Emerging technologies are providing opportunities for designing new learning environments, especially environments in which students can learn by putting their skills into practice. Knowledge about the development of these experiences needs to be accumulated and processed so that they can be integrated effectively into training programmes. In this study we describe how transferable skills such as self-management and teamwork have been developed by 70 Spanish students of Education and Marketing. The learning experience comprised a serious game designed in a 3D simulation environment. For the analysis, two analytical rubrics were taken as references. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests such as Mann-Whitney U and Spearman rho were conducted for comparison and correlation analysis. Our results showed that the students performed well and had a positive perception of the suitability of using the simulation environment for the development of transferable skills. We also found that women performed better than men in activities involving teamwork, especially communication tasks. IntroductionLearning environments based on three-dimensional (3D) simulations are suitable platforms for enabling students to put their knowledge into practice in an integrated way. Part of this knowledge is a set of skills that can be implemented in a wide range of personal and professional situations. These so-called transferable skills are an important component of university curricula that has emerged from the construction of the new European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The construction of didactic methods for developing and evaluating these skills represents a challenge for the majority of higher education (HE) institutions.Emerging technologies are providing excellent opportunities for designing training environments in which learners can develop professional activities that require them to act, take decisions and/or make constructions collaboratively. Environments based on advanced technology enable simulations of professional situations to be created in which students can practice their skills safe in the knowledge that any errors they make will have no repercussions in real life. This safe and controlled process enables the students' learning activities to be analysed, evaluated and reoriented. The simulations can transform an academic activity into a professional environment by controlling certain parameters that allow educational objectives to be achieved. It may be said that the strategies for simulating the professional environment create an educative virtuality when they are also accompanied by a pedagogical strategy that is intended to meet specific teaching objectives.Serious games (technological game-based applications with an educational purpose as well as an entertainment one) via 3D simulations are useful for putting learners in situations where they can acquire transferable competencies. The great potential of digital games does not lie in their gaming characteristics but in the fact that their attributes can be...

Our societies are considered knowledge societies in which lifelong learning is becoming increasingly important. At the same time, digital technologies are entering almost every aspect of our lives and now play an important role in education. The last decade has seen numerous new developments in the field of technology-enhanced learning. In 2004, George Siemens presented connectivism as a learning theory for the digital age. His ideas inspired the creation of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which have recently received a great deal of attention. Theoretical works on the use of digital devices for learning have focused on the affordances users perceive in these devices. Design research has also shown us that learning environments enriched by digital technologies are extremely complex and should be viewed as learning ecologies. The discussions on connectivism and MOOCs, affordances of digital devices, and design research have taken place in different discourses that have paid hardly any attention to each other. It is important to point out, however, that the developments in technology-enhanced learning not only can but need to be related to each other. Keywords

Providing information about how 1st-year students learn may help colleges plan actions aimed at increasing students' persistence in higher education programs. This research aims to assess 1st-year students' academic performance, using a path analysis to establish inter-correlations among students' personality traits, learning patterns, high school achievement, and objectively measured outcomes. Participants included 509 freshmen from different academic disciplines. Results show a causality relations model in which Conscientiousness positively influences Sequential and Precise learning patterns as well as academic performance. The path model also confirms Extraversion as a negative antecedent of the Technical learning pattern. It is argued that knowing students is a primary step to putting them in a position to become an active part of the learning process.

Abstract:The acquisition of teacher digital competence (TDC) is a key aspect in the initial training of teachers. However, most existing evaluation instruments do not provide sufficient evidence of this teaching competence. In this study we describe the design and development process of a three-dimensional (3D) virtual environment for evaluating the TDC of future teachers, through a performancebased, collaborative and contextual evaluation. This environment, named ETeach3D, has been constructed using the Educational Design Research (EDR) approach. It is based on successive iterative cycles and is in accordance with the criteria of usefulness, validity and effectiveness. In addition to the research team responsible for the project, participating in this study were 187 Spanish undergraduate students of Education and 22 experts in the field of educational technology. Results show that these environments, in addition to other characteristics, should: (1) function smoothly and have simple interfaces, realistic scenes and interactive activities; and (2) follow a systematic evaluation procedure that integrates several strategies and levels of complexity. This research helps to improve the initial training of pre-service teachers, and contributes to the growing number of EDR studies that focus in the field of evaluation of the curriculum domain. Running head: ETEACH3D: EVALUATING DIGITAL COMPETENCEFrancesc M. Esteve-Mon, Rovira i Virgili University (*) Jose María Cela-Ranilla, Rovira i Virgili University Mercè Gisbert-Cervera, Rovira i Virgili University Postprint. Accepted version of the contribution (http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0735633116637191) This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. Journal of Educational Computing Research Dr Jose María Cela-Ranilla is a lecturer at the Faculty of Educational Sciences andPsychology of the Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona, Spain. He is a member of the Applied Research Group in Educational Technology (ARGET), which conducts research on the use of ICT in Education, where he has participated in several national and international projects. He is particularly interested in the application of Educational Research Methodology (EDR).Postprint. Accepted version of the contribution (http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0735633116637191) This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. Journal of Educational Computing ResearchDr Mercè Gisbert-Cervera has a permanent position as professor at Rovira i Virgili University in the Department of Pedagogy. She is Dr in Educational Sciences and since 1988 has been conducting academic and research activities. She is the coordinator of the interdisciplinary Applied Research Group in Technology and Education (ARGET), and responsible of a PhD and Master degree ...

In this study we analyze how 57 Spanish university students of Education developed a learning process in a virtual world by conducting activities that involved the skill of self-management. The learning experience comprised a serious game designed in a 3D simulation environment. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were used in the analytical process. An analytical rubric was taken as a reference to enable an expert observer to collect the relevant information. Our results show that the students generally achieved good levels of self-management in this technological environment. Senior university students presented higher scores than freshmen in this particular skill. We also found that students tended to develop better learning activities that involved analytical work than those that involved action or development. The students' perceptions about 3D environments regarding self-management were mostly satisfactory, especially for planning activities. These results provide relevant information on how students develop activities that involve self-management components in a technological environment. However, the research design did not allow us to determine how this environment increases the level of this specific skill.

ResumenLos entornos de simulación 3D con mediación pedagógica favorecen la comunicación e interacción de los estudiantes inmersos en la actividad formativa en el contexto de la secuencia pedagógica planteada, promoviendo así de manera natural el aprendizaje de los estudiantes, generándose dos tipos de comunicación: interacción entre participante y objeto 3D, e interacción del tipo participante con otro participante que en la experiencia es la que se desarrolla más espontáneamente y en mayor cantidad. Se evidencia que el comportamiento y la actuación de los perfiles Strong-Willed y Bridge son distintos. El perfil Strong-Willed se caracteriza por organizar, asumir y distribuir responsabilidades, tomar decisiones, colaborar, liderar el trabajo del grupo, ser persistente y constante. Sin embargo, el perfil Bridge se caracteriza por ser comunicativo, expresivo y motivador del grupo; se apoya en el conocimiento de los miembros del grupo para aprender y desarrollar sus actividades y carece de continuidad durante el desarrollo del trabajo grupal.Palabras clave: aprendizaje colaborativo; aprendizaje interactivo; simulación por computadora; comunicación mediada por computadora; realidad virtual. Abstract3D simulation environments with pedagogical mediation encourage communication and interaction of students of the training activity in the corresponding sequence by promoting their learning. Two types of communication are generated: interaction between participant and object 3D, and interaction between participants, which in practice has demonstrated to be more prolific and spontaneous. There is evidence that the behavior and performance of the Strong-Willed and Bridge profiles are different. The Strong-Willed profile is a learner

This study analyzes the relationship between the use of learning patterns as a grouping criterion to develop learning activities in the 3D simulation environment at University. Participants included 72 Spanish students from the Education and Marketing disciplines. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were conducted. The process was analyzed by means of teamwork measurements and the product was analyzed by assessing the final group performance. Results showed that learning patterns can be an effective criterion for forming work groups, especially when the students do not know each other.

This study analyzes the relationship between the use of learning patterns as a grouping criterion to develop learning activities in the 3D simulation environment at University. Participants included 72 Spanish students from the Education and Marketing disciplines. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were conducted. The process was analyzed by means of teamwork measurements and the product was analyzed by assessing the final group performance. Results showed that learning patterns can be an effective criterion for forming work groups, especially when the students do not know each other.