Exploring video games and learning in South Africa: An integrative review

This study is a review of video games studies completed in South Africa. This paper looked at existing research on video games in South Africa in order to understand the research approaches used, and the learning outcomes found in respect to findings from studies in the western world. Interestingly, the study shows similarities in the learning outcomes, yet a great emphasis on educational games targeted to address issues relevant to South Africa. This research also reveals that context, as argued in sociocultural theory, shaped the content of the games designed, populations studied, type of game to associate with video games, and learning.

     

课堂教学中大学生英语的自主学习

自主学习有被误解为“独立学习”或“没有教师的自学”。实践证明,在培养学生自主能力的过程中,教师起着非常重要的作用。教师应当在常规的大学英语课堂教学中,结合各种各样的教学技巧和活动来培养非英语专业学生的自主学习能力。     

Achieving both intellectual quality and relevance in classroom learning experiences: some conceptual challenges

The idea that the educational needs of secondary school students are best met by providing them with learning experiences that are both intellectually challenging and connected to the world beyond the classroom underpins several recent pedagogical initiatives in Australia. However, such learning experiences are rarely found in practice. Many reasons for this have already been identified, but we suggest there may be another dimension to this problem. From our experience of trialling a similar pedagogical approach with Years 8 and 10 students, the participating teachers seemed to be struggling with a conceptual dilemma that interfered with creating learning experiences that are both intellectually challenging and relevant. We suggest this dilemma was generated by a dualistic framework of thinking and practice, endemic in education systems, which constructs academic rigour and relevance as incompatible with each other. We conclude that there is a need for more extensive teacher professional development in pedagogies which attempt to integrate intellectual rigour and relevance.     

Development of preservice identities: learning from a multigrade classroom practicum context

This study explores the impact of practica in multigrade schools in rural areas in Turkey on the development of preservice teachers’ identities, drawing in particular on Gee’s four perspectives regarding viewing identity. Interpretation of the identity categories was based on the content of students’ reflective narratives written over four consecutive years and discussed in terms of these categories, which were identified as nature, institution, discourse and affinity. The results indicated that a practicum undertaken in multigrade classrooms influenced students’ thinking about continued identity development as teachers and supported their development, as well as the awareness needed to develop, shape or reshape an identity. The data also demonstrated that practicum experiences in multigrade classrooms are important, particularly in countries where teachers are frequently appointed to such an educational setting in their first year of teaching.     

Aligning assessment with the needs of work-integrated learning: the challenges of authentic assessment in a complex context

Abstract

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is a feature of university courses, both in professional areas, where it is commonplace, but also across many different disciplines. Assessment of WIL can be complex as it involves parties and settings external to the university, and it can be problematic because of difficulties in aligning learning activities during placements with what is or can be assessed by the university. This paper explores the relationship between students’ placement experiences and accompanying assessments in contexts where activities are tightly coupled with the curriculum, and in those where it is not. It draws on a qualitative analysis of student interviews and drawings by the interviewees of their WIL experiences, supplemented with analysis of unit guides. Our findings highlight that students’ perceptions of authenticity of assessment were undermined by misalignments between the student, university and industry. Assessment authenticity was perceived by students as based on alignment between their current and future selves in the assessment process, involvement of industry supervisors and relevance of placement activities to assessment activities. The paper discusses the complexity of coordination of educational activities with external partners, especially when one party drives assessment. It then suggests a reframing of WIL assessment to promote alignment and authenticity.     

Relationships in the classroom: The child and the context

The primary purpose of this study was for teacher education students to develop a framework for assessing the performance of children in their current ecology or environment. To that end, data were collected relevant to child and context variables that might influence learning. Relationships between variables emerged that are of interest and provocative of further study. A discriminant analysis revealed that children who were identified as being hyperactive and as having academic problems tended to be male, Anglo, and from a large family. Although it is much too early to use this model to predict or classify, if replicated, patterns might be identified that would contribute to instructional decision making.     

Multimodality,learning and decision-making: children's metacognitive reflections on their engagement with video games as interactive texts

This study examines how 31 middle-school children conducted multimodal analyses of video games. Over four consecutive days, students played video games for 30 minutes and then wrote written reflections about the multimodal symbols within the game and how these symbols influenced their interpretation and decision-making processes during gameplay. Students produced 124 reflections in total, which were analysed via template analysis to determine how children metacognitively reflected on different types of multimodal symbols and used those symbols to comprehend the games and make decisions. Results illustrate how students engaged in metacognitive semantic and syntactic processes with a variety of multimodal symbols, such as written language, dynamic visuals and abstract symbols, during gameplay that aided their understanding of the games and influenced their decisions. This study contributes to the limited empirical research on video game literacies and illustrates children's meaning-making processes while engaged with video games as multimodal interactive texts.     

Uncertainty and engagement with learning games

Uncertainty may be an important component of the motivation provided by learning games, especially when associated with gaming rather than learning. Three studies are reported that explore the influence of gaming uncertainty on engagement with computer-based learning games. In the first study, children (10–11 years) played a simple maths quiz. Participants chose their preferred reward for a correct answer prior to seeing each question. They could either receive a single point or toss an animated coin to receive 2 points for heads or none for tails. A preference for the uncertain option was revealed and this increased during the quiz. The second study explored the discourse around learning when pairs of participants (13–14 years) competed against the computer in a science quiz. Progress depended on the acquisition of facts but also on the outcomes of throwing dice. Discourse was characterised by a close intermingling of learning and gaming talk without salient problematic constructions regarding fairness when losing points due to gaming uncertainty. A final experiment explored whether, in this type of game, the uncertainty provided by the gaming component could influence players’ affective response to the learning component. Electrodermal activity (EDA) of 16 adults was measured while they played the quiz with and without the element of chance provided by the dice. Results showed EDA when answering questions was increased by inclusion of gaming uncertainty. Findings are discussed in terms of the potential benefits of combining gaming uncertainty with learning and directions for further research in this area are outlined.     

让研究性学习走进课堂

作为实施素质教育主阵地的课堂教学，研究如何渗透研究性学习的理念、方式方法尤为重要。本主要探讨怎样突破传统教学模式，改变教师教学方式，评估方式及营造开放的学习环境方面的问题。     

Testing virtual classroom in the school context

The development of information and communication technologies has made it possible for schools to establish inter‐institutional electronic networks to enhance the quality of education in small schools in sparsely populated countries like Finland. Along with this development, new kinds of virtual classrooms have emerged in symbiosis with conventional schools. A virtual classroom in a school context is a new, mostly uninvestigated, phenomenon. In this article we discuss some theoretical aspects of a virtual classroom in the school context. We also report results of a Finnish project which links two lower secondary school classrooms with the use of video‐conferencing.