Education Commons^™

Towards A Context Agnostic Platform For Design And Assessment Of Educational Games, Tyler Baron, Corey Heath, Ashish Amresh

Ashish Amresh

The majority of the games designed for improving, acquiring or transferring knowledge rely heavily on building game mechanics that are grounded deeply in the content or subject matter being taught. There is a growing need for educational practitioners and pedagogical experts to have the ability to easily map learning outcomes by choosing from a pallet of functioning game mechanics without having the need to redesign them from scratch. In this paper, we present the current state of the art in context agnostic design and assessment of educational games, and propose three strategies that educators can take advantage of during the …

The Cu Online Handbook: Teaching Differently, Create And Collaborate, Patrick R. Lowenthal, David Thomas, Anna Thai, Brian Yuhnke, Susan Giullian, Donna Sobel, Connie L. Fulmer, Phil Antonelli, Laura Summers, Joanna C. Dunlap, Ellen Stevens, Dorothy Garrison-Wade, Patrick R. Lowenthal, Brent G. Wilson, Farah A. Ibrahim

Joanna Dunlap

No abstract provided.

Innovating Today’S Learning And Teaching To Engage Tomorrow’S Learners And Teachers, Daniela Signor, Kulari Lokuge, Anne-Marie Chase

Dr Anne-Marie Chase

Business Model Design Games: Rules And Procedures To Challenge Assumptions And Elicit Surprises, Sune Gudiksen

CW Tsai

Previously well-established companies are currently struggling to secure profits, mainly due to the pressure from new communication technology-based business models. Because of this, the business model research field has flourished in recent years, but most of the applied approaches still rely on linear, rational conceptions and causal reasoning. Through three games and three business cases, it is argued that experimental game-like innovation activities can lead the way into another approach to business model development, called ‘business model design games’. This paper illustrates how the application of game rules and procedures can challenge business assumptions and evoke surprises that lead to …

Using Theory To Improve Design Instruction In A New Common First-Year Programme For Engineers, Una Beagon, Ted Bruke, Shannon M. Chance, C. Fionnuala Farrell, John Mcgrory

Shannon M. Chance

We represent a group of lecturers teaching a design module in a new common first-year engineering programme, delivered for the first time in the 2014-5 academic year, which provides a single entry point for all honours Bachelor of Engineering majors at our institution. In this paper, we describe the rationale and format of the Design Projects module. We explain how we used theories by Crismond and Adams [1] in the module and what we observed in doing so. The Design Projects module comprises three separate group-based design projects. It has four weekly contact hours over the entire academic year and …

Culture In Design, Technology, And Environment: Reflecting On Field Experiences, Kurt W. Seemann

Kurt W Seemann

Culture is a fuzzy kind of idea. We all point to it when we see it among others, but when asked to place a universal boundary around it to define it as framing much of what we do ourselves, we run into trouble. When we design and develop made worlds with, and for, other cultures, or when we think how we engage in the worlds made by others, the opportunity manifests itself to see how culture can be embedded not only in the choices made to create the artifacts, systems, or symbols but significantly in the socio-cultural and even natural …

Computer Game Design And The Imaginative Play Of Young Children, Irina M. Verenikina, Jan Herrington

I. Verenikina

This paper discusses preliminary findings of the study of computer game design in relation to current understanding of imaginative play and its developmental value for young children. The crucial role of children's play in their development is well documented. A number of criteria, which are essential in building a foundation for children's cognitive development in play, were identified based on a literature review of the theoretical and empirical studies of child's play. The identified criteria were utilized to observe two young children playing various types of computer games to explore the opportunities that the games provide for imaginative play in …

A Technology-Enhanced Multiliteracies Learning Design For Geography Education, Lori Lockyer, Barry Harper

Professor Lori Lockyer

Educators are being challenged to prepare students to effectively participate in our increasingly globalised society. Contemporary views of pedagogy suggest supporting learners by providing scaffolds for their engagement in real world tasks - tasks that provide opportunities to both explore and apply their learning through multi-modal expressions' within their diverse contexts. This article describes a project that draws upon the emerging views of multiliteracies in the design of a K-12 education excursion program. The multiliteracies learning design developed for .the program is applied to specific discipline-focused learning objectives and implemented within a technology-enhanced environment, which provides learners with access to …

A Journey Through A Design-Based Research Project, Wayne Cotton, Lori Lockyer, Gwyn J. Brickell

Professor Lori Lockyer

This paper discusses how Design-Based Research was utilised to inform the methodological design of a completed project conducted at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. The project focused on the systematic development of an Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) to assist K-12 teachers as they incorporated learning objects into a pedagogically effective learning design – a WebQuest. The paper specifically details the background of the project, the history of Design-Based research, why a Design-Based Research approach was adopted and how the approach was implemented. The paper also includes a discussion about the practical problems, issues and advantages …

Establishing Design Principles For Online Synchronous Literacy Learning For Indigenous Learners, Michelle Eady, Anthony Herrington, Caroline Jones

Michelle Eady

Synchronous learning has the potential to provide literacy and essential skills training to Indigenous learners living in remote and isolated communities. Although there is considerable research completed in the area of internet-based learning technologies in general, there is very little research in the area of online synchronous learning opportunities for remote Indigenous learners. This paper presents the results and theoretical framework of the first and second phases of a four phase design-based research approach that aims to establish design principles to guide the future development of synchronous online literacy services for Indigenous learners living in remote Australian communities.

A School-Based Intervention To Promote Physical Activity Among Adolescent Girls: Rationale, Design, And Baseline Data From The Girls In Sport Group Randomised Controlled Trial, Anthony D. Okely, Wayne G. Cotton, David R. Lubans, Philip J. Morgan, Lauren M. Puglisi, Judy Miller, Jan Wright, Marijka Batterham, Louisa Peralta, Janine Perry

Dr Marijka Batterham

Background: Physical activity levels decline markedly among girls during adolescence. School-based interventions that are multi-component in nature, simultaneously targeting curricular, school environment and policy, and community links, are a promising approach for promoting physical activity. This report describes the rationale, design and baseline data from the Girls in Sport group randomised trial, which aims to prevent the decline in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) among adolescent girls. Methods/design: A community-based participatory research approach and action learning framework are used with measurements at baseline and 18-month follow-up. Within each intervention school, a committee develops an action plan aimed at meeting the …

A School-Based Intervention To Promote Physical Activity Among Adolescent Girls: Rationale, Design, And Baseline Data From The Girls In Sport Group Randomised Controlled Trial, Anthony D. Okely, Wayne G. Cotton, David R. Lubans, Philip J. Morgan, Lauren M. Puglisi, Judy Miller, Jan Wright, Marijka Batterham, Louisa Peralta, Janine Perry

A. D. Okely

Background: Physical activity levels decline markedly among girls during adolescence. School-based interventions that are multi-component in nature, simultaneously targeting curricular, school environment and policy, and community links, are a promising approach for promoting physical activity. This report describes the rationale, design and baseline data from the Girls in Sport group randomised trial, which aims to prevent the decline in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) among adolescent girls. Methods/design: A community-based participatory research approach and action learning framework are used with measurements at baseline and 18-month follow-up. Within each intervention school, a committee develops an action plan aimed at meeting the …

Designing Professional Development For Better Pedagogy: A Higher Education Experience In Pakistan, Imran Anjum Chaudary, Shahida Imran

Dr Imran Anjum

The mission of the Designing Professional Development for Better Pedagogy is to make a contribution to the understanding of Pakistani professional development in tertiary and higher education sectors. The inspiration for this book came from a research project on teacher development conducted by us in 2009 at the Melbourne Graduate school of Education, the University of Melbourne, Australia. This ethnographic case study, conducted in 2011, not only refreshes the results of our previous research, but also moves the debate forward by analysing the problems and practices of Pakistani professional development, cataloguing the voices of tertiary/higher education teachers, introducing a new …

Understanding The Design Context For Australian University Teachers: Implications For The Future Of Learning Design, Susan Bennett, Lisa Thomas, Shirley Agostinho, Lori Lockyer, Jennifer Jones, Barry Harper

Professor Lori Lockyer

Based on the premise that providing support for university teachers in designing for their teaching will ultimately improve the quality of student learning outcomes, recent interest in the development of support tools and strategies has gained momentum. This article reports on a study that examined the context in which Australian university teachers design in order to understand what role design support tools and strategies could play. In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 academics across 16 Australian universities. The findings suggest that most Australian university teachers have a high degree of flexibility in their design decisions suggesting that opportunities exist for …

An Examination Of Learning Design Descriptions In A Repository, Shirley Agostinho, Susan J. Bennett, Lori Lockyer, Lisa Kosta, Jennifer Jones, Barry Harper

Professor Lori Lockyer

The past decade has seen a significant expansion of flexible learning in higher education as new communication technologies have broadened the scope and potential for online learning. With this expansion has come the need for pedagogically sound learning experiences and an interest in reusing effective pedagogical designs. The concept of a ‘learning design’ - a formalism for documenting educational practice to facilitate sharing and reuse by teachers, is being researched as one way of supporting dissemination of ‘best practice’. This paper reports an analytical study that sought to advance understanding of what constitutes an effective learning design description based on …

Learning Designs: Bridging The Gap Between Theory And Practice, S. Bennett, S. Agostinho, Lori Lockyer, Lisa Kosta, J. Jones, R. Koper, Barry Harper

Professor Lori Lockyer

This paper summarises the work being conducted in an ongoing research agenda focused on exploring how the ‘learning design’ construct can be used to support university educators to create both pedagogically sound and interoperable e-learning experiences. The premise of this work is that a learning design can be used to support the pedagogical design process and the integration of international e-learning standards, such as learning object metadata and IMS-LD, enabling resources and tools to be technically interoperable across different standards-compliant systems. The paper presents the rationale guiding this research focus, describes the features of the research that is underway, and …

Review Of Huge, Inc.'S Website, Shannon C. Kelly

Shannon C Kelly

A review of HUGE, Inc.'s website based on elements of good design and the concept of visual rhetoric.

A New Vision Of Professional Development For Tertiary Teachers In Pakistan, Imran Anjum Chaudary

Dr Imran Anjum

No abstract provided.

Learning Management Systems (Lms): Inside Matters, Shakeel Iqbal, Ijaz A. Qureshi Dr.

Shakeel Iqbal

By the end of last millennium, many universities and colleges started using internet to meet their distance learning needs. Different course management systems (CMS) were developed to meet the needs of online and hybrid courses. These CMS later on transformed into Learning Management Systems (LMS). Many educational institutions have already started using LMS and there are still many who are considering adopting one. The big question before the late adopters of this online learning technology is which LMS they should opt for? This study will be useful for those who are in the process of selecting an LMS as well …

Critical Decisions In Research: Design, Practice, And Analysis, Imran Anjum Chaudary

Dr Imran Anjum

No abstract provided.

"Blacks Deserve Bodies Too!" Design And Discussion About Diversity And Race In A Tween Virtual World, Y. B. Kafai, M. S. Cook, Deborah A. Fields

Deborah A. Fields

No abstract provided.

What Do Students Gain From A Week At Science Camp? Youth Perceptions And The Design Of An Immersive Research-Oriented Astronomy Camp, Deborah A. Fields

Deborah A. Fields

No abstract provided.

Libraries In Public Before The Age Of Public Libraries: Interpreting The Furnishings And Design Of Athenaeums And Other ‘Social Libraries,’ 1800-1860, Adam Arenson

Adam Arenson

Before public libraries became common in the United States, both elite and striving men sought out social libraries to read business newspapers, attend lectures, appreciate art and good company, and generally learn or relish in respectability. For single male clerks living in rented rooms, the library served as a crucial "third place," away from home and work, where sociability and education could flourish. This chapter describes how elements of the private library, the parlor, and the bookstore informed the furnishing and design of the social library. It reveals how the spaces were intended to be utilized--and what legacies remained for …