1,720,975 research outputs found
What happens off the field? Proposing a rhetorical approach of the affinity spaces surrounding games
No full textThis paper considers the relation between literacy, social media practices and rhetoric, by focusing on game-related spaces as sites for learning. Studies from various disciplinary research domains like anthropology (e.g. Ito and Bittanti 2010) and socio-linguistics (e.g. Gee 2003) connect games and learning. Gee (2003) provocatively claims that games can be considered more powerful learning environments than traditional education. He attributes several learning principles to gaming, thereby also calling attention to affinity groups “bonded primarily through shared endeavors, goals, and practices and not shared race, gender, nation, ethnicity, or culture” (Gee 2003: 197). These observations are supported by recent research that has provided evidence for the ubiquity of learning in the digital spaces where people form affinity groups, like games and the spaces surrounding them (e.g. Steinkuehler and Duncan 2008). Earlier explorations of communities and learning practices (e.g. Anderson 1983; Bey 1991; Pratt 1991) supports Gee’s (2005) claim that the relationship between membership and learning should be approached cautiously. This paper claims that rhetorical theory can offer substantive insights in the world of gaming and learning. Based on the theoretical insights of game scholars like Frasca (1999), Bogost (2007), and Voorhees (2009), this paper proposes to broaden the scope of research to the affinity spaces outside of games and to analyze the interactions within those spaces from a rhetorical perspective. A small but growing body of research relates the study of video games to the theory of New Rhetoric. Here, rhetoric should not be defined merely as an act of persuasion through language, but a means for meaning making in a world of symbols and interactions (Herrick 2004: 223). Based on insights from New Rhetoric, and Kenneth Burke in particular, the concepts of circumference and identification are introduced as a means to widen the analytical lens (Kimberling 1982). Brief examples from discussion forums for Fifa 11 are used to illustrate the conceptualizations
Evaluation of introducing programming to younger school children using a computer game making tool
No full textComputer games are an exceptionally popular medium across all age groups and have significantly impacted on the way that younger people and children spend their leisure time. Educationalists are hopeful that they will be able to utilise the positive attributes of computer games for educational purposes. There have been a number of studies associated with the application of computer games technology (or games-based learning) in tertiary education; however there is still insufficient evidence at this level to properly substantiate the use of computer games technology as a recognised educational approach. There have been even fewer studies gathering empirical evidence about the applicability of games-based learning in Primary Education. This paper will present the findings of an extensive literature review of the use of computer games and education with a specific focus on Primary Education where students have constructed their own computer games. This paper will also report the results of empirical work performed over an eight week period to introduce programming to younger school children using a computer game construction application. The results show that a sense of achievement was evident in most of the children as they participated in making a game.</p
What does it mean to be a game literate teacher? Interviews with teachers who translate games into educational practice
No full textIn this paper, two case studies are presented of teachers who translate video gaming into educational practice. These cases are situated within a broader framework of intermediality/multimodality and related to debates about (video game) literacy and the position of the teacher in education. The question of what it means to be a game literate teacher is explored. Although the results of this study are to be considered preliminary, they raise important issues, such as the role of expert video game knowledge for teachers involved in DGBL, the description of DGBL as an interplay between distinct but intermingling knowledge aspects, and the need for teachers to become anthropologists rather than gamers
Playing in school or at home? An exploration of the effects of context on educational game experience
Get PDFThe goal of this paper is to gain insight into the effects of context on the educational game experience. More particularly, it deals with the differences in the playing and learning experiences of adolescent players in a domestic (N=135) compared to a classroom (N=121) context. It is hypothesized that the playing and learning experiences will differ significantly between contexts. Results of the quasi-experimental design suggest that game and learning experiences are higher in a domestic compared to an educational context. These experiences, however, are influenced by the time spent playing and by technical performance. Moreover, the effect of experiences such as enjoyment and identification on learning experiences have a more substantial impact on perceived learning than differing contexts
Student behaviors and evaluations of collaborative learning game
No full textThis paper highlights some interesting results from a preliminary study involving the choice of technology in Australian rural secondary education. Advances in computers, wireless networks, and mobility have fostered collaborative learning environments. While a large body of research has documented successful intervention strategies and software applications for computer-based and mobile-based collaborative learning systems with respect to computer games and mobile games for educational purposes, little of the research has examined the effect of the two different technology platforms (computer verses mobile) on students’ behaviors and evaluations while using a collaborative learning system. We developed an open-ended collaborative learning game and implemented it on desktop and mobile environments. The collaborative learning game we developed for this study is a multi-player game we called CipherGame. The game is essentially a word-based guessing game. A group of students work together to solve a challenge sentence that has been encrypted with a simple mono-alphabetic substitution cipher (Singh, 2000). The game has no time limit, but we found the students typically took 45 minutes to complete the game. A preliminary study was conducted with the assistance of the ICT teachers and students from the 2009 cohort at Smithfield High School, Cairns, Far-North Queensland, Australia. The purpose of this preliminary study was to begin exploring how students use computer-based and mobile-based collaborative learning systems. We looked at the students' behaviors and evaluations of using the collaborative learning game as a technology artifact, and students' communication pattern when using the systems. We were interested in looking at the extent of help contributing and help seeking student activities during game-play, and also students’ interactions during the collaborative process. We found that perceived enjoyment was significantly lower with the desktop environment, while there were no significant differences on perceived ease of use and perceived sense of group belonging. We therefore, discuss the potential implications of this result with respect to the future of technology in Australian secondary education
Comparing the potential of commercial off-the-shelf and educational games video games for adult foreign language education: an experimental study
Get PDFThe goal of this paper is to explore the experiences evoked by playing a commercial and two digital language learning games. More particularly, it deals with the differences in the playing and learning experiences of adult foreign language learners ( N=62). While results of the experimental design suggest that the commercial game evokes better playing and learning experiences, these findings are partly neutralized by the attitude of the participants towards learning through video games and by being a gamer or not. This raises questions as to how video games should look to appeal to a public of learners that is not familiar with gaming in general and with digital game-based learning in specific
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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