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IntroductionThis study looked at how an assessment instruction and test anxiety (TA) can influence divergent thinking (DT) components of creativity in a playful robotic problem-solving task.MethodsWe measured TA and creative performance (TD) under assessment and non-assessment conditions in 122 secondary students engaged in creative problem solving (CPS).ResultThe aspects of DT (fluidity and originality) showed a tendency to be impacted by assessment instruction. Thus, under non-assessment conditions, the learners show higher fluidity and better originality in the first occurrence of the CPS task. In the second occurrence, time spent on CPS decreases. Moreover, the originality turns to be impaired in the second trial and only student under assessment maintain their engagement in the activity. No correlation was found between TA and DT, and no gender or age differences were observed. The results suggest that TA does not influence the performance of the students involved in creative problem-solving processes.DiscussionWe discuss the findings in relation to game-based learning specificities. The assessment instruction in playful activities can be perceived as a positive challenge and even the students showing higher levels of test anxiety do not perceive it as a threat. Furthermore, if time constraints are minimized, the impact of assessment instruction on creative performance might be further reduced. The finding of this study opens promising perspectives to the research on innovative forms of school assessment and creative problem solving.

Le rapport des élèves à l’espace peut se développer par le biais de différentes activités d’apprentissage. Parmi ces activités, le projet SmartCityMaker engage les élèves dans une démarche de cocréation de leur quartier scolaire par le biais de la réalisation d’une maquette combinant les techniques analogiques et numériques. Dans le cadre de cette étude, les élèves d’une école primaire sont invités à explorer différentes facettes de leur territoire de proximité et, par la suite, à mobiliser leurs habiletés spatiales de manière pratique par la construction d’une maquette. L’étude cherche à comprendre la manière dont le projet SmartCityMaker permet d’enrichir le rapport des élèves à leur territoire scolaire, ainsi que leur pensée spatiale. Dans cette visée, nous analysons le processus d’apprentissage vécu par des élèves de 11 ans d’une école primaire en France qui participent au projet SmartCityMaker. Nous présentons la démarche d’apprentissage vécue par les élèves et les aspects pouvant permettre d’observer leur rapport à l’espace de même que la manifestation de leur pensée spatiale.

This is a short introduction pecial issue of the International Journal of Serious Games dedicated to the selected best papers of the 2021 edition of the Games and Learning (GALA) 2021 conference. The three selected papers have undergone a regular review process. Covered topics range from cooperative games to mixed reality, from digital companions to game co-design.

Problem-solving activities have been studied from a diversity of epistemological perspectives. In problem-solving activities, the initial tensions of a problematic situation led to a cognitive dissonance between conflicting motives and instruments to reach the activity goal. We analyze problem-solving in the continuation of Sannino and Laitinen’s (2015) approach to the analysis of a decision-forming apparatus. The originality of this study is in consideration of the materialistic nature of double stimulation that appears during the activity of the CreaCube problem-solving task. This activity engages the participant in solving tasks with interactive robotic instruments. To solve a task, the subject is required to build interactive robotic modules into a specific configuration which will cause the artifact to move from an initial position to a predetermined final position. The conflict of stimuli in the CreaCube is strong and observable because of the tangibility of the artifact, which is manipulated by the participant into different configurations with the goal of solving the task. We discuss double stimulation in relation to the artifactual interactive affordances of educational robotics.

As STEAM activities require both the teachers and learners to be creative, it is important to train teachers to instruct and guide creativity not only when students begin a task, but also throughout its entire process persistently to maintain creative behaviors. To assess the creative process in teacher education, a currently limited topic within the literature, we examined 37 in-service teachers, who were participating in a creative pedagogy course, through a divergent creativity test (Alternative Uses Test) and a CreaCube task (a creative problem-solving task involving modular robotics). We used CreaCube as a digital manipulative task that was performed twice to ensure the creative assessment’s authenticity in relation to STEAM education. In the second execution, the participants did not know whether they had to reproduce the same solution or find a new one. Our results show that only a quarter of the teachers proposed new solutions during the task repetition, and that this conservative and repetitive behavior increased the task completion speed. However, this suggests that even in the context of creative pedagogy courses, teachers’ tendencies to prioritize speed and the application of existing solutions tendency remains a barrier to engaging in more creative behaviors that require inhibiting previous solutions and exploring new ideas. This study sheds light on the importance of teachers experimenting with this conservative behavior bias during their training and the significance of persistently applying creative behaviors in STEAM activities. Accordingly, it is essential that teachers consider these factors when developing and delivering their courses.

Game design is a complex process based on balance between educational and gameplay experience in a coherent way. In the context of instructional design, Constructive Alignment aims to develop an outcome-based approach for designing learning activities during which the learners’ engagement through the activity is aligned with learning objectives and outcomes. Constructive Alignment focuses on the proposal of constructively aligned learning experiences, where assessment is the result of specially selected training activities, which are proposed based on intended learning outcomes. In this study, we analyze the game design process in an online master course on Game Design from a Constructive Alignment approach. We operationalize the Constructive Alignment in game design as the coherence between Learning Objectives, Game Mechanics, Learning Mechanics and the Assessment in the educational DGBL. The results analysis shows that the Game Based Learning course had a positive impact on students regarding the proposal of game design documents with coherence between Game Mechanics and Learning Mechanics as well as Learning Mechanics and Learning Objectives, while little focus on integrating Assessment mechanisms was observed. Based on the results of this study we propose to increase the focus on assessment in the process of game design.

Abstract Creative and problem-solving competencies are part of the so-called twenty-first century skills. The creative use of digital technologies to solve problems is also related to computational thinking as a set of cognitive and metacognitive strategies in which the learner is engaged in an active design and creation process and mobilized computational concepts and methods. At different educational levels, computational thinking can be developed and assessed through solving ill-defined problems. This paper introduces computational thinking in the context of Higher Education creative programming activities. In this study, we engage undergraduate students in a creative programming activity using Scratch. Then, we analyze the computational thinking scores of an automatic analysis tool and the human assessment of the creative programming projects. Results suggested the need for a human assessment of creative programming while pointing the limits of an automated analytical tool, which does not reflect the creative diversity of the Scratch projects and overrates algorithmic complexity.

This article focuses on Dutch older adults’ use of digital devices in general, and digital games in particular, from an intergenerational perspective. We first present some facts related to provide insight into how Dutch older adults use such new media. Then, the case of the Dutch short film Pony Place is analyzed using a semiotic and narratological approach, to examine how older adults are represented as so-called ‘digital immigrants’, digitally illiterate persons who are unable to master a digital game device. Finally, an intergenerational digital game design approach is presented to show how older adults can actively be involved in the world of digital games, which could lead to a change from their unbalanced representation as digital immigrants to persons who are, like younger players, able to be active in the world of digital games.

The development and assessment of computational thinking (CT) is garnering a lot of attention and research since the last decade. However, the learning of CT is perceived as a time-consuming and frustrating experience by many K-12 and university students. Hence, educators are coming up with various methodologies to make CT both accessible and engaging for learners, thus leading to a spurt in various game-based learning (GBL) approaches in this field, ranging from board games to educational robotic games. This paper strives to evaluate existing escape games aiming to develop CT based on their systematic analysis according to the CT competency components. The authors conducted an analytical review of three tabletop escape games in CT to identify CT components and subcomponents developed through these games. The use of tabletop escape games from a pedagogical perspective to develop CT among learners is discussed based on the results of the analysis to identify their current limits. This also covers the design aspects to be considered for the development of a CT-based educational escape game to support and evaluate this competency and its components.

Taking into account the profound impact of technology on modern education, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing academic interest has focused towards the design and application of such tools on different learning contexts. A specific area of Human-Computer Interaction, called affordance theory, focuses on the perception, design and use of different technologies by educators and learners in learning contexts. This paper explores the impact of affordances in the process of creative problem in the context of playful educational robotics, with an intension of informing the design of future educational experiences around the field. The study capitalizes upon previous affordance propositions and frameworks in order to establish an affordance-based framework in the scope of playful educational robotics contexts, through the adoption of a qualitative research methodology, which was considered more appropriate as an exploratory tool. As part of the qualitative analysis, the study is mapping different types of affordances, related to such technologies, as well as an iterative creative problem-solving process that stems from learners' interactions with robotic artifacts, like the CreaCube playful robotics activity, which is presented in this study.

The Bologna process has led European universities to review quality assurance in Higher Education. Active learning, competency-based education as well as outcome-based teaching and learning have been encouraged as means to maintain quality assurance in Higher Education. The aims of this paper are (a) to introduce the context of European Higher Education quality assurance challenges and review existing initiatives in game design in Higher Education, and (b) analyze the game design process in the Game Based Learning course of the MSc SmartEdTech program through the prism of constructive alignment. The analysis of student deliverables, in the form of Game Design Documents, shows improvement on how students approach educational game design but also points out some aspects for improvement on the course structure. The study also considers opportunities and limits of game design for learning in Higher Education in the specific context of online education.

Developing collaboration skills is one of the main objectives of current competence-oriented educational systems. This development relates also to the communication and social skills. Because of their practice-based orientation, skills and competences require active learning methodologies to be developed, such the use of Serious Games (SG) in Game Based Learning (GBL) methodologies. SGs have been analysed as innovative tools allowing supporting the collaboration skills, although knowledge and curriculum orientation is still dominating the pedagogical research on the use of SG in formal educational contexts. This paper aims to analyse the impact of SG in the collaboration skills, through the analysis of a specific case study focused on the MetaVals SG.

Estudiar en un campus virtual permite una alta flexibilidad temporal, cuyos inconvenientes han sido poco analizados. El objetivo de este estudio es identificar las dificultades temporales de los estudiantes universitarios en el contexto de la formación a distancia en relación a la flexibilidad temporal del campus virtual. Los estudiantes en formación a distancia necesitan regular sus tiempos de aprendizaje en mayor medida que en la formación presencial, en la que los ritmos y horarios de aprendizaje están regulados principalmente por la institución y el docente. El artículo analiza la necesidad de regulación temporal del estudiante en relación a la flexibilidad temporal que le ofrece el campus virtual. Tras ello, presentamos la metodología para la elaboración del estudio de las dificultades temporales de los participantes mediante una metodología de grupo focal con un muestreo de tutores representativos de diferentes programas universitarios, con un elevado grado de experiencia. Los resultados nos permiten observar que la falta de planificación y de gestión del tiempo son considerados por los tutores como la principal dificultad de los estudiantes en formación a distancia.

El desarrollo de las competencias para la ciudadanía del siglo XXI puede beneficiarse del uso de nuevas metodologías de aprendizaje, como los juegos digitales para el aprendizaje (Serious Games). En este estudio caracterizamos las competencias del siglo XXI, a partir de una revisión bibliográfica. Tras repasar la relevancia de las metodologías activas para el desarrollo de las competencias del siglo XXI (21st century skills), analizamos el interés específico de los Juegos Serios (Serious Games) para su logro, identificando aquellos juegos que pueden ser de interés para su concreción efectiva.

Curriculum integration is one of the main factors in the teachers’ decision-making process when deciding to use games in formal educational contexts. Based on this observation, we aim to introduce pre-service teachers to Game Based Learning (GBL) and Serious Games (SG) integration in the curriculum. The teaching experience aims to facilitate different approaches to GBL and SG integration in the curriculum, including three types of GBL activities. Firstly, the use of Serious Games (SG), designed for educational purposes from the start; secondly, the game creation as a learning activity through game authoring platforms; thirdly, the use of repurposed entertainment games, which, despite not having being intentionally designed for educational purposes, could be diverted for meeting the curriculum objectives of primary education. A group of 51 pre-service teachers participated in the teaching experience during which they selected a GBL activity among the three types of GBL and SG integration in the curriculum. Most of the teachers succeed to identify SG created for educational purposes, and we observed 6 entertainment games repurposed for educational objectives, none of the pre-service teachers decided to integrate a game creation activity in the curriculum. We analyze the results of the teaching pre-service experience and the opportunities to introduce GBL and SG in pre-service teachers’ education.

In the context of Higher Education (HE) in general, and management education in particular, the use of Serious Games (SG) is spreading, and solutions are increasingly developing. Nevertheless, the implementation of this learning methodology deserves further study, in particular concerning pedagogical and psychological aspects such game performance and players’ metacognitive processes. This paper aims to study the relation among these two variables, based on the review of the results of MetaVals SG during the last 3 years. MetaVals is a collaborative, computer-based SG designed to facilitate collaboration and metacognitive awareness among HE students. It has been played by 250 students in 16 different experiences since its first version, in 2011. Overall results show a higher performance for collaborative than individual phases of the game, furthermore, students’ elicitation of their Level of Certainty (LC), although not significantly, could be related to a better performance. These results can be a basis for further studies focused on the implementation of collaborative GBL in formal and informal adult learning contexts. However, some challenges are also identified and discussed on the present version of MetaVals game, and solutions are proposed in order to continue with the design of SGs for wider application and learners’ needs in the current contexts.

Online education increasingly puts emphasis on collaborative learning methods. Despite the pedagogical advantages of collaborative learning, online learners can perceive collaborative learning activities as frustrating experiences. The purpose of this study was to characterize the feelings of frustration as a negative emotion among online learners engaged in online computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) experiences and, moreover, to identify the sources to which the learners attribute their frustration. With this aim, a questionnaire was designed to obtain data from a sample of online learners participating in the Master of ICT and Education program of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). Results revealed that frustration is a common feeling among students involved in online collaborative learning experiences. The perception of an asymmetric collaboration among the teammates was identified by the students as the most important source of frustration. Online learners also identified difficulties related to group organization, the lack of shared goals among the team members, the imbalance in the level of commitment and quality of the individual contributions, the excess time spent on the online CSCL tasks, the imbalance between the individual and collective grades, and difficulties in communication, among other factors leading to frustration. The analysis of the students’ sources of frustration in online CSCL is followed by a list of recommendations to the distance education stakeholders, aiming to reduce students’ frustration and improve the quality of their experiences in online CSCL contexts such as the UOC.

AbstractAlong with the amount of time spent learning (or time-on-task), the quality of learning time has a real influence on learning performance. Quality of time in online learning depends on students’ time availability and their willingness to devote quality cognitive time to learning activities. However, the quantity and quality of the time spent by adult e-learners on learning activities can be reduced by professional, family, and social commitments. Considering that the main time pattern followed by most adult e-learners is a professional one, it may be beneficial for online education programs to offer a certain degree of flexibility in instructional time that might allow adult learners to adjust their learning times to their professional constraints. However, using the time left over once professional and family requirements have been fulfilled could lead to a reduction in quality time for learning. This paper starts by introducing the concept of quality of learning time from an online student-centred perspective. The impact of students’ time-related variables (working hours, time-on-task engagement, time flexibility, time of day, day of week) is then analyzed according to individual and collaborative grades achieved during an online master’s degree program. The data show that both students’ time flexibility (r = .98) and especially their availability to learn in the morning are related to better grades in individual (r = .93) and collaborative activities (r = .46).