This study aims to explore a learner's embodiment and movements during discussion which are represented on an avatar in a social virtual reality (VR) space. From a user study, we demonstrated the ...validity of social VR space in an active learning (AL) setting. It is unclear whether such information represented on an avatar affects turn-taking and facilitates group discussion during AL activities. Therefore, this study conducted an experiment and clarified that turn-taking in the social VR space occurs more than on a monitor, leading to a better discussion.
Flipped learning is a pedagogical approach that has evolved from the variations of blended learning and involves prior study which emphasizes self-directed learning. This study aims to design ...instructional materials to harness learning skills, strengthen the mastery of cognitive skills, and help learners thrive and succeed in the 21 st century. The flipped learning concept has been analyzed to design and develop learning widgets and instructional design models to learn Biology. The design of instructional materials was anchored on the framework for 21 st century learning that identifies the skills and knowledge that the students need to succeed in work and life in the 21 st century. The different learning tasks in the created instructional materials were appropriately designed to capture the 4 Cs - critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity of the students and were tailored fit for a flipped approach to learning Biology.
The delivery of teaching and learning along with its approach is essential to 21 st -century skills educational outcomes in the UAE. In today's society, it is crucial to identify specific ...competencies and skills to develop the learner and answer to the demand of what employers need for the future. The UAE Vision 2021's includes a directive for UAE Higher Education (HE) institutions to "listen closely to the needs of Emiratis and of their future employers" and to "balance their teaching to the demands of the workplace." To respond to this call, engineering education and training institutes need to implement a pedagogical model that aims to challenge the ever-changing and complex challenges in the workplace. As UAE employers look for engineering graduates with skills in various areas such as critical thinking, effective communication, innovation, and problem-solving, the pedagogy models adopted by HE institutes seldom addresses these needs. How best to acquire and practice these skills is overlooked mainly as this has to do with the embedded approach of traditional information transmission model. This paper, considers the essential pedagogical approaches to contribute to the development and mastery of twenty-first-century competencies and skills and proposes a model to advance the quality and effectiveness of vocational learning atHEinstitutes across the UAE.
Engaging youngsters with ancient approaches in education, especially reading, grows ever tougher in the face of their attachment to tablets and PC games. In this paper, we explore the digital ...storytelling more interesting and memorable for children. Digital storytelling is recognized as a motivating instructional approach that engages learners in 21 st century learning skills which will be essential to success in the future. Digital storytelling is one of the latest pedagogical approaches that can engage learners in computational thinking. Educators are in search of recent technologies and education approaches to engage students in computational thinking. Digital storytelling using MIT Scratch have the potential to meet this demand.
The emerging drone industry presents an ecosystem rich with STEM careers. This paper discusses the development of an integrated STEM curriculum, the Drone Innovators Program, designed to immerse ...middle school and high school students in STEM careers through drone education. A work in progress curriculum presented in this paper is a series of creative problem-solving online micro-courses for both online schools and brick-and-mortar classrooms. The curriculum is being piloted in an online charter school that serves students throughout the state of Pennsylvania, reaching a vastly diverse demographic. The course design uses research-based instructional models to capture a wide range of student interests, skills, and abilities. We will present the program framework and a lesson from our first unit.
The professional skills are the non-technical learning outcomes put forth by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) as part of the larger set of student learning outcomes that ...are required of all ABET accredited programs. The Computing Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA) is the only tool and method that is able to simultaneously assess all six of the computing professional skills at both undergraduate and graduate levels. This paper presents the results from the first comprehensive investigation of student attainment of the professional skills using the CPSA across a UAE-based computing program's 3 rd year, 4 th year, and masters level students. The results show that the students overall are weakest in learning outcomes related to the local and global impact of computing, and the ability to recognise when they need to seek additional knowledge. The proficiency results for each year provide useful insights into what and where weaknesses exist. With this information one can devise interventions in a program so as to improve student learning.
Improving eLearning to meet challenges in 21st century Gamage, Dilrukshi; Perera, Indika; Fernando, Shantha
2014 14th International Conference on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions (ICTer),
2014-Dec.
Conference Proceeding
Elearning has been practicing for more than a decade, it is evolving and changing rapidly to meet the needs of users. Many countries are moving from an industrial-based to information-based economy ...and the education systems must respond to this change. The skills needed in a modern world are critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, metacognition, and motivation. Last couple of decade eLearning focused more towards the individual development and literally assessing the student's lower order thinking. The pedagogy supports to achieve learning outcomes based on individual performances leaving the learner in an isolated learning environment. The latest disruption in online learning is the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). Many researchers assert that it provides sound pedagogical change leading to many advantages. Our research aims to address the gap between current and past outcomes produced by eLearning with that of next few decades to come. We used qualitative method Grounded theory to identify the factors affecting to an effective eLearning and ranked them according to the priority by using quantitative method Principle Component Analysis (PCA) in SPSS (Version 10.0 for Windows).
The growing pace of innovation in terms of products and business models, forces organizations to seek innovative engineers who can build for the future, not just through a technical job, but through ...a wide range of management roles in any industry, the government and even academia. Engineering managers are distinguished from other managers as they have the ability to apply engineering principles and skills in organizing and managing people and projects. Some of the most important questions that this paper considers, are the following: Is engineering education in line with today's engineering profession demands? Which are the most appropriate teaching methods that need to be implemented in order for higher education to promote understanding of academic content at much higher levels? This paper presents a modified framework on how 21st century interdisciplinary themes derived from core subjects in Finance, Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship, have been weaved into the MSc Engineering Management (MScEM) Program (at the University of Nicosia, so that students of the program are trained to become 21st century industry leaders.
This paper reports on a research project that deals with game-based and project-oriented teaching strategies followed by university teachers in a skills development module for engineering students at ...the University of Pretoria. Learning activities are developed to not only provide an opportunity to develop 21 st century skills, the so-called 4C's (communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking) but also to engage with students on their specific level of competency. Three learning activities, namely an Amazing Race game, a GoGreen project, and a LEGO team task, are introduced and linked to existing learning theories. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of focus group interviews, observations, reflective essays and the academic performance of students serve as proof that a wide variety of skills and competencies, essential for achieving academic success, can be incorporated successfully in games and projects and by employing these strategies, students are more likely to engage in the learning environment.
Constructivism has been evolving as to how educators all over the world have been perceiving it to be a responsive frame of mind in the 21 st century schools. "Imagineering", conceived as a blend of ...imagination and engineering, now becomes a significant concept rooted from how teachers innovate the curriculum toward making their learners create new knowledge. This descriptive-survey study generally assessed how constructivist are the 270 pre-service teachers who are the future of the modern schools. The results revealed that the would-be teachers are much more imaginative and creative in designing teaching strategies, techniques, and assessment tools than in acquiring concepts for learning. Data further imply that while they are too aggressive in creating outputs, pre-service teachers tend to overlook the significance of knowledge acquisition prior to exploration and creation. It is important to note that pre-service teacher training be founded on capacity building and stimulation of imagination before making decisions on creative teaching. Recreating this study is highly recommended to further understand the procedure in preparing prospective teachers in the new millennium.
