Analyzing novices' fun and programming behaviours while playing a serious blocks-based game

Blocks-based environments have been used to promote programming learning mostly in elementary and middle schools. In many countries, isolated initiatives have been launched to promote programming learning among children, but until now there is no evidence of widespread use of this type of environment in Brazil and Portugal. Consequently, it is common that many students reach higher education with little or no programming knowledge and skills. NoBug’s SnackBar is a game designed to help promote programming learning. This study examined students' behavior and attitudes when playing the game on their initiative. It used a sample of 33 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory programming course. The variables studied were students' performance and engagement, satisfaction, and problem-solving strategies. The main findings were (1) better performing students had a high level of perceived learning, (2) all the students had similar perceptions about their fun while playing, (3) the leader board was the most used game element not directly related to learning and (4) the top-ranked students access previous solutions to help them solve a new mission, while the others often use a trial-and-error approach.

Less is more

Pedagogical practices that are effective in content courses are often effective in CLIL courses too, yet one such practice – content compression – is generally neglected. Content compression is the purposeful reduction of the content to be taught; however, the CLIL literature often warns against the reduction and simplification of content for fear that it might harm students’ understanding of the subject content. This paper explains the ostensibly paradoxical result that content compression improves students’ understanding of content and shows why it is well suited to CLIL, if applied correctly. It presents content compression principles and techniques that are appropriate to content production and teaching practice in the CLIL classroom and shows how it was used to enhance language acquisition by students in a CLIL business course at a Colombian university over a period of three semesters. This experience suggested that content compression, in combination with other pedagogical practices, not only increased students’ linguistic confidence, but also enhanced their perceived learning in both content and language.

Impact of Virtual Disaster Collaboration Exercises on Disaster Leadership at Hospitals in Saudi Arabia

This study measured the impact of virtual three-level collaboration (3LC) exercises on participants’ perceived levels of collaboration, learning, and utility (CLU) at hospitals in the southern region of Saudi Arabia. Our 3LC exercise is a tabletop training tool used to facilitate disaster education and document CLU. This model enables the practitioner to acquire new knowledge and promotes active learning. An English version of the CLU scale, the validated Swedish survey tool, was applied to 100 healthcare managers or leaders in various positions at both the operational and tactical levels after conducting the 3LC exercises. The response rate was 100%, although not all questions were answered in some cases. The results show that most participants strongly agreed that the exercises focused on collaboration (r2 = 0.767) and that they had acquired new knowledge during the exercises. There was a statistically significant association between participation in the collaboration exercises and perceived learning (r2 = 0.793), as well as between perceived learning and utility (r2 = 0.811). The collaboration exercises enhance the perceived effects of CLU. They also improve the ability of participants to adapt situational strategies to achieve a safer society. Although exercises were conducted virtually, they were well received by the participants and achieved a value M = 4.4 CLU score, which opens up new dimensions in collaboration simulation exercises.

Communication Apprehension and Psychological Well-Being of Students in Online Learning

The current pandemic has modified how education, learning, and technology interact with one another inside universities. The usage of technology for instructional purposes raises the question of whether learning that happens in an online environment is as effective as traditional classroom models. Within this context, this study explores the psychological well-being of students during the COVID-19 pandemic, using an online cross-sectional survey. Data were collected from 246 university students currently studying at a private university in India. Hierarchical regression analysis and structural equation modelling were used to study the mediating effects between communication apprehension, perceived learning, and psychological well-being under the moderating effects of intention to use social media and psychological stress. Results show that higher intentions to use social media alleviated the negative effects of communication apprehension on perceived learning. Interestingly, it was also found that perceived learning had a significant positive relationship with psychological well-being when students experienced higher levels of psychological stress (eustress). Based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the transactional theory of stress and coping, we attempt to integrate the findings related to these theories, which can be considered distinct to previous studies. Implications, limitations, and future directions for research and practice have also been discussed.