Koli Calling 2008, 8th International Conference on Computing Education Research (original) (raw)
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Educational research and design of the virtual learning environment
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computing Education Research - Koli '08, 2008
The aim of higher education is to enable students to acquire knowledge and to exercise cognitive skills in order support them in their preparation for a professional career. Rather than transferring knowledge in face-to-face contact the modern teacher has to design a stimulating learning environment. The success of educational models, like Problem-Based-Learning and Active Learning is often explained by the motivating effect of discussing real-life problems in small groups of students. The technology of virtual reality provides new possibilities to involve students in learning activities. No longer do groups of students (and their teacher) have to meet at a fixed time and place. Simulations and gaming can motivate students to engage in activities that make them learn. The biggest challenge for the teacher is to imagine what is motivating for a present day student.
2012
This paper focuses on the development of videogame-like applications in a 3D virtual environment as a complement to the face-to-face teaching and learning. With the changing role of teaching and learning and the increasing use of blended learning, instructors are increasingly expected to explore new ways to attend to the needs of their students. In recent years many educational institutions have started integrating into their teaching protocol the use of e-Learning platforms such as Moodle, WebCT, Blackboard or Virtual Worlds (VWs) such as Second Life (SL). The aim is not only to provide students with motivating and meaningful content and media, but also to provide them with attractive learning tools, able to enhance and guarantee a successful autonomous learning process. Nevertheless, based on our own teaching experience over the past years, we would argue that neither traditional e-Learning platforms such as Moodle, WebCT or Blackboard, nor VWs, completely meet the expectations and needs of (our) students with regard to autonomous learning. This is why the purpose of our analysis is to explore further possibilities by designing highly interactive and motivating online learning materials, including the use of videogame-like applications and a specific 3D virtual platform (OpenSim). We thus intend to provide students from the very first stage of their foreign language acquisition process with highly interactive learning environments, not only in the face-to-face learning, but also in autonomous online learning. The latter is considered to be complementary to, rather than different from the dynamics involved in face-to-face learning. Furthermore the paper includes an empirical evaluation of five language learning sessions during which several sets of students played the videogame-like application we had designed for the purposes of our research.
Virtual Learning: Games Technology in Educational Settings
Proceedings of Informing Science and IT Education (InSITE)
Advanced three-dimensional virtual environment technology, similar to that used by the film and computer games industry can allow educational developers to rapidly create realistic online virtual environments. This technology has been used to generate a range of interactive Virtual Reality (VR) learning environments across a spectrum of industries and educational application areas. This idea is not new; flight simulators have been used for decades to train pilots for both commercial and military aviation. These systems have advanced to a point that they are integral to both the design and the operation of modern aircraft (Mastaglio & Callahan, 1995; Adams et al, 2001). There are a number of lessons that can be learned from the industries that have successfully utilised virtual training and learning systems. Generic rules of thumb regarding the specification, development, application and operation of these learning environments can be garnered from these industrial training systems and examined in an educational context (Schofield et al 2004; Tromp & Schofield, 2004; Grunwald & Corsbie-Massay, 2006). This paper will introduce a virtual learning environment ViRILE (Virtual Reality Interactive Learning Environment), developed by the author. ViRILE is designed for use by undergraduate chemical engineers to simulate the configuration and operation of a polymerisation plant. During the implementation of this, and other, visual learning environments a number of complex operational problems were encountered, these have required a number of innovative solutions and management procedures to be developed. This paper will also discuss the implementation of this and other similar systems and extrapolate the lessons learnt into general pedagogical guidelines to be considered for the development of VR based online educational learning resources.
Koli Calling 2009: 8th International Conference on Computing Education Research
2009
This volume collects together the papers presented and discussed at the 2008 Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research. This volume is the culmination of more than a year of planning and effort on the part of both the local organising committee and the conference chairs. However, we were not working alone. Without an active community of researchers doing quality research and writing papers, a conference like Koli has no function or purpose. Consequently, a large part of the success of Koli Calling lies in its vibrant research community. It is your submissions that have made it possible for us to select this year's crop of interesting and thought provoking contributions. During the preparations for the 2008 conference we embarked on a process of clarification and innovation. The major outcomes of that process are a more well defined submissions and review process based around the use of EasyChair. We have also crafted new guidelines for the evaluation of the conference submission categories; which we hope are useful to both authors and reviewers alike. We also introduced the Tools Workshop submission category and the Tool Award in the 2008 call for contributions. We wish to extend our sincere thanks to Ari Korhonen who was Tools Workshop Chair for the 2008 conference. A new role, and one that he managed with panache. So now, without further ado, we leave you to the further perusal of the contents of the volume, in the hope that you will find its content both elucidatory and inspirational.
Games based learning enviornments: A review of potential steps forward for virtual learning
Sensos-e, 2021
Covid-19 has forced educators to re-think online distance teaching. It is no longer an abstract mixture of technologies in support situations but rather, a necessity to prevent the complete shutdown of formal education. And that inevitability exposed several issues, from technical difficulties to configuration and application of tools, and short-term and potential long-term negative effects on learning derived from lack of motivation, incapacity for autonomous study, inexistent or limited social interactions and extraordinarily little engagement and immersion in the contents being taught. For decades, the possibility and potential of introducing videogames as learning tools has been discussed, but their implementation should be focused as different genres provide different outcomes. We therefore considered the specific mechanics and outcomes desired and the use of role-playing games as a potential videogame-based learning environment to support distance learning as well as the potential issues with that approach.
Virtual Worldreal Student Motivation?
icicte.org
Higher education programmes tend to be designed to offer life long learning skills across a range of disciplines in addition to equipping students with the specific knowledge and understanding appropriate to their chosen pathway, and these are seen as essential requirements for ...
Games and simulation in higher education
The evolution of computer technologies, together with the increasing speed of Internet-based communications, has promoted the use of simulation software and serious games in higher education. These technological and methodological tools can significantly enrich the learning experience in almost any knowledge area. In particular, they will have a significant impact on how the learning process is performed in the so called Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. This thematic series brings together several articles related to the use of serious games and simulations in higher education. Technological and pedagogical characteristics of these innovative learning tools are explored through this series, alongside their cultural, technological, and/or social contexts. Among others, the selected articles explore topics such as: (i) the benefits of teaching practices, based on the utilisation of games and simulations, for institutions, professors, and students; (ii) the use of video games and apps to increase student engagement, retention, and academic achievement; (iii) the enrichment of simulation-based learning scenarios by the incorporation of the tactile experience to the more traditional visual and hearing ones; (iv) the use of adapted virtual learning environments that simulate real-life environments; and (v) the analysis of collaborative intergenerational interaction throughout digital games. In our view, the use of games and simulation in higher education is yet in its early stage, but thanks to the current state of these technological tools and to the high degree of acceptance among the new generations of students and instructors, it seems quite evident to us that their increasing incorporation in higher education systems around the world is just a question of time. A short description of each of the selected articles is provided next: