MIDI-AM Model to Identify a Methodology for the Creation of Innovative Educational Digital Games

Educational game applications' production considers technical, pedagogical, and aesthetic resources guided by the type of device used, interfaces, and themes. In addition, it considers users' tastes and preferences, trends in society, and the environment. However, no evidence in the recent literature allows developers to identify entire patterns or structures in serious games production. This chapter analyzes university experiences and research related to the design, development, and use of ludic games application for mobile devices' MIDI-AM model series games as tested in local environments. These games are aimed at children in their first years of primary school education. The MIDI-AM model is proposed as a methodology that considers a technical and aesthetic platform to guide serious game applications' production and monitoring. These are suggested as supporting tools for the traditional teaching-learning process.

Exploring the ‘unexplained’ awarding gap through understanding BAME students' experiences

A narrative method of enquiry was used to investigate the university experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) students studying in a south-eastern UK business school. Participants were self-selecting undergraduates and postgraduates and academic and professional staff. The three facilitators were all academic staff from the Business School: two who identify as Black, one who identifies as white. Using a ‘Thinking Group’ (Kline, 1999) narrative methodology, it was found that issues relating to belonging, isolation, inclusive curriculum, and employability are all impacting Black, Asian and minority ethnic students' success in the Business School currently. The research resulted in the co-creation of 30 recommendations for action in the following academic year.

Rural students’ transition in and through a semi-urban university: Experiences from the National University of Lesotho

This paper reports on the findings of a study carried out at the National University of Lesotho (NUL). The paper explored the influence of ‘rurality’ on students who originate from the rural areas of Lesotho and analysed their transition at the NUL. The spatial geographic theory and narrative inquiry were adopted, and qualitative focus groups were utilised to collect data. The students were given an opportunity to conceptualise ‘rurality’ and narrate their stories about growing up and earlier schooling, as well as their learning experiences at the NUL. The findings revealed that rural students’ educational trajectories are indeed filled with numerous challenges, mainly due to deprivation and limited exposure to technology in their earlier lives. The main recommendation made by the paper is that the concerned stakeholders ought to be mindful of the needs of all prospective higher education students, including those from rural backgrounds, and intervene accordingly.

"I haven't had the fun that is portrayed": First-year student expectations and experiences of starting at university

Prospective students have both expectations and anxieties about what their imminent university experiences might entail. In this study, we compare first-year students' expectations with their experiences of being included and excluded while settling into university life. Our participants in this qualitative phenomenological research study were 322 first-year students. We use insights from social and pedagogic inclusion to critique Tinto's (1983) model of the transition of students from schooling to higher education settings. The findings indicate that participants experienced mastery of knowledge, procedures, and structures of the institution as a point of exclusion almost 8% more than they expected. The participants also experienced personal disposition and relationships to be a point of exclusion 24% less than they expected. We recommend that university orientation programmes place more focus on the academic expectations of university since this was an aspect on which participants did not focus much. In addition, these findings also have implications for how universities conceptualise and implement the move to online learning which is often viewed as the solution to increasing access to higher education.

Assessment and verification: A higher education perspective

The term Assessment and Verification is an integral part of the student achievement and considered as a fundamental function of higher education. Assessment and verification confirm and assures the academic integrity and standard which has a vital impact on student behaviour, colleagues’ involvements, the university reputation and finally the student’s future lives. The research aimed to explore various academic and industry-based literatures to analyse the importance of assessment and verification and to identify areas to ensure reliability in assessment by testing skills and knowledge. The research used experimental research methods (primarily reflection) using literary forms to analyse the theory with the reinforcement of the practice from the university experiences. It also has collected data using semi-structured interview from mutually agreed department colleagues from five different higher educational institutes consists of three universities and two alternative providers based in London, United Kingdom. The result showed that assessment in higher educational institutes have not kept pace with the changes and no longer justify the outcomes we expect from a university education in relation to wide-ranging knowledge, skills, and employability. The research findings enable the educators to help create and implement an inclusive teaching and learning environment to improve the learner’s expectation and academic performance.

Cine para la Educación. Aprender de seis décadas de buenas experiencias educomunicativas

The Lumiere brothers, inventors of the cinematograph, did not think that it could be more interesting than a mere fairground attraction. However, at the beginning of the 20th century, the cinema was considered a medium of immense educational potential and it has been analyzed from multiple perspectives for its cultural value. Not only was George Meliés the first director to believe in the potential of cinema, simultaneously with the director Alice Guy, fictional cinema also began. Directors and theorists such as Griffith or Eisenstein, Riccioto Canudo, Henry Agel, Guido Aristarco, or André Bazin demonstrated the importance of the language of cinema from a practical perspective. The main objective here is to collect some of the most significant experiences in film pedagogy in the Spanish context, and discover with them the meaning and the sense of delving into this field and its importance in the real context of the screens that nourish the digital environment multimedia and transmedia. From the first film clubs, university experiences, pedagogical associations/groups, and the creation of educational centers, to audiovisual literacy actions for groups at risk of exclusion. As an example of the educational potential of cinema in isolation contexts, we will outline a recent case of its application in penitentiary institutions.

Digital technologies in the context of university transition and disability: Theoretical and empirical advances

Since transition to higher education emerged as a research topic in the early 1970s, scholarly inquiry has focused on students without impairments and, what is more, little attention has been paid to the role of digital technologies. This article seeks to address this knowledge gap by looking at the university experiences of a group of first-year students with vision impairments from New Zealand, and the way they use digital tools, such as social media and mobile devices, to manage their transition-related challenges. The article summarises the findings from a longitudinal qualitative project which was methodologically informed by action research (AR). The article explores and discusses scholarly inquiry of transition to university and introduces a conceptual framework which includes five overlapping stages, the transition issues faced by the students and the roles played by digital technologies. The article updates and expands the theoretical understanding of transition to higher education and provides empirical evidence for practitioners to support the needs, inclusion, and participation of young people with disabilities in the tertiary setting.

Diversity in Social and Academic Relationships

College buffers the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Students are thrust into a world of academic and social demands that can seem far removed from their earlier lives. First impressions are important as they set the tone for the next two or four years on campus. In this chapter, the university experiences of the interviewees are chronicled with a focus on diversity narratives and how they formed and changed over time. Research is introduced that emphasizes areas such as ethnic stereotypes and marginalization, the model minority myth, gender awareness, and personal sense of belonging. As such, the opinions, struggles, and hopes of these five students may be indicative of greater norms within broader college settings.