Gamifying your Teaching: Guidelines for Integrating Gameful Learning in the Classroom

Gamified teaching is a pedagogical strategy that utilizes principles of gaming in the structure of assignments and grading. When students are allowed to engage in gameful educational experiences, they are given the freedom to choose their own pathway through assignments in order to better customize their learning. This article presents a rationale for gamified teaching and outlines the various elements of this instructional approach. In addition, guidance is provided on how to convert a traditional course to a gamified class.     

Reliability and Validity of Real-Time Response Measurement: a Comparison of Two Studies of a Televised Debate in Germany

This paper investigates the reliability and validity of real-timeresponse measurements (RTR). It is based on a comparison oftwo quasi-experimental studies independently conducted on thesecond televised debate of the two major candidates for chancellorin the 2002 German federal election campaign. Participants inBamberg and Mainz—two mid-sized German cities—followedthe debate on a large-scale screen. The viewers’ immediatereactions to the candidates were measured in real-time. In termsof technicalities and substance, both quasi-experiments differedin several important respects. For example, the system usedin Mainz was based on a control unit with a 7-point scale andyielded one merged metric dimension for both candidates. TheBamberg system measured positive and negative impressions ofthe candidates independently, yielding categorical data. Despitethese operational differences, the results show that both methodsrender reliable results that also meet the criteria of face,construct, and criterion validity. Hence, RTR measurements providevaluable, unique insights into subjective immediate reactionsto candidates in televised debates and help to explain post-debateperceptions and attitudes. Received for publication March 23, 2005. Revision received December 14, 2005.     

Relative contributions of parent substance use and childhood maltreatment to chronic homelessness,depression, and substance abuse problems among homeless women: mediating roles of self-esteem and abuse in adulthood

OBJECTIVE: This study, using latent variable methodology, explores simultaneously the relative effects of childhood abuse and early parental substance abuse on later chronic homelessness, depression, and substance abuse problems in a sample of homeless women. We also examine whether self-esteem and recent violence can serve as mediators between the childhood predictors and the dysfunctional outcomes.METHOD: The sample consists of 581 homeless women residing in shelters or sober living centers in Los Angeles (54% African-American, 23% Latina, 22% White, mean age=33.5 years). Multiple-indicator latent variables served as predictors and outcomes in structural models. Childhood abuse was indicated by sexual, physical, and verbal abuse.RESULTS: Childhood abuse directly predicted later physical abuse, chronic homelessness, depression, and less self-esteem. Parent substance use directly predicted later substance use problems among the women. Recent physical abuse predicted chronic homelessness, depression, and substance use problems. Greater self-esteem predicted less depression and fewer substance use problems. Childhood abuse also had significant indirect effects on depression, chronic homelessness, and drug and alcohol problems mediated through later physical abuse and self-esteem.CONCLUSIONS: Although there was a strong relationship between childhood abuse and parent drug use, childhood abuse was the more pervasive and devastating predictor of dysfunctional outcomes. Childhood abuse predicted a wider range of problems including lower self-esteem, more victimization, more depression, and chronic homelessness, and indirectly predicted drug and alcohol problems. The mediating roles of recent physical abuse and self-esteem suggest salient leverage points for change through empowerment training and self-esteem enhancement in homeless women.     

Public accountability and the project-grant mechanism

The project-grant mechanism is a major determinant of research styles and the direction and degree of scientific progress. Insofar as such research increasingly serves as the source of technology, and thus of economic, social and political change, the mechanism also influences, if only indirectly, the societal condition. In its current form the mechanism permits the support of significant amounts of research to be determined on the basis of scientific merit. The result has been the substitution of scientific progress for the achievement of tangible technical ends as the measure of public accountability. Given the increased appearance of undesirable social consequences based, in part, on scientific accomplishments this substitution is now seriously questioned. It has given rise to several attempts to make academic research more responsive to public needs while attempting to preserve the essentials of academic freedom.     

Die Bedeutung der sozialen Herkunft und des Migrationshintergrundes f��r Lehrerurteile am Beispiel der Grundschulempfehlung

In Germany, teachers give a recommendation on the type of school a student should attend after primary school. In some federal states, access to a more demanding school type is restricted to students holding an appropriate recommendation. In a first step, we discuss different theories and approaches as to why a student??s social origin or migration background has an impact on the recommendation, irrespective of school performance. Then we test different hypotheses using data of a combined teacher, student, and parent survey, conducted from the 3^rd grade on in Bavaria and Hessen. Overall, we have information on 1.644 students and 147 teachers. We find strong relationships between social origin and school recommendations as teachers take parents?? educational aspirations into account. Students?? positive school behavior has a positive impact on getting a recommendation for a higher school type; however, the influence of parents?? socio-economic status remains. The data show no evidence for children with migration backgrounds facing greater risks of receiving lower recommendations than other children??irrespective of their family language.