A ‘blended’ in-service arrangement for classroom technology integration: impacts on teachers and students

Many studies report that the implementation of technology in education is a complex innovation. Particularly teachers lack skills to integrate technology in their instructional processes. Therefore the potential of technology in the classroom is hardly realized. Teacher learning on classroom use of technology is considered important. In this contribution a ‘blended’ in-service arrangement to support secondary school teachers in the integration of technology in their classroom is presented. The arrangement consisted of workshops, exemplary curriculum materials and computer mediated communication. The article describes and discusses two studies that applied and evaluated the ‘blended’ approach to teacher professional development. The results of both studies show that this seems a promising arrangement for supporting the integration of technology in education. However, realizing the potential of technology to create ‘communities of practice’ remains difficult because for most teachers this use of technology is yet not congruent with their daily routines.     

Using commercial video games in flipped classrooms to support physical concept construction

Based on the flipped‐classroom model and the potential motivational and instructional benefits of digital games, we describe a flipped game‐based learning (FGBL) strategy focused on preclass and overall learning outcomes. A secondary goal is to determine the effects, if any, of the classroom aspects of the FGBL strategy on learning efficiency. Our experiments involved 2 commercial games featuring physical motion concepts: Ballance (Newton's law of motion) and Angry Birds (mechanical energy conservation). We randomly assigned 87 8th‐grade students to game instruction (digital game before class and lecture‐based instruction in class), FGBL strategy (digital game before class and cooperative learning in the form of group discussion and practice in class), or lecture‐based instruction groups (no gameplay). Results indicate that the digital games exerted a positive effect on preclass learning outcomes and that FGBL‐strategy students achieved better overall learning outcomes than their lecture‐based peers. Our observation of similar overall outcomes between the cooperative learning and lecture‐based groups suggests a need to provide additional teaching materials or technical support when introducing video games to cooperative classroom learning activities.     

Using animation to support the teaching of computer game development techniques

In this paper, we examine the potential use of animation for supporting the teaching of some of the mathematical concepts that underlie computer games development activities, such as vector and matrix algebra. An experiment was conducted with a group of UK undergraduate computing students to compare the perceived usefulness of animated and static learning materials for teaching such concepts. Undergraduate computer game development courses are currently a growing area of UK higher education. Computer game development can often involve the use of mathematical modelling of two-dimensional and three-dimensional computer game objects and their interactions. Overall, it appeared that animated learning materials appeared to be perceived as being more useful to undergraduate computer games students than traditional learning materials for learning such concepts.     

The effects of computer games on primary school students’ achievement and motivation in geography learning

The implementation of a computer game for learning about geography by primary school students is the focus of this article. Researchers designed and developed a three-dimensional educational computer game. Twenty four students in fourth and fifth grades in a private school in Ankara, Turkey learnt about world continents and countries through this game for three weeks. The effects of the game environment on students’ achievement and motivation and related implementation issues were examined through both quantitative and qualitative methods. An analysis of pre and post achievement tests showed that students made significant learning gains by participating in the game-based learning environment. When comparing their motivations while learning in the game-based learning environment and in their traditional school environment, it was found that students demonstrated statistically significant higher intrinsic motivations and statistically significant lower extrinsic motivations learning in the game-based environment. In addition, they had decreased focus on getting grades and they were more independent while participating in the game-based activities. These positive effects on learning and motivation, and the positive attitudes of students and teachers suggest that computer games can be used as an ICT tool in formal learning environments to support students in effective geography learning.     

How teachers integrate a math computer game: Professional development use,teaching practices,and student achievement

As more attention is placed on designing digital educational games to align with schools' academic aims (e.g., Common Core), questions arise regarding how professional development (PD) may support teachers' using games for instruction and how such integration might impact students' achievement. This study seeks to (a) understand how teachers use PD resources (e.g., technology personnel and game‐use workshops) for integration; (b) determine how teachers integrate games into their instruction; and (c) examine how those teaching practices are associated with student achievement. This mixed method study used survey and interview responses from elementary school teachers (n = 863) with access to PD resources for implementing a math game intervention and standardized math‐test scores from their second‐ through sixth‐grade students (n = 10,715). Findings showed few teachers sought PD assistance for integration, but many desired such support. Some reported using integrative practices (i.e., referencing game and using game‐generated progress reports) to identify struggling students, whereas several found integration challenging. Teachers' reordering of game objectives to align with lessons and viewing of game‐based PD videos were associated with increased student math achievement in our OLS‐analysis. However, this result was no longer statistically significant within a school fixed‐effects model, suggesting school differences may influence how strongly teachers' practices are associated with student achievement.     

Educational game design for online education

The use of educational games in learning environments is an increasingly relevant trend. The motivational and immersive traits of game-based learning have been deeply studied in the literature, but the systematic design and implementation of educational games remain an elusive topic. In this study some relevant requirements for the design of educational games in online education are analyzed, and a general game design method that includes adaptation and assessment features is proposed. Finally, a particular implementation of that design is described in light of its applicability to other implementations and environments.     

Computer game development as a literacy activity

This study examined computer game development as a pedagogical activity to motivate and engage students in curriculum-related literacy activities. We hypothesized that as a consequence, students would improve their traditional reading and writing skills as well as develop new digital literacy skills. Eighteen classes of grade 4 students were assigned to either an experimental or control group. Both groups studied the same curriculum unit over a 10 week period, however, in addition the experimental group developed computer games related to the unit using a game development shell. An analysis of pre- and post-unit scores on two standardized literacy test batteries revealed that the experimental students performed significantly better on one of the subtests, a measure of logical sentence construction (p = .002). Field notes and teacher interview data indicated that game development helped improve student content retention, ability to compare and contrast information presented, utilize more and different kinds of research materials including digital resources, editing skills, and develop an insight into questioning skills.     

Towards understanding how to design for social play in exertion games

Players invest significant physical effort when playing exertion games. In addition to improving physical health, exertion games are also believed to facilitate social play amongst players. Despite these advantages, our understanding of how to design these games to successfully support social play is limited. In this paper, we present a qualitative analysis of player data from “Table Tennis for Three”, a mediated exertion game for three players, that contributes to our understanding of how the design of an exertion game facilitates social play. We use the concept of “space” to frame our findings in order to create themes that can be used to analyze existing and to design future exertion games. We hope our work can support researchers gain an understanding of this exciting new field, while also help designers utilize the many benefits of exertion games.     

Designing interactive learning environments

Abstract As computers become more prominent in classroom instruction their modes of use are extending, for example as surrogate teachers in tutoring or as curriculum enrichment in simulation applications where students are more investigative in their learning methods. However, within the classroom such programs often have effects and are used in ways that were not always anticipated by their designers. This argues for computer assisted learning (CAL) environments in which the software is interactive but is able to adapt to different styles of learning and teaching. This paper argues for and describes the design principles of such environments, taking as illustration an application in the fraction domain. Following its implementation, initial evaluation data taken from school-children showed marked performance improvements, and indicated how design features of the system ( FRACTIONLAB ) contributed to their understanding.     

Machine learning in digital games: a survey

Artificial intelligence for digital games constitutes the implementation of a set of algorithms and techniques from both traditional and modern artificial intelligence in order to provide solutions to a range of game dependent problems. However, the majority of current approaches lead to predefined, static and predictable game agent responses, with no ability to adjust during game-play to the behaviour or playing style of the player. Machine learning techniques provide a way to improve the behavioural dynamics of computer controlled game agents by facilitating the automated generation and selection of behaviours, thus enhancing the capabilities of digital game artificial intelligence and providing the opportunity to create more engaging and entertaining game-play experiences. This paper provides a survey of the current state of academic machine learning research for digital game environments, with respect to the use of techniques from neural networks, evolutionary computation and reinforcement learning for game agent control.     

Training and learning for crisis management using a virtual simulation/gaming environment

Recent advances in computers, networking, and telecommunications offer new opportunities for using simulation and gaming as methodological tools for improving crisis management. It has become easy to develop virtual environments to support games, to have players at distributed workstations interacting with each other, to have automated controllers supply exogenous events to the players, to enable players to query online data files during the game, and to prepare presentation graphics for use during the game and for post-game debriefings. Videos can be used to present scenario updates to players in “newscast” format and to present pre-taped briefings by experts to players. Organizations responsible for crisis management are already using such technologies in constructing crisis management systems (CMSs) to coordinate response to a crisis, provide decision support during a crisis, and support activities prior to the crisis and after the crisis. If designed with gaming in mind, those same CMSs could be easily used in a simulation mode to play a crisis management game. Such a use of the system would also provide personnel with opportunities to rehearse for real crises using the same tools they would have available to them in a real crisis. In this paper, we provide some background for the use of simulation and gaming in crisis management training, describe an architecture for simulation and gaming, and present a case study to illustrate how virtual environments can be used for crisis management training.     

Teachers’ pedagogical designs for technology-supported collective inquiry: A national case study

The aim of the present study was to analyze teachers’ pedagogical designs, plans of organized technology-supported, collective student inquiry. Ten teachers in Finland designed and implemented eight, inquiry-learning units (‘designs’) in 12 primary and secondary level classrooms in various subject domains. The guiding principles behind the designs were the objectives of progressive inquiry, such as facilitation of question- and explanation-driven learning, and the use of collaborative technology to support the sharing of knowledge. The participating teachers received substantial pedagogical training on these issues before the classroom implementations. The present study concentrated on examining three aspects in the teachers’ pedagogical designs: solutions for supporting students’ inquiry efforts, organization of collaboration, and the role given to the web-based Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE). The teachers experienced the use of CLE as a valuable new possibility to foster collaboration in classroom work, but there was much variation in the ways that the affordances of the system were utilized. The results indicated that it was a challenge for the teachers, especially in secondary level, to find appropriate methods for supporting students’ inquiry efforts. The most difficult aim to achieve appeared to be the promotion of real collaborative knowledge building; the social arrangements of many designs still relied on rather individualistic ways of working.     

Playful public participation in urban planning: A case study for online serious games

The aim of this paper is to study the implementation of online games to encourage public participation in urban planning. Its theoretical foundations are based on previous work in public participatory geographical information systems (PP GISs), play and games, with a special focus on serious games. Serious games aim to support learning processes in a new, more playful way. We developed the concept of playful public participation in urban planning, including playful elements such as storytelling, walking and moving, sketching, drawing, and games. A group of students designed an online serious public participatory game entitled NextCampus. The case study used in NextCampus was taken from the real-world question of a possible move of a university campus to a new location in the city of Hamburg, Germany. The development of the serious public participatory game NextCampus resulted in a physical prototype, user interface design, and a computational model of the game. The NextCampus game was tested with the help of two groups of urban planning students and presented to three external experts who provided valuable recommendations for further development. The critical comments questioned the level of complexity involved in such games. The positive comments included recognition of the potential for joy and the playfulness a game like NextCampus could evoke.     

Blowtooth: a provocative pervasive game for smuggling virtual drugs through real airport security

In this paper, we describe a pervasive game, Blowtooth, in which players use their mobile phones to hide virtual drugs on nearby airline passengers in real airport check-in queues. After passing through airport security, the player must find and recover their drugs from the innocent bystanders, without them ever realising they were involved in the game. The game explores the nature of pervasive game playing in environments that are not, generally, regarded as playful or “fun”. This paper describes the game’s design and implementation as well as an evaluation conducted with participants in real airports. It explores the players’ reactions to the game through questionnaire responses and in-game activity. The technologies used in Blowtooth are, intentionally, simple in order for the enjoyment of the game to be reliant more on the physical environment rather than the enabling technologies. We conclude that situating pervasive games in unexpected and challenging environments, such as international airports, may provide interesting and unique gaming experiences for players. In addition, we argue that pervasive games benefit most from using the specific features and nature of interesting real-world environments rather than focusing on the enabling technologies.     

Collaborating with computers

Abstract The main body of the article explores three questions concerning the collaborative use of computers in classrooms. The first looks at the opinions of the powerful as evidenced by the recent spate of publications concerning the National Curriculum; the second explores the extent to which there exists research evidence to support the position the curriculum makers have taken up; the third reviews the literature for indications as to how teachers are likely to react to their proposals. A fourth question niggles: how does the ‘subjective’ computer fit into the classroom? The article ends in speculationperhaps we need to take a fresh look as to why exactly many teachers remain uneasy in the presence of computers?     

Towards the design and implementation of computer-modeled opponents for use in entertainment and educational software: Some initial considerations

While advances in computer technology have led to major improvements in the presentation and appearance of modern computer games, there has been no equivalent improvement in the artificial intelligence (AI) performance of these games. Traditional AI designs have had surprisingly little impact on the development of game-based intelligent systems. New approaches to AI, particularly those using autonomous software agents encapsulated in software robots (softbots), have the potential to make an enormous impact on game-based AI systems.Softbot-based autonomous software agents provide a framework capable of supporting psychologically based models of human behavior in a game environment. Used in this manner, softbots provide a new set of tools to explore the synthesis of human-like reasoning in complex and dynamic environments.This paper explores some initial attempts to develop an exploratory, game-based, experimental environment capable of hosting softbot-based, psychological models of human behavior. Some preliminary work in the design and implementation of a simple, extensible, softbot-based, computer-modeled opponent is also discussed.     

高职院校软件建模课程的教学设计

结合高职院校中软件建模课程教学的特点,针对当前教学过程的不足,从课程教学中教学大纲和实施方案制定、教材的选择、课堂教学实施、课程设计安排、考试方法选择等多个方面对教师如何更好地实施教学、学生如何更好地学到知识和技能进行探讨。     

Computer use in the elementary classroom: A survey of computer contact persons in four school districts

This article investigates the use of computers in the elementary classroom. The research involved a review of some literature and field research done at schools in four chosen school districts in Toronto and Vancouver. A questionnaire was distributed and interviews were conducted with elementary school teachers and district consultants. From this field research, information was collected on the availabilities of hardware, software, teacher implementation, as well as on teachers' perceptions on computer use in the classroom. The survey results illustrate the state of computer use in some elementary schools. The findings provide implications for integrating computer use into the curriculum, and lays the groundwork for further research on how best to use the technology for elementary education.