The role of computer games in school is a controversial topic.An increasing number of upper secondaryschools offer three-year programs with an “esport profile” within aesthetics and media. Marketingsuggests that esport can attract students who are interested inplaying computer games, but the scholasticvalue of esport remains to be clarified. Whereas “gamification”is an established term for transformingeducational and other formal practices into game-like activities, little has been saidabout its counterpart“schoolification”: how originally playful and informal practices are transformed to fit within schoolcurricula and syllabi for achieving academic goals. We discussthe relevance of esport in secondaryeducation, a working hypothesis isthat the potential benefitsof esport in academic learning is moreabouthowstudents learn thanwhatthey learn. Specifically, we present and discuss and propose howself-regulated learning (SRL) asa framework can facilitate skills transfer from esport to academiclearning. Using examples from multiplayer games, we elaborate on how co-regulation through socialinteraction can be used as a means for developing SRL. We conclude by suggesting how esport andeducational researchers may usethe SRL framework to address empirical questions about esport inrelation to academic studies.

Student well-being is important for inclusive societies and academic achievement. As studies have shown, well-being is associated with school success. Today, it’s common for schools to use different technologies to collect and analyse digital data with the purpose of improving educational outcomes. Generally, this collected data focus on student engagement, attendance, and results, with novel advancements being aimed at supporting student well-being. In this pilot study, we analyse teachers’ experiences to identify benefits and challenges during a spearhead integration of a data-driven tool for examining student well-being in upper secondary school. Using thematic analysis of teacher interview transcripts, we identified four themes: insight diversity, caring pedagogies, teacher leadership tools, and faculty transformation. The themes are discussed using the theoretical perspectives of orchestration, practice, process, and actors. Key results show that some high-value benefits teachers report on are gaining insights, saving time, and informing decision-making. The challenges include a lack of systematisation, guidance, and resources, and tensions related to defining the role and responsibilities of a teacher or mentor. We conclude that schools that work to support student well-being can benefit from the diversity of insights and practices related to the presented tool. However, an informed and systematic approach would be needed to leverage the benefit of spearhead integration. The contribution of the study is to provide insights on how a well-being tool can be used in an educational context to bring understanding of student well-being to teachers. Our results may inform decisions and guide integration and implementation practices in schools.

In this paper we present Concept-Based Modeling (CBM), an innovative pedagogical method for problem-solving in engineering education, which combines analogue and digital tools. We outline the scientific rationale for CBM and discuss how it compares to traditional teaching with respect to optimizing the pedagogical value of both analogue and digital means. CBM is based on conceptual modeling of quantities derived directly from first principles and streamlined for the use of computer algebra systems (CAS). The method was evaluated in a pilot survey in a statics course for engineering students in their freshman year at Halmstad University. We conclude that CBM improves students’ problem-solving skills by the reciprocal action between conceptual understanding and modeling of a problem. Student evaluations suggest that CBM enables students to handle more realistic problems and that CAS as a professional tool prepares them for their future working life. Future studies will address CBM for more advanced courses, as the students’ knowledge develops over time. © 2022 The Authors. 

The aim of this project is to examine the educational dimensions of esport as part of the course syllabi in secondary education. An increasing number of schools on the upper secondary level (in Sweden: gymnasium) are offering three-year programs with an “esport profile” within aesthetics and media. School marketing suggests that esport can work as a bait for potential students who are interested in playing computer games, but the scholastic values of computer gaming remain to be clarified. Whereas “gamification” is an established term for transforming educational (and other formal) practices into game-like activities, little has been said about its counterpart “schoolification”: how originally playful and informal practices are transformed to fit within school curricula and syllabi for achieving academic goals. A number of unanswered questions follow. For example, teachers have observed that students in the esport program are less motivated in schoolwork but are highly motivated gamers. Is this a question of what students learn, or how they learn? How do the students themselves perceive esport performance in relation to academic performance? What are their driving factors and can motivation in one domain transfer to another? How do students perceive fear of failure, gains of winning, competition and success, across esport and traditional school topics? Here, we address the challenges and procedures of setting up a practice-based research program where the practitioners (i.e. students, teachers, an esport coach and school leaders) collaborate with researchers in investigating the relationship between computer gaming and traditional teaching-and-learning activities in the classroom.

Praktiskt taget hundra procent av alla svenska ungdomar idag använder YouTube – en gigantisk källa till filmmaterial och kunskap som potentiellt skulle kunna användas mycket mer i skolan. Men lärande kräver aktiv bearbetning och att bara se på film är något i grunden passivt. Hur kan filmtittande göras till ett mer engagerande och meningsfullt inslag i undervisningen? I projektet Aktivt lärande genom film har vi undersökt hur filmtittande kan göras mer lärorikt med hjälp av det webbaserade verktyget Active Video Watching (AVW), som engagerar eleven att aktivt kommentera och bedöma innehållet i filmerna. I en unik fallstudie – den första av sitt slag i Sverige – har vi följt läraren från plane- ring till genomförande och utvärdering av ett helt undervisningsmoment med AVW. Därigenom fick läraren detaljerade översikter bland annat av vad eleverna tyckte var svårt, intressant eller otydligt. Elever som använde AVW lärde sig mer och läraren kunde anpassa sin undervisning på sätt som inte var möjliga i den vanliga klassrumsundervisningen.

We aimed to develop and practice an inclusive and democratic pedagogy for involving preschool teacher students in the design of play-&-learn apps that meet the educational objectives of the Swedish preschool curriculum. Previous research has highlighted that many alleged “educational apps” fail to meet basic criteria for promoting children’s learning (Ginsburg, Jamalian & Creighan, 2013; Hirsh-Pasek et al, 2015). Recent reviews suggest that common apps treat children as passive recipients of information (Tärning, 2018), whereas evidence from learning science (e.g. National Academy of Sciences, 2018) show that children’s active learning is promoted by their own efforts, control and exploration. From a sociocultural perspective on the performative nature of learning (Säljö, 2010) we employed the Double Diamond design process model (British Design Council, 2005) for organizing and conducting a researcher-led workshop for facilitating mutual exchange between students and professional app designers. Our approach combined perspectives on situated learning and joint participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) in which the three parties effectively formed a “community of practice” over one day. Students were introduced to the Double Diamond model, then worked in groups for developing prototypes for play-&-learn apps starring a popular children’s book figure. A consent form and information sheet was provided to the participating students, whose prototypes became the objects of analysis. The results provided concrete and visible examples of what preschool teacher students considered important for children’s learning activities with digital tools. This has important implications for developing students’ and teachers’ acquisition competence and for novel educational interventions.

Hur kan vi på ett effektivt och engagerande sätt använda visualisering för elever som ska lära sig nya begrepp och ett helt nytt språk? Vi ställde frågan mot bakgrund av forskning som visat att man lär sig språk bättre i konkreta och autentiska sammanhang. Med Virtual Reality eller virtuell verklighet (VR) kan man gestalta miljöer som är mer verklighetsliknande än tryckta läromedel och böcker. Dessutom kan VR-tekniken hjälpa eleverna med att rikta fokus mot just det de behöver lära sig och i miljöer som inte finns omedelbart tillgängliga i klassrummet. Här utvärderar vi hur VR-teknik användes i flera undervisningssituationer, med fokus på språkundervisningen för nyanlända elever med mycket basala kunskaper i svenska. Att träna ord i VR erbjöd nya möjligheter att engagera eleverna genom att de själva producerade arbetsmaterial och medverkade i virtuella rundturer. Resultatmässigt gjorde detta störst skillnad för elever som föredrog att arbeta med VR framför traditionella läromedel. Sist i rapporten följer en begreppsordlista som förklarar tekniska uttryck om VR i undervisningen. 

Hur kan datorspel bidra till att undervisa på nya sätt, som gör lärandet roligare och mer engagerande? I detta projekt ville vi undersöka hur klassrumsundervisningen kan ”spelifieras” – det vill säga, hur lärare kan använda sig av spelelement och konstruktioner från populära datorspel för att omforma traditionella skoluppgifter – med hjälp av ett digitalt verktyg. Speciellt var vi intresserade av hur spelifieringen av ett arbetsområde påverkade elevernas engagemang och kunskapsresultat, jämfört med mer traditionell undervisning i samma ämne. Ett unikt bidrag är att vi kunde följa upp vad elever och lärare i en klass fått med sig av den spelifierade undervisningen under två år. 

If AI systems are to be used for truly human decision-making in education, teachers will need better support for deciding upon educational interventions and strategies on an ethically informed basis. As indicated by a recent call by the AIED Society to focus on the FATE (Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics) of AI in education, fundamental issues in this area remain to be explicated, and teachers’ perspectives need to be accounted for. The paper offers examples of how AI may serve to promote learning but at the cost of presenting limited or untruthful information to the student. For example, false information about a student’s current progress may motivate students to finish a task they would otherwise give up; hiding information from the student that is disclosed to the teacher may decrease students’ cognitive load while supporting the teacher’s strategic choices, and deceiving the student as to the actual nature of the task or interaction, such as when using virtual agents, can increase students’ efforts towards learning. Potential conflicts between such scenarios and basic values of FATE are discussed, and the basis for developing an “augmented ethics” system to support teachers’ decision-making is presented. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.