Many European countries reported a decline in the number of students who choose STEM subjects as their future career. This is due many to the fact that STEM subjects are perceived as being difficult and boring. This paper presents findings of a case study that made use of an educational game (called Loop) to teach the loop statement in a Software Development module. The game was deployed as part of the NEWTON project large scale Programming pilot run at National College of Ireland (NCI) as part of Higher Diploma in Computing-a level 8 conversion degree, during the academic year 2018/2019. 34 mature students (over 23 years old) that already hold a third level educational degree took part in the study. Pre-and post-game assessments and post-game questionnaire were employed while the Loop game was used as part of the lab sessions. Research findings indicate that majority of the students achieved improved knowledge performance in Java programming language coding of the loop statement. The positive assessment outcomes are discussed together with students' feedback in terms of game design and game usability provided in the questionnaire.
Metacognitive training reflects knowledge, consideration and control over decision-making and task performance evident in any social and learning context. Interest in understanding the best account of effective (win-win) negotiation emerges in different social and cultural interactions worldwide. The research presented in this paper explores an extended study of metacognitive training system during negotiation using an embodied conversational agent. It elaborates on the findings from the usability evaluation employing 40 adult learners pre- and postinteraction with the system, reporting on the usability and metacognitive, individual- and community-level related attributes. Empirical evidence indicates (a) higher levels of self-efficacy, individual readiness to change and civic action after user-system experience, (b) significant and positive direct associations between self-efficacy, self-regulation, interpersonal and problem-solving skills, individual readiness to change, mastery goal orientation and civic action pre- and postinteraction and (c) gender differences in the perceptions of system usability performance according to country of origin. Theoretical and practical implications in tandem with future research avenues are discussed in light of embodied conversational agent metacognitive training in negotiation.
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