the role of patterns (i.e., recurrent solutions to common problems) and other researcher artifacts (e.g., representations of orchestration) in developing both new educational technologies and interventions that are easier to appropriate/integrate. We also discuss other open questions around orchestration, which are still being discussed in the TEL community.     

Component-aware orchestration of cloud-based enterprise applications,from TOSCA to Docker and Kubernetes

Enterprise IT is currently facing the challenge of coordinating the management of complex, multicomponent applications across heterogeneous cloud platforms. Containers and container orchestrators provide a valuable solution to deploy multicomponent applications over cloud platforms, by coupling the lifecycle of each application component to that of its hosting container. We hereby propose a solution for going beyond such a coupling, based on the OASIS standard TOSCA and on Docker. We indeed propose a novel approach for deploying multicomponent applications on top of existing container orchestrators, which enables managing each component independently from the container used to run it. We also present prototype tools that implement our approach, and we show how we effectively exploited them to carry out a concrete case study.     

Container-based cluster orchestration systems: A taxonomy and future directions

Containers, enabling lightweight environment and performance isolation, fast and flexible deployment, and fine-grained resource sharing, have gained popularity in better application management and deployment in addition to hardware virtualization. They are being widely used by organizations to deploy their increasingly diverse workloads derived from modern-day applications such as web services, big data, and internet of things in either proprietary clusters or private and public cloud data centers. This has led to the emergence of container orchestration platforms, which are designed to manage the deployment of containerized applications in large-scale clusters. These systems are capable of running hundreds of thousands of jobs across thousands of machines. To do so efficiently, they must address several important challenges including scalability, fault tolerance and availability, efficient resource utilization, and request throughput maximization among others. This paper studies these management systems and proposes a taxonomy that identifies different mechanisms that can be used to meet the aforementioned challenges. The proposed classification is then applied to various state-of-the-art systems leading to the identification of open research challenges and gaps in the literature intended as future directions for researchers.     

基于翻转课堂的双语教学法在程序设计课程的应用探讨

当前社会要求计算机专业毕业生具备较强动手能力和自学能力,掌握世界最新技术。双语教学能有效培养学生的外语运用水平,提高学生的科学研究能力。但由于学生英文能力所限,双语教学往往难以达到预设目标。翻转课堂的提出有利于解决这个问题。翻转课堂重新构建学习流程,能发挥学生的自主学习能力,激发学生兴趣,培养学生积极思考的学习习惯,提高学生动手能力和自学能力,更适合培养高素质的应用人才,适应当前社会对计算机人才的要求。讨论基于翻转课堂的双语教学方法在程序设计课程的应用方法,分析在双语教学课程中应用翻转课堂教学模式应注意的问题和具体实施方法。     

Edge-cloud orchestration driven industrial smart product-service systems solution design based on CPS and IIoT

The rapid booming of advanced information and communication technologies (ICT) has promoted an encouraging smart, connected product (SCP) market that further triggers the development of manufacturing towards the servitization proposition, viz. smart product-service systems (PSS). Smart PSS aims to provide a solution (product-service) with high satisfaction and less environmental influence by leveraging SCP as the media tool. Its solution design should not just focus on the physical world nor only be enabled by the cloud side, while the cyber world and the edge side must be included in the Industry 4.0. However, only few current researches investigate about the smart PSS, let alone an overall cyber-physical and edge-cloud discussion to support its solution design. In order to fill this gap, this work proposes an edge-cloud orchestration driven solution design based on the cyber-physical systems (CPS) and industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). To make our ideas concrete, a real-life milling process was conducted as an illustrative example. It is hoped that this study can furnish industrial enterprises with meaningful sights in the process of servitization and value co-creation.     

The hybrid course: Merging on-line instruction and the traditional classroom

The efficacy of on-line learning environments has received considerable attention in recent years. Generally, researchers have found little impact of virtual learning environments on learning outcomes. With a few exceptions, however, these studies have focused upon distance learning courses where students enter the course without expectations of significant amounts of face-to-face contact with the instructor(s). Information technology, and particularly Web-based multimedia, increasingly offers opportunities to transfer content delivery and other associated activities from face-to-face settings to on-line venues. However, in order for this transference of content and process to be effective in courses recognized as face-to-face courses, students must find the virtual environment appealing. They must also achieve learning outcomes at least as high as those achieved in traditional class settings. The research reported upon herein demonstrates the utility of on-line learning environments in traditional classes both as an efficient means for executing activities previously tethered to the classroom setting and as a means to allow the pursuit of higher levels of learning. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Understanding mobile technology-fit behaviors outside the classroom

An increase in mobile device usage among college students has been documented in different countries. We provide a solid theoretical and empirical foundation for mobile learning in the context of distance education, and more guidance in terms of how to utilize emerging mobile technologies and to integrate them into their teaching more effectively. This research focuses on a deeper understanding of how learners use mobiles as learning tools outside the classroom. Our results are based on a specific population drawn from two different countries, in which the US (United States) population reflected students from the education field, while the students from Israel are drawn more from the engineering and science fields. The findings of this study contribute to the generalizations to the education field and information system designers who need to analyze and design mobile-learning (m-learning) applications to be used outside the classroom.     

Examining the relation between domain-related communication and collaborative inquiry learning

Research suggests that providing others with elaborated explanations is more beneficial for learning than receiving explanations (e.g., Webb, 1989). Applied to chat communication in a collaborative inquiry learning environment, we would expect that in a dyad learners with more domain-related contributions than their partners would learn more. In the paper we develop a method to examine the relation between domain-related chats and learning outcome for intuitive knowledge. We describe how we automatically extract domain-related messages, and score them based on domain-orientedness. The analysis confirms that there is a positive relation between a high score on domain-related chats and the learning improvement as measured by the difference between a post-test and a pre-test on intuitive knowledge.     

Examining the impact of off-task multi-tasking with technology on real-time classroom learning

The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of multi-tasking with digital technologies while attempting to learn from real-time classroom lectures in a university setting. Four digitally-based multi-tasking activities (texting using a cell-phone, emailing, MSN messaging and Facebook™) were compared to 3 control groups (paper-and-pencil note-taking, word-processing note-taking and a natural use of technology condition) over three consecutive lectures. Comparisons indicated that participants in the Facebook™ and MSN conditions performed more poorly than those in the paper-and-pencil use control. Follow-up analyses were required to accommodate the substantial number of students who failed to comply with the limited use of technology specified by their assigned conditions. These analyses indicated that participants who did not use any technologies in the lectures outperformed students who used some form of technology. Consistent with the cognitive bottleneck theory of attention (Welford, 1967) and contrary to popular beliefs, attempting to attend to lectures and engage digital technologies for off-task activities can have a detrimental impact on learning.     

Modeling teachers' influence on learners' self-directed use of technology for language learning outside the classroom

Teachers are important social agents who shape the quantity and quality of students' self-directed use of technology for learning outside the classroom. This study aimed to model the influence of teacher behaviors on learners' self-directed technology use. A conceptual model of three types of teacher support (affection support, capacity support and behavior support) that were reported to influence students' self-directed technology use for learning outside the classroom was generated based on interviews with 15 undergraduate foreign language learners. One hundred and sixty undergraduate foreign language learners were then surveyed to test the conceptual model. The path analysis of the survey data suggested that affection support influenced learner self-directed technology use through strengthened perceived usefulness, and that capacity support and behavior support influenced learner self-directed technology use through enhanced facilitating conditions and computer self-efficacy. The research findings highlight the importance of raising teachers' awareness of the different roles they can play and of enhancing their abilities to perform a combination of the roles to promote learner self-directed use of technology for learning outside the classroom.     

The influence of individual espoused cultural values on self-directed use of technology for language learning beyond the classroom

Students' use of technology for learning beyond the classroom is critical to maximizing the educational potential of technology, and understanding factors that affect learners' adoption of technology is critical. This study examined the influence of individual espoused cultural values on learners' voluntary technology adoption in informal learning contexts. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model of the direct and moderating effects of espoused cultural values on learners' self-directed use of technology for learning beyond the classroom, based on the survey responses of 661 foreign language learners from three countries/regions. The study found strong direct effects but weak moderating effects of cultural values. It further found that long-term orientation and uncertainty avoidance were two individual-level cultural value orientations that played important roles in the voluntary adoption of technology for self-directed learning beyond the classroom.     

Dialogic teaching and iPads in the EAP classroom

Mobile learning technology in the form of iPads has gained considerable attention recently in the literature on pedagogy and learning. This has led to a change in the roles of teachers and students, and the nature of the classroom interaction. What is not clear so far however, is how iPads have changed the nature of classroom talk and dialogic teaching. The present study aimed to examine the impact of iPad use on the opportunities for dialogic teaching in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classes in an English medium university in the United Arab Emirates. The study reveals that although opportunities for dialogic teaching are both created and inhibited in classes utilizing the iPads, the most influential contributor to opportunities and restrictions lies depends on whether the teachers and students have adopted a dialogic stance. The study also revealed the need to examine dialogic teaching within the specific sociocultural and educational context of learning.     

Embedded blended learning within an Algebra classroom: a multimedia capture experiment

This two‐group, pretest‐posttest, quasi‐experimental study compared secondary students' learning of Algebra II materials over a 4‐week period when identical instruction by the same teacher was delivered through either embedded blended learning (treatment group; n = 32) or a live‐lecture classroom (control group; n = 24). For both groups, instruction was delivered in a normal classroom setting. A math test and a student survey were used to measure students' learning of Algebra II and satisfaction with the instruction. Students in the treatment group showed significantly greater gains in Algebra II test scores and evaluated their learning experiences significantly more positively than did the control group. The great majority (80%) of students in the treatment group preferred the embedded blended learning over traditional live lectures for future learning of math. Students' responses to open‐ended survey questions suggested that students in the treatment group appreciated the: (a) ability to control the pace of instruction; (b) new role of the classroom teacher; (c) lack of distraction in the blended learning environment; and (d) accessibility of the embedded multimedia lessons outside the classroom. This study suggests that screen‐capture instructional technology can be used towards establishing a teacher‐based, embedded blended learning environment within a secondary algebraic classroom.     

Teacher education for using microcomputers in the classroom: generic skills to think about

Abstract  My purpose is to talk about the generic skills a teacher should master to take best advantage and get the most fruitful pedagogical results from the use of microcomputers in the classroom. Yet, the organization of teacher training differs from country to country so that it is difficult to imagine a single way to prepare a teacher for these skills. So, I intend to address my topic in terms of what I think should be known by a teacher instead of in terms of what should be taught through a specific curriculum.
There is another reason for me to avoid talking formally about pre-service and in-service education. Four years ago, Quebec's Ministry of Education launched a plan of action for the pedagogical use of the computer in the classroom and we have gone through quite an evolution in our vision of how teacher training should be organized. We are still wondering whether what we do in that respect is a final picture of what ought to be done. I shall then speak more from the empirical evidence of our action plan than from established scientific proofs.     

主题探究性学习网站建设的探索与实践

网络信息技术的不断发展和信息技术与学科的不断整合,逐渐为教育教学工作提供了信息化发展的空间,为学生自主学习、协作学习、探究学习提供了强有力的保障。特别是主题探究性学习网站的出现,无疑给学科教学注入了新的活力。本文结合初中语文学科主题网站建设的实际,认为探究性学习主题网站具有主题性、真实性、针对性的特征;网络环境下的探究性学习网站建设应该遵循科学性、主体性、实用性、整合性、创造性的原则;从资源建设框架的构思与设计、资源的收集、资源的设计、整理与网站形成三个方面对创作方法进行了阐述,并总结了实践中的深刻体会。     

Mismatch between classroom furniture and anthropometric measures of university students

The appropriate design of tools, equipment and accessories for human body sizes, while meeting the social, cultural, economic and psychological needs of people, provides maximum benefit. This is crucial for students who spend most of their time using school furniture. The aim of the study is to investigate the mismatch between school furniture dimensions and students’ anthropometric measures. Nine anthropometric measures were taken of 225 students (68 female and 157 male) from nine departments of an engineering faculty using a specially designed measurement tool. The mismatch percentages between the existing classroom furniture dimensions and the anthropometric measures were determined using some well-known criterion equations. The results indicated a considerable mismatch: 44.45% for seat height, 100% for seat depth, and 21.28% for desk height. Two types of proposed classroom furniture achieved much higher percentage matches. The match percentages were above 70% for four dimensions for type A and above 95%, except for seat height and width of backrest, for all of the dimensions for both types.Relevance to industryThis study helps in establishing and motivating necessary further studies in classroom ergonomics in university settings.     

探索网络环境下的教学模式

信息技术突飞猛进发展的今天,跨时空、大信息量、交互性和个性化是网络环境下教学模式的优势;丰富的信息资源和方便的获取方式是网络环境下教学模式的特征;能够适应网络环境下的教学模式、能参与网络教学的优秀教师是促进网络环境下的教学模式发展的关键。     

Using digital technologies to redress inequities for English language learners in the English speaking mathematics classroom

This study examined the question, ‘What is the impact of a digital math intervention on secondary ELL students’ mathematical capabilities and perceptions of their future possibilities?’ The hypothesis was that through its direct effect on increasing students’ math ability and its indirect effect on increasing students’ perceived math self-efficacy, the digital intervention affects students’ perceptions of their functionings and future possibilities. A path analysis, with qualitative data nested into the design, was used to analyze the conceptualized relationships. The study was conducted with 50 ninth-and-10th-grade Hispanic students in a Colorado high school, over 6 months. The primary finding was that through its direct effect on increasing students’ math ability and its indirect effect on increasing students’ perceived math self-efficacy, the digital intervention improved students’ perceptions of their functionings and future possibilities. What this study specifically underscores is the importance of taking a coherent and purposeful approach toward the design of digital student-directed educational technology, especially for ELL students who may have specific learning needs.