Using a mobile application to support children's writing motivation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the use of the prototype of a mobile application for the enhancement of children's motivation for writing. The results are explored from students' and experts' perspectives.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on a field trial and expert evaluations of a prototype of a mobile application. The field trial data consists of questionnaire data collected from elementary school students (n=25) who used the mobile prototype. The expert evaluations (n=8) of the prototype were conducted based on usability and pedagogical heuristics. The main research question is how the mobile application motivates children to learn creative writing.FindingsTh…

Digitalisaatio ja oppimistilat – haaste ja mahdollisuus

Gamification Based on User Types : When and Where It Is Worth Applying

Students’ motivation is one of the most relevant factors when improving the quality of the learning process. In this context, gamification is a powerful tool for increasing motivation at all levels of teaching. Since gamification methodologies can be applied in many different ways, personalizing gamified activities as a function of gamification user types is a promising strategy. Knowing the user types is also an advantage to understand the nature of learners in the class. In this article, we present the findings from several pilot exercises, where we identified gamification user types among students from Spain and Finland, analyzing their prevalence as a function of age, gender, country, a…

Why Do Teachers Use Game-Based Learning Technologies? The Role of Individual and Institutional ICT Readiness

This paper investigates how different individual and institutional factors pertaining to ICT readiness influence teachers’ adoption of game-based learning technologies. The data were gathered from Finnish primary, lower secondary and upper secondary school teachers (N=1668) with an online survey. The results indicate that openness towards ICT, ICT attitude and the ICT compatibility with teaching positively influence the perceived value whereas openness towards ICT, supportive organizational ICT culture, ICT selfefficacy and ICT compatibility with teaching positively influenced the actual use of game-based learning technologies. However, the structural model could explain only little of the …

Arjen mobiilipalvelut -hankkeen oppimisen ja hyvinvoinnin mobiiliratkaisut

Digital Stories with Children: Examining Digital Storytelling as a Pedagogical Process in ECEC

Modern digital technologies have become common in educational settings of all levels. This has made the use of digital storytelling (DST) more applicable in early childhood education and care (ECEC). This paper examines the implementation of DST, aiming to answer the following questions: 1) How to support children’s active participation throughout the DST process in ECEC, and 2) how do 21st century skills manifest in the DST process? The study was conducted between 2017 and 2018, when two cycles of DST projects were implemented in four Finnish ECEC centres as part of a European project. The data consist of interviews with educators (N=15) and children (N=51), as well as documentation of the…

Children's involvement in the design of game-based learning environments

Osallistuminen teknologian suunnitteluun tarjoaa lapsille arvokkaita kokemuksia. Tilaisuus päästä ottamaan osaa todellisen sovelluksen kehittämiseen kiinnostaa ja motivoi lapsia sekä toimii myös monenlaisten taitojen oppimistilanteena, Tuula Nousiainen kertoo. Lasten osallistuminen osoittautui tärkeäksi myös kehittäjille, jotka paitsi saivat lapsilta runsaasti ideoita, myös kokivat lasten kanssa toimimisen motivoineen työskentelyään.Nousiainen tutki kahta oppimispelisovelluksen suunnitteluprojektia, jotka toteutettiin yhdessä koululuokkien kanssa. Tavoitteena oli tutkia ja kehittää toimintatapoja lapsilähtöiseen teknologian suunnitteluun. Tutkimuksessa muodostettiin monitieteinen lapsilähtö…

Creative Improvisations with Information and Communication Technology to Support Learning : A Conceptual and Developmental Framework

This article is about facilitating collaborative, creative improvisations in learning with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and in so doing enhancing under-utilised creative possibilities in education and development in schools, universities, workplaces and in every-day life. Improvisation is defined and earlier research on supporting creative improvisations with ICT is outlined. There follows a conceptual framing where improvisation is seen as a creative outcome of certain cultural ecological interactions in learning environments. It is proposed that these creative improvisational interactions can be facilitated by ICT, and developmental ideas are presented. The purpose of …

Effects of Using Standing Versus Sitting Workstations on the Well-­Being at Work of Software Professionals

Although people admittedly are one of the most valuable assets of many software companies, relatively little academic research has been done from the well-being at work aspect of software professionals. This intervention study aims to address this gap in prior research by examining the potential effects of using standing instead of sitting workstations on the well-being at work of software professionals in terms of physical activity, mental alertness, and stress. The two measurements before and after the intervention were conducted in June and September 2015 for 29 employees of a local site of a large Finnish software company by using questionnaires and the Firstbeat Lifestyle Assessment se…

LUKILOKI-koulutuksesta eväitä monilukutaidon opetukseen

LUKILOKI-täydennyskoulutus on tarjonnut tutkimustietoa ja käytännön työkaluja yli 1800 opettajalle varhaiskasvatuksesta toiselle asteelle. Koulutus keskittyy oppimisen ja motivaation tukemiseen, monilukutaitoon, kielitietoisuuteen ja monikielisyyteen. Tässä tekstissä kerromme, miten LUKILOKI-koulutus tukee opettajia monilukutaidon ohjaajina. Monilukutaito perustuu laajaan tekstikäsitykseen ja haastaa opettajia muun muassa monipuolistamaan koulun tekstimaailmaa. nonPeerReviewed

Teacher competencies in game-based pedagogy

This study examines what kind of competencies teachers need in using game-based pedagogy (GBP). In our conceptual framework, GBP entails four approaches: using educational games or entertainment games, learning by making games, and using gamification in learning. Our data, consisting of teachers’ documentation, thematic interviews and questionnaires, were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Four main competence areas were identified: pedagogical, technological, collaborative and creative. The results are applicable for developing teacher education and in-service training, as teacher competencies in game-based learning will be more integral to teachers’ professional knowledge and sk…

Children's Involvement in the Design of Game-Based Learning Environments

Telling Stories with Digital Board Games

In the context of computer games, learning is an inherent feature of computer game playing. Computer games can be seen as multimodal texts that connect separate means of expression and require new kinds of literacy skills from the readers. In this chapter, the authors consider how the computer-based learning tool Talarius, which enables students to make their own digital games and play them, lends itself to literacy learning. The learning subject is a children’s novel, and thus it is narrative by its nature. In addition, the learning tool provides the potential to interweave narrative contents into the games made by it. The focus of this chapter is on the relationship between narrativity an…

A Mobile Application Concept to Encourage Independent Mobility for Blind and Visually Impaired Students

This paper presents a user-centric application development process for mobile application to blind and visually impaired students. The development process connects the assistive technology experts, teachers and students from the school for visually impaired together to participate to the design of the mobile application. The data for the analysis is gathered from interviews and workshops with the target group. The main goal of the project is to examine how mobile application can be used to encourage and motivate visually impaired students to move independently indoors and outdoors. The application allows the students to interact with their environment through use of sensor technology now st…

"Let's do this together and see what we can come up with!" : Teachers' Views on Applying Game-based Pedagogy in Meaningful Ways

Game-based pedagogy offers a promising approach to renewing school education and making it more engaging. However, teachers’ ways of using game-based pedagogy have been rather traditional, not making use of its full potential. This paper presents initial findings on the experiences of teachers who participate in a project that aims to promote the meaningful use of game-based pedagogy. The findings suggest that game-based pedagogy could indeed play a key role in changing traditional practices in schools. Game-based approaches can support differentiated instruction, enhance pupils’ motivation and effort, provide new perspectives to assessment, and transform traditional roles in the classroom …

Miten torjua verkkovihaa sosiaalisessa mediassa?

Keskustelu nettikiusaamisesta ja verkkovihan leviämisestä on tuskin jäänyt keneltäkään huomaamatta. Yhdessä nuorten aktiivisen sosiaalisen median käytön kanssa asiaton verkkokäyttäytyminen haastaa mediakasvatusta. Nuoret ovat itsekin tietoisia ongelmista: erityisesti nettikäyttäytymiseen ja -turvallisuuteen toivotaan käytännönläheistä opastusta koulusta tai kotoa. Millaisia konkreettisia vinkkejä nuorille voisi antaa asiattoman verkkosisällön ja -käyttäytymisen torjumiseen? nonPeerReviewed

LUKILOKI : virtaa ja välineitä luku- ja kirjoitustaidon ohjaamiseen

“Mukavaa, kun tässä koulutuksessa tutkimus kohtaa arjen”, tiivisti LUKILOKI-koulutuksen osallistuja kokemuksiaan. Valtakunnallisen, 1600 opettajaa tavoittavan LUKILOKI-täydennyskoulutuksen tavoitteena on tarjota opetushenkilöstölle luku- ja kirjoitustaidon ohjaamiseen ja tukemiseen liittyvää tutkimustietoa ja käytännön työkaluja. Koulutuksen keskiössä ovat muun muassa lukumotivaatio, arviointi ja oppimisen tukeminen luki- ja oppimisvaikeuksien sekä S2-opetuksen ja monikielisyyden näkökulmista. Tässä artikkelissa kuvataan hankkeen tavoitteita ja tuotoksia, joita opettajat voivat hyödyntää työnsä tukena. nonPeerReviewed

JYUescape - pakohuone pelikasvattajana

Peliviikko on kansainvälinen teemaviikko, jonka tavoitteena on rakentaa positiivista pelikulttuuria ja vähentää pelaamiseen ja pelaajiin liittyviä ennakkoluuloja. Marraskuun alussa Jyväskylän yliopistossa järjestettiin jo viidettä kertaa tapahtuma Peliviikolle. Ruusupuiston pelikasvattajat eli ryhmä peleistä ja pelikasvatuksesta kiinnostuneita opettajankouluttajia ja kasvatustieteiden tutkijoita pääsi oppimaan ja jakamaan tietoa digitaalisen pakohuonepelin toteuttamisesta kaikille yliopistolaisille suunnatun JYUescape-pakohuoneen kautta. nonPeerReviewed

To sit or to stand, that is the question : examining the effects of work posture change on the well-being at work of software professionals

Despite the central role of human resources in determining the success of software companies, relatively little academic research has been conducted on the well-being at work aspect of software professionals. This study aims to address the aforementioned gap by examining the effects of using standing instead of sitting workstations on the well-being at work of software professionals in terms of their physical activity, mental alertness, stress, and musculoskeletal strain. An intervention study consisting of two measurements was conducted for 29 employees of a large Finnish software company by using questionnaires and the Firstbeat Lifestyle Assessment service. The findings of the study sugg…

Miten torjua vihapuhetta sosiaalisen median palveluissa?

Viimeaikainen keskustelu vihapuheesta ja sen leviämisestä verkossa on tuskin jäänyt keneltä- kään huomaamatta. Se yhdistettynä nuorten erittäin aktiiviseen sosiaalisen median käyttöön on yhtälö, joka tekee mediakasvatuksesta yhä tärkeämpää ja asettaa sille isoja haasteita. Syksyllä 2016 julkaistun SoMe ja nuoret 2016 -tutkimuksen3 perusteella nuoret itsekin ovat tästä tietoisia. Yli 70 % kyselyyn vastanneista 13–29-vuotiaista nuorista oli nimittäin sitä mieltä, että joko koulussa tai kotona tulisi opettaa sosiaalisen median käyttöä, erityisesti netissä käyttäytymistä ja turvallisuutta. Tämä artikkeli pyrkii osaltaan vastaamaan tähän tarpeeseen nostamalla esiin käytännön keinoja vihapuheesee…

Gamifying Teacher Students’ Learning Platform

This paper presents initial results from a study exploring teacher students’ experiences related to the gamification of an online learning platform in higher education. The aim was to get an understanding of the participants’ views regarding the use of game elements and to examine the user type profile of this group in order to explore the potential of applying user types in planning gamification solutions for teacher students. The participants’ overall experience of having game elements as part of their course platform was principally positive. User types students presented were investigated using the Hexad scale adapted from game design: in this user group, Socialiser and Philanthropist w…

Adaptive techniques in e-Learning for transnational programs

In this article we present a set of methods and models to help the inclusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in transnational programs. The material that we are presenting takes advantage of several adaptive models that automatically react to students' activity. These models are extremely useful in environments where a huge number of very different students (such as those found in transnational programs) are enrolled in the courses or where the distance is a problem for face-to-face activities. We present the theoretical background, the gamification and adaptive techniques included in the model and the platform where the courses are implemented.

Virtual Reality for Collaborative Learning in Teacher Education

This poster discusses the potential of virtual reality (VR) for collaborative learning. VR can provide engaging, social and creative digital environments for collaborative knowledge construction but its pedagogically meaningful uses and affordances are only just developing. We present the design of a case study where pre-service teachers become acquainted with the pedagogical potential of VR through collaborative exploration and subsequently collaboratively design and reflect on authentic school projects using VR. nonPeerReviewed