Background Positive results can be obtained through game-based learning, but children with physical disabilities have fewer opportunities to participate in enjoyable physical activity. Because intelligent serious games can provide personalized learning opportunities, motivate the learner, teach 21st-century skills, and provide an environment for authentic and relevant assessment, they may be used to help children and adolescents with different kinds of learning disabilities to develop social and cognitive competences. Objective The aim of the study was to produce and evaluate a suite of intelligent serious games based on accessible learning objectives for improving key skills, personal development, and work sustainability among children with learning difficulties. Methods We conducted this research between 2016 and 2018, with pupils aged 11 to 12 years with learning disabilities who were integrated into the mainstream educational system. We used a 4-step methodology to develop learner creativity and social competences: (1) needs analysis, (2) development of learning content, (3) development of intelligent serious games, and (4) a usability evaluation focusing on the research questions and hypothesis. This was based on an initial teachers’ evaluation, using a survey, of students using 2 of the games, where the main goal was to determine user motivation and initiative and to improve the games and the evaluation process. The initial evaluation was followed by a pilot evaluation, which was performed for all proposed games, in all partner countries. Results In an initial evaluation with 51 participants from Slovenia consisting of a pretest, followed by intelligent serious game intervention and concluding with a posttest, we observed statistically significant improvement in social and cognitive competences measured by tests. Based on these findings and observations, we improved the games and evaluation process. In the pilot test, conducted in all participating countries on a sample of 93 participants, the mean score on the teachers’ observation form on the pretest (before students began using the intelligent serious games) was 3.9. In the posttest, after students had used intelligent serious games, the mean score was 4.1. Conclusions We focused on developing and evaluating intelligent serious games for persons with learning disabilities, particularly for students with disabilities who are integrated into the mainstream educational system. Such games provide an opportunity for personalized learning and should be tailored to ensure that every learner can achieve the highest standard possible. However, we recommend that the games be adapted based on the students’ needs and capabilities and a specially developed curriculum. The collected feedback showed that (1) children with learning disabilities need appropriately developed intelligent serious games, and (2) intelligent serious games, and the pertaining didactic methodology, should be based on an interoperable curriculum, so that teachers and trainers can use them. The student survey confirmed improvements in all aspects.

V prispevku podamo trenutno stanje znanstvenih ugotovitev o obrnjenem učenju v krizni situaciji in primerjamo dva modela, kitajskega in slovenskega. Marca 2020 je izšel priročnik, ki opisuje kitajsko izkušnjo o tem kako zagotavljati učenje tudi med izbruhom COVID-19. V Sloveniji je konec marca zaživelo gibanje Razlagamo.si, ki ponuja asinhrone (vnaprej posnete) video razlage, ki učečemu omogočajo samostojno razpolaganje s časom in dodatno sinhrono komunikacijo o evidentiranih problemih v skupinskih ali individualnih pogovorih. V prispevku opišemo portal Razlagamo.si in ga primerjamo s kitajskimi smernicami. Na osnovi zaznanih prednosti in slabosti ponudimo model, ki je vzdržen tudi v situaciji, ko je le del populacije učencev in dijakov vključen v izobraževanje na daljavo. Ponudimo tudi kvantitativni pregled video razlag po predmetih in področjih. Prispevek bo v pomoč učiteljem, ki poučujejo po načelih obrnjenega učenja in odločevalcem, ki razmišljajo o modelu izobraževanja v prihodnosti.

No abstract

The paper presents the current state of scientific findings on flipped learning during the outbreak of COVID 19 and compares two models, the Chinese and the Slovenian. The portal www.razlagamo.si offers asynchronous video explanations that allow the learner to manage time independently and supportive conversations in which students synchronously, in one-to-one conversations communicate with student-teachers and in-service teachers. The quantitative overview of the video explanations is provided. Results will help teachers who use the principles of flipped classroom, and decision-makers who design the educational model for the future.

The term e-textbook has not been defined either in Slovenia or elsewhere so far. This document presents the definition of basic characteristics of the content, didactical, technically useful and organizational aspect of an e-textbook creation, mostly based on experiences and good practice. Literature and other digital media mostly refer to e-textbook as a textbook in the form of an e-book, which is defined as a digital equivalent to the printed version. Most e-books and textbooks in digital form only take the advantage of digital media in portability and digital recording. B. Zmazek et al.: What is an e-textbook?

No abstract

The shortage of qualified STEM teachers and researchers in these fields can be recognized as an existing and forthcoming problem. The aim of the present study was to explore the influence of the content of STEM subjects Biology, Chemistry, Informatics, Mathematics, Physics, and Technics and Technology and corresponding classroom experiences, as perceived by students, in elementary and general secondary schools on student's career aspirations and ambition to work as researchers or educators as their career choice. The sample comprised 552 upper general school students (ages 17 to 19) in their last two years before entering University. We hypothesized that a combination of general interest in each of the six listed disciplines, together with the content taught in elementary and upper secondary school, together with respective classroom experiences, will influence career aspirations expressed by ranking their wish to work as educators or researchers. With the use of Structural Equation Modeling, we revealed that Biology, Chemistry, and Physics can statistically significantly explain career aspirations to become a researcher. However, Informatics, Mathematics, and Technics and Technology cannot. None of the listed disciplines positively predicts career aspirations to become an educator. From the correlation between ranked aspirations toward a research and an educational career (r 5 -.03; p 5 .964), we can conclude that most of those who considered a career as a researcher as a plausible option do not share the same opinion about a career in education.

The exponential development of learning environments supported by information and communication technology (ICT), coupled with new insights from the fields of cognitive and neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI), is a huge challenge for both the educational system and youths and their social competences. This article defines the impact of an effective use of contemporary education technologies on young people's engagement and their interest in collaborating with their peers and teachers on the level of interpersonal relationships. It investigates the teachers' and parents' perspective on youth and their cooperation when using ICT in the pedagogical process. The study confirms that innovative didactic approaches to teaching, supported by ICT, exert a positive influence on the collaboration between students, as well as between students and their teachers, and that youths, teachers and parents are all equally aware of that. Parents and teachers have a unified position in support of the idea that an effective use of ICT makes a positive contribution to collaboration between students, and thereby directly affects an increase in their social competences. ICT is becoming one of the important variables that affect the development of young people's social competences. The 2-year study was conducted in the framework of a national project.