Authors:
Lijo, Ruben and Quevedo, Eduardo and Castro, José Juan
Abstract:
The challenges associated with the education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines can be mitigated using didactic videos, but there are other challenges when considering such potential resources. Amautas is a new platform created to facilitate the search and pedagogical integration of good-quality didactic videos, by proposing a set of structured courses while reproducing a YouTube-alike communication style and, therefore, addressing both scopes: STEM education and dissemination. To evaluate Amautas’ video-courses use and value for education and dissemination, a quantitative methodology has been followed through a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.906) with 489 participants. Overall findings show that the platform’s proposal has achieved a dual use of their didactic videos for education and dissemination purposes (with respective 73% and 82.6% positive responses respectively), and users declare a high positive perception of key metrics and descriptors for adequate content, format, and communicative quality. In fact, 87.9% of participants agree that the contents help them understand topics of interest, and 88.5% agree that the presentation of contents is attractive and interesting. These results show a window of opportunity for further effort investment in the curricular alignment of STEM dissemination resources, fostering their incursion in real classroom scenarios.
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Authors:
Pérez-Suay, Adrián and Laparra, Valero and Vaerenbergh, Steven Van and Pascual-Venteo, Ana B.
Abstract:
Learning Management Systems (LMS) serve as integral tools for executing and evaluating the educational journey. As students engage with the platform, LMS consistently collect valuable data on their learning progress. This study employs statistically-driven methodologies to gain insights into student performance, focusing exclusively on data derived from Moodle LMS, a widely adopted platform across educational institutions globally. In particular we take advantage of the Gaussian Process regression method in order to predict the marks of the students given their activity in Moodle, achieving up to 0.89 R. Besides the use of an advanced kernel, the Automatic Relevance Determination (ARD), allows us to analyse which variables are more relevant when predicting the continuous mark and which are relevant to predict the final mark. Analysing logged data spanning various subjects and degrees, our findings reveals the significance of the frequency of interactions with the LMS as a robust indicator of student performance. This observation suggests the potential utility of interaction metrics as effective measures for monitoring and assessing students’ ongoing learning trajectories. The implications of these results can extend to informing educational strategies and interventions to enhance student outcomes within the higher education field.
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Authors:
Silva-Ovando, Agatha Clarice Da and Quintana, Oscar Saúl Olivares and Salinas-Navarro, David Ernesto and Chong, Mario
Abstract:
As student profiles and industry expectations modify, universities must advance learning methodologies to deliver more suitable graduates to the labor market. The Universidad Privada Boliviana (UPB) has developed experiential learning practices by implementing challenge-based learning (CBL) to enrich undergraduate curricula. One example of the CBL experiences was developed by the Taquiña Brewery, one of the five breweries of the Cervecería Boliviana Nacional (CBN), for the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department of the UPB between 2018 and 2019. As a result, students widely accepted the methodology, and academics from all disciplines in the university were trained to replicate CBL experiences in their classrooms. Moreover, the CBN found the opportunity to hire new talent, receive a fresh perspective on recurrent operational issues, and find new ideas based on theoretical concepts. This work exemplifies innovative approaches to enhance teaching and learning in supply chain management and logistics education.
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Authors:
Valencia-Arias, A. and Patiño-Toro, O. and Neyra-Alemán, K. and Altuna-Tocto, G. and Ureta-Medrano, J. and Azabache-Gutiérrez, P.
Abstract:
Technological progress has become a transforming agent and key support in the development of activities in different spheres of society, specifically the advancement, dissemination, and adoption of mobile devices to support educational dynamics at a global level. These technologies have become important instruments to advance in complex circumstances such as the confinement due to the COVID 19 pandemic that has caused the closure of educational institutions and student desertion. Considering the importance of these resources, this research aims to identify the factors that influence the use of M-Learning tools among higher education students in developing countries. This study with a quantitative approach is carried out by applying 6530 surveys to students from different programs in different regions of Peru. Among the main findings is that Subjective Norms, Perceived Behavioral Control, and Attitudes condition the intentionality of using Mobile Learning. Finally, it is concluded that teacher preparation, perceived usefulness of use, and self-management of learning are critical factors that determine the adoption of M-Learning resources among higher education students in developing countries, where infrastructure, access to connectivity, and equipment must be improved to encourage interactive educational processes and better learning experiences.
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Authors:
Larraza-Mendiluze, Edurne and Arbelaitz, Olatz and Arregi, Olatz and Martín, Jose Ignacio and Lukas, Jose Francisco
Abstract:
Objectives: The aim of this research is to study how games and game development can help students learn introductory concepts of a very abstract topic such as Computer Architecture. Methodology: In a quasi-experimental scenario, quantitative and qualitative data has been collected from students before and after the intervention throughout three consecutive school years. Following the action-research methodology, year by year several changes have been implemented in the games, pursuing a better understanding of the concepts. Also during the last year a game development has been added in order to consolidate knowledge. Results: No statistical differences were found between the knowledge acquired by students in the control and experimental groups during the first two years. Therefore, and given that motivation was higher when using games, the same game-based methodology was used in the third year in both groups. Afterwards, the students had to develop an interactive presentation in the form of an Escape Room to teach younger students the concepts they had learned. Only a few concepts gained knowledge after this intervention, but those concepts with less prior understanding did. Conclusions: Although advanced computer architecture concepts can be difficult to handle through games, there are basic concepts that can be worked on in this way. In addition, the excitement and motivation provided by games make a good introduction to the subject. Also the development of simple games helps to understand some of the concepts that were not well understood before.
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Authors:
Maraza-Quispe, Benjamín and Rosas-Iman, Victor Hugo and Ovalle-Quispe, Maribel and Sajama-Castro, Simona Luz and Mamani-Flores, Guina Victoria and Romero-Vera, Carola Natalia and Solórzano-Bernuy, Ramiro Max
Abstract:
The aim of the research is to determine the impact of video games on the development of meaningful learning in the field of mathematics among students in Regular Basic Education. The research was carried out through a quasi-experimental process and a systematic review of sources. A structured design was used in a pretest and posttest with a one-month application interval, during which three educational video games were used: Strategy, Adventure, and Simulation. The population consisted of 40 students divided into four groups: Three experimental groups and one control group, each composed of ten students. The results showed a significant influence of video games on the development of meaningful learning in the field of mathematics; it was observed that video games function as an educational complement and not as an absolute pedagogical means. The lack of reliability is highlighted due to the inability to control the learning pace of each student, and the possible ethical impacts inherent in education are pointed out. The conclusions show that, although video games can contribute to the development of meaningful learning in the field of mathematics, their use should be considered as part of a comprehensive pedagogical approach and not as the sole teaching and learning tool.
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Authors:
Arango-Vásquez, Sandra Isabel and Manrique-Losada, Bell and Quiceno-Castañeda, Beatriz Eugenia and Moreira, Fernando
Abstract:
The evolution and transformation from traditional to digital education have highlighted the need to produce open-access content. Open Educational Resources (OERs) are materials shared in freely accessible repositories for using by professors, students, and researchers in educational contexts. The low production of OERs has led to research efforts to understand the causes and propose alternatives to foster the creation of OERs published on freely accessible platforms. This article presents a model where several aspects, principles, and components are reenvisioned to create and produce OERs from virtual platforms. The model was validated on the Uvirtual-Abierta platform of the University of Medellín in Colombi, as an Open Access virtual platform, a based on the results obtained from such research. The research was conducted from a qualitative perspective with a hermeneutic methodological approach, allowing the identification of four principles for the model: interaction, mediation, autonomy, and flexibility, as well as three components: pedagogical, production, and technological. We highlighted that to implement a model for the creation of OERs on virtual platforms, the following elements are necessary: institutional policies for open access to content, pedagogical and didactic guidelines to produce open content, training processes for professors to create resources and procedures for implementing OERs on freely accessible platforms.
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Authors:
Martins, Valéria Farinazzo and Andriotti, André and de Oliveira, Carlos and Pezeiro, Rafael J. and Domingues, Claudionor and Veríssimo, Leonardo and Becker, Natália
Abstract:
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by problems with social interactions and communication, and restricted or repetitive behaviors. Upon reaching adolescence, individuals with ASD are often faced with a broader environment and more complex relationships. It is important, therefore, to find ways to develop and improve the social cognition skills of these individuals. Here we describe the development process of a digital game, called TEACOG, for training social cognition in adolescents with ASD. This project was undertaken by an interdisciplinary team of seven people from the areas of computer science and psychology, as well as undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and a person with autism.
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Authors:
Urbano, Julio and Ramirez-Scarpetta, Jose and Rosero, Esteban
Abstract:
Laboratory equipment for practicing activities enable technical skills development in engineering education. In control systems, affordable, portable, and easy to use equipment which allows practicing for the entire set of activities is required. This document presents the development and validation of physical portable practicing equipment for control systems education in engineering. These resources aim to support the development of practicing activities comprising modeling, analysis, design, and implementation of commonly used and advanced controllers. The resources are a pendulum-based prototype and a thermic system-based prototype which allow to obtain a second order system and a first order system with time delay respectively. The prototypes are built using easy to use and easy to acquire elements. These resources were functionally validated according to defined requirements concerning modeling where temporal response of the prototypes were successfully used to find an input-output and state space representation, analysis where frequency response was identified and compared with analytical results, design and implementation of commonly used and advanced control algorithms including a Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID), and a state feedback where the prototypes were easily configured to deploy these algorithms. The prototypes were used in the development of projects activities of the control systems courses of the Electronics Engineering program at Universidad del Valle in the last and first academic periods of 2022 and 2023, respectively. Opinions from students were collected to address usability and pertinence of these resources evidencing suitability for engineering control systems education.
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Authors:
Vélez-Ramos, Jeimy and Tovar-Garrido, Luis and Scholborgh, Francisco
Abstract:
The objective of the research was to build a support platform for chemistry laboratory activities based on the Internet of Things (IoT). The platform provides an economical alternative for conducting chemistry laboratory activities. The research had a mixed approach, where surveys were applied to teachers, students, and administrative staff of the University of Cartagena, and a V-model was used for the development of the application. The main stages of the model included benchmarking to determine the components to be used, the construction of the data acquisition hardware, the development of the laboratory data acquisition software, and the application of component integration, reliability, and technological acceptance tests. As a result, a web application was created, and TDS and temperature sensors were installed and connected by Wi-Fi. In addition, a technological acceptance test was conducted in the Chemistry program. The acceptance test was based on Davis’ technology acceptance model (1989), which considers the user’s ease of use and usefulness perceived, which resulted in a high degree of acceptance. In addition, the platform built has compatibility with multiple sensors, including those outside chemistry, allowing its use in laboratories of other disciplines.
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