The Gamification of Code

2022 ◽  
pp. 838-863
Author(s):  
Kristin Carlson ◽  
Rick Valentin

Teaching an introductory web design course is already a blended environment. Students meet face-to-face, yet have access to a myriad of online resources, YouTube videos, blogs, and forums to support their learning. However, the challenges of learning to understand code can inhibit students and diminish their motivation to look for resources. The authors have attempted to address this issue by focusing on the use and design of games for learning to code, as well as providing video lecture material in combination with the traditional face-to-face learning environment. By using games and gamification in the course design, the authors have found that students are able not only to bridge their knowledge between modalities more smoothly, but that they understand that there are multiple ways to solve a problem and feel empowered to search for solutions in innovative ways.

Author(s):  
Kristin Carlson ◽  
Rick Valentin

Teaching an introductory web design course is already a blended environment. Students meet face-to-face, yet have access to a myriad of online resources, YouTube videos, blogs, and forums to support their learning. However, the challenges of learning to understand code can inhibit students and diminish their motivation to look for resources. The authors have attempted to address this issue by focusing on the use and design of games for learning to code, as well as providing video lecture material in combination with the traditional face-to-face learning environment. By using games and gamification in the course design, the authors have found that students are able not only to bridge their knowledge between modalities more smoothly, but that they understand that there are multiple ways to solve a problem and feel empowered to search for solutions in innovative ways.


Author(s):  
Vincent Salyers ◽  
Lorraine Carter ◽  
Alanna Carter ◽  
Sue Myers ◽  
Penelope Barrett

<p>While e-learning is now characterized by a past and trends within that past, there continues to be uncertainty about how e-learning is defined and conceptualized, whether or not we like e-learning, and whether or not it is as meaningful to us as face to face learning. The purpose of this study was to document the e-learning perceptions of students at three Canadian post-secondary institutions. Key components of e-learning courses including ease of navigation, course design, resource availability, and adequacy of e-learning supports and their impact on the student learning experience were also evaluated. Based on a survey of students (n= 1,377) as well as their participation in focus groups, the following are presented as important findings: the majority of students studying in e-learning courses at the three institutions represented in the study were women; ease of navigation, course design, and previous experience with e-learning consistently demonstrated a statistically significant predictive capacity for positive e-learning experiences; and students expressed less preference for e-learning instructional strategies than their faculty. Study findings hold implications for e-learning faculty, instructional designers, and administrators at institutions of higher education in Canada and elsewhere where e-learning is part of the institutional mandate. Additionally, further research into student perceptions of and experiences with e-learning is recommended.</p>


2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 30-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaofeng Chen ◽  
Keng Siau ◽  
Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah

Many higher education institutions have set up virtual classrooms in the 3-D virtual world. In this research, the authors assess the relative effectiveness of a 3-D virtual world learning environment, Second Life, compared to traditional face-to-face learning environment. They also assess the effects of instructional strategies in these two learning environments on interactivity, perceived learning, and satisfaction. The authors’ findings suggest that learning environment interacts with instructional strategy to affect the learners’ perceived learning and satisfaction. Specifically, when interactive instructional strategy is used, there is no significant difference for perceived learning and satisfaction between the 3-D virtual world and face-to-face learning environment. However, when a direct instructional strategy is used, there is a significant difference for perceived learning and satisfaction. They also assessed whether or not technology helps increase learner and instructor interaction. The result suggests that in interactive instructional sessions, students experienced a higher level of classroom interactivity in Second Life than in face-to-face classroom.


Author(s):  
Michele Jacobsen

Educational technology is a hands-on, minds-on discipline that emphasizes knowing and doing. In this field, doctoral education needs to reflect digital and communication realities in the twenty-first century. In this case study, a blended learning approach to graduate education in educational technology is explored from the perspective of the author’s own classroom. The course design and blended delivery of an Advanced Concepts in Educational Technology seminar is described in detail. Active learning opportunities, using wikis, blogs, avatars and virtual worlds, learning managements systems, email, and face-to-face learning experiences engaged doctoral students in the collaborative investigation and critique of educational technology trends and research ideas. Doctoral students investigated their emerging digital lives as scholars and developed a personal cyberinfrastructure that they can continue to build, modify, and extend throughout their educational technology careers.


Author(s):  
Thomas G. Reio ◽  
Keisha Hill-Grey

Millennials and their learning needs are in general misunderstood. Little research on how millennials prefer to learn, work, and live has contributed to unproductive, contradictory notions about this generation to the detriment of all. More research is clearly needed to better understand the current and future behaviors of millennials. A wide array of advancing technologies and their direct applications to online and face-to-face learning contexts are explored as means to engaging millennials more in adult learning endeavors. Best practices in employing technologies in the classroom, such as promoting interactivity and social presence through blogs and YouTube, are highlighted in online contexts and through course design. How technology impacts those who have not had exposure to technology is explored as well.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Powell ◽  
Nicholas McGuigan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present critical educator reflections on the pivot from the traditional physical accounting classroom to the virtual learning environment amidst COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Design/methodology/approach This paper outlines the reflexive experiences of two accounting educators on their scholarly journey into virtual learning and their inhabiting of the virtual accounting classroom. We adopt a critical stance in exploring what has been lost and insights gained. Findings We heed caution in the ongoing reliance on digital technologies and virtual learning that strip accounting education of its richness and complexity. Although the virtual learning environment brings with it benefits of accessibility and flexibility, it fails to replace the complexity of human connection, authenticity and informal spontaneity found in face-to-face learning. We further contend that COVID-19 presents an opportunity to rethink accounting education. We encourage educators to embrace this opportunity as a force for educational transformation; to reimagine an accounting education that embraces change, ambiguity and humanistic qualities such as empathy, compassion and humility. Originality/value Our critical educator reflections explore the impact of COVID-19 on the humanistic qualities at the heart of education and on the future of accounting education. This paper contributes to the scholarship of teaching and learning during global pandemics and other crises.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe Kanetaki ◽  
Constantinos Stergiou ◽  
Christos Troussas ◽  
Cleo Sgouropoulou

The COVID-19 pandemic struck humanity in February 2020. Closures of educational institutions, worldwide, resulted to the creation of emergency remote teaching environments as a substitute to face to face learning. The disruption caused in the academic community has stimulated innovative learning methods within all levels of the educational sector. New parameters affecting knowledge transmission are getting involved while students follow courses apart on a common virtual learning environment. This research is based on a first-semester Mechanical Engineering CAD module in tertiary education. A learning strategy has been applied by reforming the traditional face-to-face leaning mode to a fully remote learning environment. The methods applied have been tested using statistical analysis and have shown to contribute significantly in students’ spatial perception in 2-Dimentional Drawings. The outcomes of this research reveal a novel teaching strategy that improved students’ academic achievements in CAD during the lockdown. Specific aspects can be considered sustainable on their return back to normality.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document