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Background: Virtual reality (VR) offers much potential for learning, but it challenges learners' orientation. Objectives: This paper investigates whether it is possible to use light or movement cues to facilitate orientation in a search task in a desktop‐VR environment so that participants can better attend to the learning content presented simultaneously. Methods: In two pre‐registered online experiments, we investigated the effects of cueing (light and movement) on search time, learning, and several evaluation variables. Participants were asked to find tools in a virtual workshop, while information about the respective tool was narrated. Experiment 1 (N = 60) used a within‐subject design, that is, the objects were alternately highlighted by light, movement or not. For Experiment 2 (N = 159) the narration was substantially shortened, and a between‐subject design was used. Cognitive load and presence were measured additionally. Results and conclusions: In Experiment 1, only the movement cue decreased search time, indicating automatic guidance of learners' attention. There was no effect of cueing on learning, which may be due to the average search time being substantially shorter than the narration, leaving sufficient time to attend to the narration exclusively. In Experiment 2 search times were significantly faster for both cueing methods, but only the light cue resulted in better learning outcomes, which could be explained by the slightly lower presence in the movement cue condition. Implications: Results imply that it is important to develop cues that automatically guide attention without reducing presence. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Virtual reality (VR) offers a lot of opportunities for the integration of educational scenarios.VR is challenging for learners with regard to orientation in a 360° environment.Regarding learning outcomes, research on the effects of cues to highlight important content in a 360° environment is still rare.Presence, defined as the feeling of being there in a VR environment, is an important prerequisite for learning in VR. What this paper adds: The influence of light and movement cues on search times and learning outcomes in a desktop‐VR environment was tested.Movement cues can reliably reduce search times (indicating successful orientation), whereas light cues only reduced search times in predictable scenarios.In a predictable scenario, light cues enhanced learning outcomes compared with movement cues.Movement cues reduced presence, which is one potential reason why movement cues did not improve learning. Implications for practice and/or policy: Using light cues might assist orientation and enhance overall performance in predictable scenarios (i.e., when learners know what kind of cue to expect).In an unpredictable setting with variable cues, light cues did not facilitate orientation, whereas movement cues did.However, movement cues reduced presence, which may have negatively affected learning outcomes. It is important to develop cueing methods that also work in more unpredictable settings, but that do not reduce presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Effective learning in computer programming courses has been a constant challenge for university teachers and has become a relevant competence for current professionals. The literature on gamification in learning presents mixed results, mainly due to problems in instructional design and inconsistency in gamification. Studies with positive empirical results on computer programming formative activities and showing under what conditions gamification is effective still need to be included. Objectives: This study aimed to quantify the effects of gamification techniques in software tools that support computer programming learning applied to data‐structures university students. The study focused on determining whether there are differences in learning when using gamification techniques in online exercising formative activities. The effects of gamification on learning objectives with diverse complexity are studied. Methods: The study was conducted on computer engineering university students following a pretest‐intervention‐posttest design. They were divided into control and experimental groups, where both used a bank of exercises in Moodle to support learning. The experimental group considered gamification techniques, including points, leaderboards, and badges. Results and Conclusions: Gamification techniques significantly outperformed in learning gains in exercising activities without gamification. Regarding learning complexity, increasing taxonomic complexity did not negatively affect gamification learning effects. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter?: Gamification has been explored as a strategy to enhance learning motivation in various educational contexts, including computer programmingLiterature shows mixed quantitative results on learning improvements under gamification.Few studies cover formative exercises, deal with computer programming tasks, or use a LMS like Moodle.Lack of literature exploring the conditions for effective gamification use, and involving learning objective complexity. What does this paper add to the existing body of research?: Quantifies the impact of gamification techniques on learning outcomes, specifically focusing on computer‐programming in university.Provides empirical evidence on gamification significantly improving learning gains compared to non‐gamified data‐structures exercisesGamification is effective in tasks of diverse levels of taxonomic complexity, with consistent effectiveness regardless of learning difficulty. Implications of study findings for practitioners: Gamification techniques, can be used in higher education to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes in computer programmingThe gamification information (e.g. points and ranking) do not require an automatic update, can be processed manually and published daily.It is effective to use gamification for learning tasks of medium‐high difficulty in Moodle on computer programming topics.It is key a thoughtful instructional design when applying gamification, ensuring alignment with learning objectives and task complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Study: The effects of the flipped classroom (FC) on students' academic performance remain ambiguous, and the use of pre‐class videos may be one of the main factors hindering students' progress. A software package called GeoGebra has been proposed as a substitute for pre‐class videos to aid students' learning. Objective: This study investigates the effect of the FC using GeoGebra (FCG) on mathematical performance and memory among senior secondary students. Methods: One hundred and sixty students of a senior high school in China were selected. A quasi‐experimental design was implemented in which the classes were split into the intervention group (FCG), control group A (FCV) and control group B (TL) by random assignment. Pretest, Post‐test 1 and Post‐test 2 were introduced. Results and Conclusion: The results indicate that both the FCG and the FC with pre‐class videos (FCV) were more effective than traditional lectures in enhancing students' academic test scores, and that the effect of the FCG was comparable to its video counterpart, F(2, 136) = 3.752, ρ = 0.026, η2 = 0.052. Although their effects were similar, the qualitative results revealed some hidden benefits associated with the replacement of pre‐class video with GeoGebra. Furthermore, although they were equally effective in promoting students' performance in the short‐term, the long‐term effects on academic performance of both forms of FC were non‐significant when compared with traditional lectures. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Flipped classroom is an effective strategy in teaching mathematics.Among those challenges, video may be one of the main factors hindering the effect of flipped classroom. What this paper adds: GeoGebra could be an effective alternative to video.Effect between the flipped classroom using GeoGebra and the flipped classroom using video were similar.Both the flipped classroom with GeoGebra and the flipped classroom with videos were more effective than traditional lectures. Implications for practice and/or policy: Students' short‐term performance could be enhanced by visualisation provided by flipped classroom.To enhance students' long‐term performance, an appropriate amount of homework is suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Morphological awareness (MA) is the awareness and ability to manipulate morphemes, the smallest units of meaning in a language. It is identified as a strong cognitive precursor of word reading and reading comprehension. The current MA instructions are limited to classroom settings and delivered by teachers or experimenters. Few studies have included technology and its novel features to deliver MA instructions. Objectives: This study proposes a gamified learning approach embedded with self‐regulated learning support for MA learning and examines its effects on improving English reading performance and intrinsic motivation among junior secondary grade students who learn English as a foreign language. Methods: This study adopted a randomized controlled trial design. Participants (N = 104) were randomly assigned into one of three conditions: self‐regulated gamified programme, gamified programme, or non‐gamified programme. Students received 16 sessions of instructions (30 min/session) and were evaluated on reading abilities (i.e., MA, word reading and reading comprehension) and intrinsic motivation before and after the programme implementation. Results and conclusions: Results from repeated measures ANOVA and follow‐up ANCOVA showed that while the two gamified groups demonstrated greater improvement in MA (i.e., near transfer effect) and intrinsic motivation than non‐gamified group, only the self‐regulated gamified group showed more gains in multisyllabic word reading (i.e., far transfer effect) than non‐gamified group. There was no significant time X group interaction effect on reading comprehension. Implications: Taken together, this research suggests gamification leads to better morphology learning and increases students' intrinsic motivation. The incorporation of self‐regulated learning in gamification is recommended to achieve the far transfer effect on multisyllabic word reading. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Morphological awareness is an important reading‐related skill that predicts students' word reading and reading comprehension. However, existing morphological awareness instructions are mostly delivered by teachers or experimenters.Gamification, which is emerging as an effective approach that enhances learning and motivation, has not yet been widely applied to improve students' reading‐related skills, such as morphological awareness.Gamification is usually implemented in online learning environments where students' self‐regulated learning critically affects their online learning performance. However, few studies have provided self‐regulated learning support in a gamified learning environment. What this paper adds: We proposed a self‐regulated gamified approach specifically targeting morphological awareness and compared its effectiveness with gamified learning and non‐gamified learning.The two gamified groups led to significant gain in students' morphological awareness and intrinsic motivation than the non‐gamified group.Only the self‐regulated gamified group led to significant gain in multisyllabic word reading than the non‐gamified group. Implications for practice and/or policy: The self‐regulated gamified approach represents an effective way for learning morphological awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Performance monitoring plays a key role in self‐regulated learning, but is difficult, especially for complex visual tasks such as navigational map reading. Gaze displays (i.e. visualizations of participants' eye movements during a task) might serve as feedback to improve students' performance monitoring. Objectives: We hypothesized that participants who review their performance based on screen recordings that also display their gaze would have a higher monitoring accuracy and increase in post‐test performance and would remember more executed actions than participants who review based on a screen recording only (i.e. control condition). Methods: Sixty‐four higher education students were randomly assigned to a gaze‐display or control condition. After watching an instruction video, they practiced five navigational map‐reading tasks and then reviewed their performance while thinking aloud, either prompted by a screen recording with gaze display or a screen recording only. Before and after reviewing, participants estimated the number of correctly solved tasks and finally made a five‐item post‐test. Results and conclusions: Analyses with frequentist and Bayesian statistics showed that gaze displays did not improve monitoring accuracy (i.e. estimated minus actual performance), post‐test performance, or the number of reported actions. It is concluded that scanpath gaze displays do not provide useful cues to improve monitoring accuracy in this task. Takeaways: Gaze displays are a promising tool for education, but scanpath gaze displays did not help to enhance monitoring accuracy in a navigational map‐reading task. Lay description: What is currently known?: Monitoring performance is central in self‐regulated learning.Monitoring is often difficult for learners, in particular in complex visual tasks.Gaze displays visualize viewing behaviour that was measured with eye tracking.Gaze displays can improve task performance, but effects on monitoring are unknown. What does the paper add?: We expected gaze displays to help learners to monitor their performance on a map‐reading task.However, dynamic gaze displays did not help to improve monitoring accuracy in this study.Further research should investigate whether other types of gaze displays improve monitoring. Implications for practitioners: Eye tracking provides promising ways to support monitoring and learning.However, not all forms of using gaze displays enhance monitoring or learning.The specific implementation of gaze displays might matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The feedback offered to students in audience response systems may enhance conformity bias, while asking closed‐type questions alone does not allow students to externalize and elaborate on their knowledge. Objectives: The study explores how writing short justifications and accessing peer justifications as collective feedback could affect students' performance, confidence and opinions in multiple‐choice audience response systems that apply the Peer Instruction model of voting/revoting. Methods: For 8 weeks, 98 students, enrolled in an undergraduate course, attended each lecture following a flipped classroom approach. At the beginning of each lecture, students participated in a quiz with eight multiple‐choice questions. Four of these questions included a justification form in which students could elaborate on their answers. The students were randomly grouped into two conditions according to the collective feedback they received: the Shared group (n = 54) could see both the percentage each question choice received from the class and the respective peer justifications, while the Unshared group (n = 44) could only see the percentage information. Results: Analysis showed that students in both groups performed significantly better in questions with the justification form being available. Also, the two groups were comparable in terms of performance and self‐reported level of confidence suggesting no main effect for making peer justification available. Despite this, students in the Shared group expressed a significantly more positive opinion in the end‐of‐activity questionnaire in terms of perceived learning gains and the helpfulness of writing justifications for their answers. Take Away: Writing short justifications can have a positive impact on students' academic performance. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: Audience response systems (ARS) typically include closed‐type items.Therefore, students do not have the opportunity to elaborate on their answers.Externalizing and elaborating on one's answer could enhance understanding. What their paper adds to this: Integration of short justifications alongside multiple‐choice questions.System feedback includes percentage, confidence and peer justifications.Analysis on how writing/reading justifications affect performance in ARS. Implications of study findings for practitioners: Writing short justifications enhances student performance.Being able to read peer justifications does not affect student performance.Being able to read peer justifications increases activity acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of the current study was to investigate the robustness of the human movement effect and its stability over time by comparing the effectiveness of dynamic and static presentations on acquisition and retention of a gross motor skill. Methods: One hundred and seven first‐year students studying for the certificate in Physical Education course were randomly divided into three groups: (i) static pictures (N = 32), (ii) enriched static pictures with arrows (N = 34), and (iii) video (N = 41). They were instructed to observe the demonstration of the Ippon‐Seoi‐Nage (a Judo technique) and reproduce it during the acquisition phase or after a delay of 1 week during the retention phase. Results and Conclusions: The results showed that enriched static pictures (with arrows) resulted in more efficient learning than the static pictures (without arrows). Most importantly, it was shown that learners receiving the video presentation outperformed learners receiving the static presentations, with regard to acquisition and retention, indicating therefore a robust human movement effect. Implications: These findings provide confirmation of the superiority of video presentations for teaching and learning motor skills involving the entire human body. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic:External visualizations are broadly used in Physical education (PE) and sport context.Static visualizations are regarded as the fundamental tools used by PE teachers to communicate visual information that is difficult to verbally describe.Increasing use of dynamic visualizations such as videos largely supplanted the use of static pictures in PE contextWhat this paper adds:Comparing the effectiveness of static pictures and digital videos in tactical learningExploring the human movement effect and its stability over timeImplications for practice and/or policy:The human movement effect is a robust phenomenon not only when it is evaluated immediately after the learning phase but also after a notable delay.Dynamic visualizations remain the most powerful computer‐based technique by which people can learn complex motor skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]