Volume 17 - Issue 1 - EN

Teaching Integration, Trust, Communication, and Collaboration Competencies Using Challenge-Based Learning for Business and Engineering Programs

(Enseñanza de las competencias de integración, confianza, comunicación y colaboración mediante el aprendizaje basado en retos para las carreras de Negocio e Ingeniería)

Authors:

A. Luna, M. Chong and D. Jurburg

Abstract:

The world is living its fourth industrial revolution, consisting in the digitalization of industrial processes and incorporating the use of different technologies, leading to significant changes in future workplaces and future jobs. For these reasons, the next generation of business & engineering professionals must strengthen their technical knowledge and personal competencies to face an adequate adaptation to the challenges brought by this new digital era. In this research, we present different learning methods that reinforce professional competencies focused on Integration, Trust, Communication, and Collaboration (ITC2) which are pointed as some of the main soft competencies needed to face this digital revolution in future businesses. The objective of this article is to propose a new challenge-based learning course-pack including the use of different methodologies such as serious games, gamification, simulation, and case studies to reinforce these ITC2 competencies. The results, composed of individual scores, testimonies, and focus groups, revealed evidence on ITC2 capacities training.

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On the Experimental Process in Evaluations of Brazilian Conversational Agents in Education

(On the Experimental Process in Evaluations of Brazilian Conversational Agents in Education)

Authors:

L. N. Paschoal, T. U. Conte and S. d. R. S. d. Souza

Abstract:

Conversational agents represent applications that interact in a natural language with humans. Due to their ability to process the human language, they have been explored in diverse areas, e.g., e-commerce, health, entertainment, and education. Particularly in the education field, they have been used as mechanisms that support the teaching of a second language, that recommend educational resources, and that resolve students’ doubts, as a learning partner. Brazil is particularly interested in the educational technology community studying such software systems. Despite the strong interests in their development, few studies have addressed the impact such systems exert when they are used by students. Experimental studies have enabled a better understanding of the impact of technology on education based on evidence. This article presents an overview of empirical research on conversational agents in education through a mapping of the Brazilian community, identifying the way researchers systematically evaluate such agents produced in their research work. The results show a lack of experimental methodologies and taxonomies that support the planning, development, and reporting of experimental studies. However, a set of variables commonly employed has been recognized. An initial set of guidelines has been developed towards guiding experiments in this context and supporting the systematization of studies on experimental evaluations of pedagogical conversational agents.

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