Group items tagged

"While gamification is gaining ground in business, marketing, corporate management, health insurance,ecology and wellness initiatives, its application in education is still an emerging trend. This article presents a study of the published empirical research on the application of gamification to education.The study is limited to papers that discuss explicitly the effects of use of game elements in specificeducational contexts. It employs a systematic mapping design. Accordingly, a categorical structure forclassifying the research results is proposed based on the extracted topics discussed in the reviewed papers. The categories include gamification design principles, game mechanics, context of applyinggamification, consisting of type of application, educational level, and academic subject,implementation and evaluation. By mapping the published work to the classification criteria andanalyzing them, the study highlights the directions of the currently conducted empirical research onapplying gamification to education. It also indicates some major obstacles and needs, such as the needfor a proper technological support, the need for controlled studies demonstrating reliable positive ornegative results of using specific game elements in particular educational contexts, etc. Although mostof the reviewed papers report promising results, more substantial empirical research is needed todetermine whether both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation of the learners can be influenced bygamification"

A cool interactive map of the Roman Empire. A great tool to experiment with different modes of travel, over different routes, different seasons, etc. through the Roman Empire. 

ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World reconstructs the time cost and financial expense associated with a wide range of different types of travel in antiquity. The model is based on a simplified version of the giant network of cities, roads, rivers and sea lanes that framed movement across the Roman Empire. It broadly reflects conditions around 200 CE but also covers a few sites and roads created in late antiquity.

The shortlist for this year's 'done in 60 seconds' for Empire Films. Lots of fantastic little moments and cultural references. Great for Media.

documentary - Christianity - how it threatened to split the empire forever.

"Formative feedback is instrumental in the learning experience of a student. It can be effective in promoting learning if it is timely, personal, manageable, motivational, and in direct relation with assessment criteria. Despite its importance, however, research suggests that students are discouraged from engaging in the feedback process primarily for reasons that relate to lack of motivation and difficulty in relating to and reflecting on the feedback comments. In this paper we present Online FEdback System (OFES), an e-learning tool that effectively supports the provision of formative feedback. Our aims are to enhance feedback reception and to strengthen the quality of feedback through the way feedback is communicated to the students. We propose that an effective feedback communication mechanism should be integrated into a student's online learning space and it is anticipated that this provision will motivate students to engage with feedback. Empirical evidence suggests that the developed system successfully addressed the issues of student engagement and motivation and achieved its objectives. The results of using the system for two years indicate a positive perception of the students which, in turn, encourage us to further explore its effectiveness by extending its functionality and integrating it into a an open source learning management system"

Civilization is a popular series of strategy games where players must build empires, trade and wage war. It is also a personal favourite of mine. This is a fab free downloadable version which could be useful in many areas of the curriculum, including money and area in maths and learning about cultures from the past. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/History

Young people are often characterised as cyberkids in reference to an assumed intense engagement and natural affinity with the internet. This article critiques the empirical basis for such claims and explores two alternative perspectives: namely, continua of use and typologies of use. Using UK data on 12-15 year old home internet users, a series of descriptive and latent class analyses of young people's internet use is presented. Results show there is little support for cyberkid characterisations and a proposed continuum of use is also shown to not fit the data. A three-way typology of use is instead presented which suggests a third of young home internet users make only limited use of the internet and the remaining two-thirds diverge into informational and creational/communicative users. These findings are used to argue that Mannheim's notion of generational units may be a useful way to characterise young people's internet use.

by Emily C. Weinstein, Harvard University International Journal of Communication 8 (2014), 210-233. Social media have dramatically altered the communication landscape, offering novel contexts for individual expression. But how do youth who are civically engaged off-­line manage opportunities for civic expression on social media? Interviews with 70 U.S.-­based civic youth aged 15 to 25 revealed three main patterns characterizing the relationship between off-­line participation and online expression: blended, bounded, and differentiated. Five sets of empirically derived considerations influencing expression patterns emerged: organizational policies, personal image and privacy, perceived alignment with civic goals, attitudes toward the platform(s), and perceptions of their audience(s). Most civic youth express the civic online, yet a minority highlight tensions that lead them to refrain from sharing in certain or all online context.

At Empire High School in Vail, Ariz., students use computers provided by the school to get their lessons, do their homework and hear podcasts of their teachers' science lectures. Down the road, at Cienega High School, students who own laptops can register for "digital sections" of several English, history and science classes. And throughout the district, a Beyond Textbooks initiative encourages teachers to create - and share - lessons that incorporate their own PowerPoint presentations, along with videos and research materials they find by sifting through reliable Internet sites.

Interesting data set from Charles Blow's weekend NYT column on the U.S., an "Empire at the End of Decadence"

The role of ethics in the world of new media journalism is uncharted. What can we learn from analyzing the collapse of News of the World and the response of the Murdoch media empire to revelations that its reporters hacked the phones of the parents of murdered children?

Purpose - The primary purpose of this research paper is to understand the role of national cultural dimensions on e-learning practices in India. India is considered a major player in the world economy today. US multinationals are significantly increasing their presence in India and understanding cultural preferences will help global companies transition better. Design/methodology/approach - This conceptual paper uses the national cultural dimensions of the global leadership and organizational behavior effectiveness project, which is identified as the most topical theoretical framework on culture. The national cultural scores are used to develop hypotheses for specific cultural dimensions. Examples from the literature are also used to strengthen the proposed hypotheses. Findings - This research proposes that national cultural dimensions of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, in-group collectivism, and future-orientation influence e-learning practices. This study distinguishes between synchronous and asynchronous methods of e-learning and the role of culture on the same. Future research can definitely empirically test the hypotheses proposed. Practical implications - This study provides strategic implications for multinationals with a guide sheet identifying the role of the various cultural dimensions on e-learning. The suggested strategies can be implemented by multinationals in other countries with similar national cultural dimensions also. Originality/value - This research also proposes a theoretical e-learning model identifying the impact of national cultural dimensions on e-learning practices. This research also provides practitioners a strategic implications model that could be implemented for e-learning initiatives in multinationals.

Formative assessment doubles student learning, according to 250 empirical studies.

A wonderful primary history site from the BBC about the Romans. See how they lived and how they fought to protect their empire. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/History

Looking to keep a fitness resolution this year? Find motivation to get moving and keep fit with this superb location-based strategy game for runners and walkers. Gain virtual coins for being active which you can use to advance your settlement. Locations are not precisely show nor in real time, so you can use it with pupils without safely concerns. If using it for yourself, it can link to Strava to keep you motivated to lace up your running shoes without extra hassle. But don't you come around here and fight me for MY castles!

"An interesting 3D design platform with challenges to aid learning and a variety of options. Free version has limited shapes library."