Search

The aims of this study were to synthesize and evaluate the learning model in gamification environment together with cartoon animation media to promote students' creative problem-solving skills. This study was divided into three phases, (i) synthesized and evaluated the appropriateness of learning model (ii) developed cartoon animation and (iii) assessed creative problem-solving skills. The results show that the learning model consisted of three main components: teaching component, gamification environment, and activities to promote creative problem-solving. The overall suitability assessment of the developed learning model was averaged at 4.69 (SD = 0.46) out of 5, being at the most appropriate level and the scores of the students' post-learn creative problem-solving skills assessment were significantly higher than the criteria at the level 0.05. These results lead to a conclusion that the learning model in gamification environment together with cartoon animation media can significantly promote students' creative problem-solving skills and can be applied to develop desired learners' achievements and skills.

When workers hear about a possible promotion, it is common for them to get training, and they can do so through education. However, there is the possibility that the worker needs to receive a salary according to the knowledge acquired in such training. In this study, considering a population of employed workers with incomplete secondary school, we apply game theory concepts to explore whether workers can train through study. If so, the model shows the percentage of the salary the worker is willing to invest in his education. Furthermore, the cost of studying implicitly involves an opportunity cost, deduced quantitatively in the model. In conclusion, our article defines specific thresholds to decide if the worker should study, the economic investment, and the time he would spend on it, depending on how strict the company is in auditing. The analysis does not define a Nash equilibrium since the company's reaction is not considered.

Whilst the impact of the 'publish or perish' adage has received considerable attention from academics in the West, it remains under-researched in non-Western contexts, such as China. We address this gap by examining our lived experiences of navigating Chinese academia and academic publishing in the form of a duoethnographic collaborative self-study. We utilise the concept of precarious privilege in order to tease out a third space between publish or perish. Accordingly, we identity three over-arching themes related to academic publishing in China, which coalesce around the notion of academia as a 'game' with hidden rules. These themes are pursuing, playing and paying. Through our dialogues, we highlight our precarious privilege as early-career academics in China, yet also draw attention to how the logics and rules of the academic 'game' provide us with the tools we need to survive and thrive within academia.

Student-centered pedagogical models (e.g., games-based approaches) have been encouraging physical education teachers to teach team and individual sports with game forms (small-sided and modified games) that promote play time for all students. These teaching methodologies promote students' motivation and engagement and enable an easier transition between practice and application. Nevertheless, designing games that allow students to participate regardless of their diverse needs and skill levels while meeting specific learning objectives may not be an easy task. This article presents the pyramid model as a set of guidelines and principles to support teachers in designing games and activities that are exciting, engaging, and pedagogical.

The authors' aim was to present a practical decision-making framework for decision makers (DMs) to use in evaluating interdisciplinary strategic approaches to degree program development. A framework based on ordinal game theory was applied using a recent decision to create an interdisciplinary business analytics program at a small, public university. The optimal Nash, in which each decision maker receives the most desirable outcome, was determined. The proposed methodological framework can be used for the design, evaluation, and postcommitment support of any interdisciplinary degree program.

Research relevant to Captology in education is in its infancy. Despite its relative newness, a dearth of literature exists on the subject that addresses the design of a persuasive game for educational purposes. Up to this point, the literature does not include any instructional design theories or theoretical frameworks that can be used specifically to design a persuasive game for educational use. This paper provides a theory-driven framework to guide instructional and game designers through the process of persuasive game design in education. The framework was developed based on multiple theories in learning, motivation, psychology, communication, as well as in other related disciplines. The framework covers the attitude-to-behavior process in designing persuasive games comprehensively: starting with strategies of designing a persuasive message and moving to principles of sending the message, which is followed by addressing the player's motivation, ability, cognition, and metacognition when receiving the message, and ending with the conditions that surround the player's behavior change due to the attitude. Research-based suggestions for the design of persuasive games for educational purposes are provided.

The author describes an assignment in an undergraduate game theory course in which students work together in class to develop a computer algorithm to identify Nash equilibria. This assignment builds basic computer science skills while applying game theory knowledge to real-world situations. Students work as a team to delineate the steps and write a program to identify all of the pure-strategy Nash equilibria of the game. They then test this program by creating and solving their own game. This assignment represents an efficient way for undergraduate economics students to gain valuable computer science skills without assuming any pre-existing computer science knowledge, without having to take classes outside of the economics major, and without economics faculty having to restructure entire courses or curricula.

Owing to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid increase in the number of international higher education students, online academic programmes have become more centralised and became the main, sometimes only, form of education. Although the online environment offers flexible access to education, it can cause concerns and difficulties for both international students and the host universities as they may not be well informed of each other's expectations. This can make transition extremely challenging and a major cause of anxiety for international students. Thus, this study conceptually discusses the gaps between the expectations held by lecturers in host universities and their international students about the extent of self-navigated online learning. In the current forms of course coordination, international students may have both frustration and cognitive overloads due to the many challenges associated with studying in a foreign university. It is recommended, therefore, for universities to provide better support for newly arrived international students in terms of helping them navigate online learning requirements in the initial stages, while encouraging the students to take greater responsibility for self-navigating their own online learning.

This paper analyzes the incentives induced by a formula to fund universities based primarily on enrolment. Using a simple game theoretical framework, we argue that the strategic behaviour induced by those formulas is to favour enrollment. We further argue that if the funding value differs by enrolment type, it introduces incentives to substitute enrolment where most profitable. If the public appropriations do not follow the outcomes induced by the formula, the incentives introduce a dynamic "inconsistency," and funding per student can decline. We use these results to discuss the 2018 funding formula changes in Québec. We argue that Québec's latest reform should reduce substitution effects and increase graduate enrolment. We provide simulations of the reform's redistributive effects and show that some universities gain structural advantages over others. Whilst the reform, on a short-term basis, deploys a mechanism to mitigate these advantages, on a long-term basis the effect introduces a larger gap between Québec higher-education institutions.

In this paper we explore collaboration in the context of the educational services industry (ESI). We look to literature from the communication field to consider ethical strategies and methods for ensuring the validity of the outcomes of collaborative working. Drawing on Collaborative Product Development and conversation theory we devise four principles that can guide the collaborative process within an education-based partnership project. We then use a case study to consider how these principles supported the outcomes of a cross-national partnership project. Finally, we draw on these principles to consider the lessons for project management in education public private partnerships.

This study investigates how the use of visual facilitation and representations, e.g. visualisations and video productions, combined with peer-feedback sessions can create exploratory approaches to game design in online teaching. The article analyses an iterative game development process in an online learning context. The empirical data is primarily based on an explorative case study of "Games for change"; a course held in 2018 in which master students from the international Nordic Visual Studies and Art Education (NoVA) design games that address issues in society. Throughout the course, the students from universities in Finland, Sweden and Denmark engaged in a cross-cultural collaboration across campuses. The purpose of the study was to explore how to establish an online space for joint design inquiry in the context of 'games for change' across time and space as well as cultural and professional barriers. The data used for analysis includes teaching observations, videos of play sessions, photos and visual representations, students' reflection papers and students' written and oral evaluations after completion of the course. The analysis is based on different problem-based learning (PBL) activities; lectures, video instructions, presentation- and feedback sessions, reflexive exercises and students' self-directed design and learning processes in groups. As part of the game course, teachers presented game theory and exercises through videos and visualisations to support the students' iterative game design processes. The analysis of the PBL activities shows that teachers' video instructions relating theoretical game concepts to the students' actual group work supported the introduction to the game field as well as their design processes. The balance between the value of video instructions with specific feedback and teachers' time for preparation is a relevant issue for further exploration in online teaching. Moreover, findings show that the students' visualisations and video productions exemplifying game situations created a visible reference point for further discussions in feedback sessions across campuses, which guided game development. Thus, the combination of inquiry approaches, critical game theory and design processes combined with students' visualisations and video productions provides interesting connections for bridging gaps between cultures and professions, e.g. in art and games. By the rich and visual descriptions of PBL activities, student work and reflective evaluations, the exploratory case study can function as inspiration for applying similar approaches to new local contexts in higher education.

While acknowledging the phenomenon of "happy victimizing" (HV), the classical explanation is questioned and challenged. HV is typically explained by a lack of moral motivation (MM) that is thought to develop in late childhood and adolescence. Apart from empirical evidence for widespread HV in adulthood, there are also strong theoretical arguments against the classical explanation. Firstly, there are arguments against the coherence of the very concept of MM. Secondly, while the classical explanation focuses on internal drivers (in the sense of MM), the one proposed in the present paper focuses on the patterns of interaction. Accordingly, HV may depend less on internalised values and individual motivation (whether in terms of moral internalism or moral externalism), and more on the "rules of the game" that are established in social interaction (or not). On this account, HV appears where higher order moral rules are not established and cannot be established, either due the circumstances or due to the unwillingness (or incapability) to play by the rules of these higher order games (where "games" are to be understood in the game-theoretic sense). The ordinary one-shot prisoners' dilemma is a case in point. It precludes promise-giving as well as other higher order moral regimes, but instead forces the agents into a conflict of interest, where everyone has to mind their own business. Moreover, claiming that all players have to pursue their own self-interest, can be understood as moral rule of its own.

The choice of instructional strategies, methods and techniques used by teachers is important in terms of establishing an effective learning environment. The purpose of this study is to examine the most common methods teachers use in their lessons and the factors that influence their choice of methods by using game theory. Game theory has different applications such as social sciences, politics and economics. A questionnaire is prepared by the researchers in this study, which is conducted with forty-seven teachers working in different branches and at different levels. The two most preferred teaching methods are considered to be players: direct instruction and problem solving method. The characteristics of these methods are compared with game theoretic approach according to the survey results. Two separate game problems are revealed in the study. The first game problem is a zero-sum game representing the state of the two teaching methods, which are considered as rival to each other. With the non-zero-sum game, the characteristics of both teaching methods are analyzed. According to results, direct instruction method is superior in terms of usage properties in accordance with problem solving method. The advantages and disadvantages of the two teaching methods are discussed for further research.

This article describes a simple two-player game which illustrates basic concepts of brinkmanship, to include calculations of probability and expected outcomes, and risk-taking profiles. The game befits a single 50-minute class period with introduction, gameplay, and discussion. The game can supplement the study of conflict from classic Cold War case studies of crisis bargaining, to arms control, or negotiating international protocols for global climate change such as the Paris Agreement. The Brinkmanship Game was developed for the seventh week of a 10-week graduate course called Game Theory and Decisionmaking: Exploring Strategic Situations. The course features a flipped classroom with class time devoted to experimentation, gameplay, and discussion of readings and games; lectures are online. The Brinkmanship Game would be appropriate for students in any advanced undergraduate or graduate level course in international relations, security studies, negotiation, or game theory. The Brinkmanship Game provides an active learning opportunity that can be valuable for encouraging students to come to their own understanding of concepts of mutual risk-taking. The authors have found the game to be effective in the classroom and hope it may prove valuable to those searching for ways to motivate students and to help them learn.

Understanding how students decide whether to participate during collaborative learning activities and what factors are their main concerns is important for efficient use of such activities in or out of the classroom. Based on evolutionary game theory, this study proposed a game model for collaborative learning that aimed to analyze the dynamic process by which bounded rational students adapt their strategies in collaborative learning. Based on the analysis of evolutional stable strategy in the model, the results identified perceived academic value, social gains, and social loss as motivators resulting in collaboration, while the cost of effort and time acted as the major barrier to collaborative learning. In addition, this study focused on the joint influence of these factors on students' collaborative learning behavior. It further provided several implications for developing theory-building of collaborative learning and educational policymaking.

In this article, the authors present variants to the classic problem the Prisoner's Dilemma. They discuss how senior secondary school students can use these variations to explore basic game theory concepts and develop mathematical proficiencies and practices. They also suggest how students can apply these concepts to decision-making processes in their own lives as well as to investigating larger societal issues.

Purpose: This conceptual paper examines the need for viable theoretical models of international learning alliances in the light of cooperative games and complexity in two distinguished educational settings. Game theory is used to demonstrate the need for the top managerial executives to acquire a detailed understanding of decision makers' behaviours and trigger the deployment of complex analytical methods. The paper scrutinizes Russia's pursued aggressive approach using shock therapy, also suggest the critical need to reform policy. Design/methodology/approach: Combining the critical analysis of (1) cooperative games and (2) adaptive systems structures, a dependable model is derived, which sets the baseline for determining the role of costs and gains. The analysis is supported using a real-world example of an alliance between British University (the X and Y alliance) and Russian University. It also emphasizes the importance of both internal and external pressure variables closely connected with the cooperative games, adaptive system and shock therapy. Findings: Two features of alliances have been emphasized. The first is the importance of informal relationships in the evolution of partnerships and of cooperation. This is a well-known factor in the success of any relationship. Especially in international partnerships, empathy at the individual level is perhaps necessary to bypass the influence of historical and cultural differences that are barriers at the macro level, preconditions rather than consequences of successful policies and contractual arrangements at the level of organizations and governments. The second feature is interdependence at the cost-benefit level and in the domain of decisions. The cooperation of both partners is required to realize payoffs. Practical implications: The implication of this paper is a guideline for regulators and policymakers designing worldwide alliances in higher education. In addition, this paper covers an interesting domain that could be of interest to organizations involved in forming strategic alliances, developing and re-engineering policies for strategic coalitions and setting future profitable payoff relationships within the contextual limitations of X and Y. Originality/value: This paper creates new knowledge by concisely examining the meaning of strategic alliances in the context of the global education industry.

Finite Mathematics has become an enormously rich and productive area of contemporary mathematical biology. Fortunately, educators have developed educational modules based upon many of the models that have used Finite Mathematics in mathematical biology research. A sufficient variety of computer modules that employ graph theory (phylogenetic trees, food webs, networks), cellular automata (pattern formation, diffusion limited aggregation), fractals (both measurement and generation of self-similar structures), finite difference equations and deterministic chaos (logistic growth, predator-prey, SIR epidemiology), combinatorics and probability (genetics and evolution), information theory (biodiversity, sequence logos), and Boolean logic (operons) are available to adopt, adapt, and implement. An emphasis has been placed on modules that are freely available, that have been educationally vetted, and that run on a variety of operating systems. Most modules are easy to use, graphically visual, and amenable to modification. In this paper, two different approaches are stressed: (1) "glass box models" that allow students to see equations associated with each cell in a spreadsheet and to modify/extend those models with minimal effort; and (2) agent-based models that emphasize "bottom-up" modeling and that instantiate the power of massively parallel simulation and address the misconceptions of a "centralized mind-set."

The present article is centered on the description and analysis of the process of action-research followed by a group of twenty eight fifth graders of primary level in a public school in Colombia who improved their writing ability in English as a Foreign Language through the application of several creativity writing strategies. Among those strategies we can count the use of acrostics, calligrams, comic strips and posters, connecting children with fiction and real information taken from subjects taught at school. This research was designed with the objective of developing writing skills in a creative way, based on qualitative and quantitative methods by using surveys, checklists, field notes and a final interview to collect data. Findings revealed that writing mistakes were diminished after each one of the sessions application. Additionally, children were motivated to write in English and to assume different positions about topics of their interest from the advantages provided from new knowledge acquired about diverse topics related to their lives.

We must point out that the results of football games affect the competitive balance degree. In other words, the calculations we made in the score table at the end of the season give us a degree of competitive balance. The degree on which the concept of competitiveness is based is cited as competitive balance in football. Sports economics can be defined as the degree to which overall league attendances are raised by such measures as media effect, home advantage, income sharing, all of which aim to strengthen the competitive balance. The aim of this study was to gauge the competitive balance in Turkish football league. Using long term competitive balance analysis, some of the matters encountered and possible precautions to be taken were approached in a way that can discuss the mentioned subjects throughout the 1987-2017 seasons in Turkish Football Super League (TSL). The present study examined the way that competitive balance level followed in the history of super league (30 years). For this purpose, C5 Competitive Balance Index (C5CBI) and a Herfindahl index of competitive balance (HICB) were benefited. Finally, competitive balance factor was observed to have occured time to time; however, when looked in terms of total, a view apart from competitive balance can be clearly seen.

Nowadays, privacy education plays an important role in teenagers' lives. Since this domain is strongly linked to their social life, it is preferable to provide a collaborative learning environment that teaches privacy, and at the same time, allows students to share knowledge, to interact with each other, to solve quizzes collaboratively and to discuss privacy issues and situations. To this end, we propose "Teens-online", a collaborative e-learning platform for privacy awareness. The curriculum provided in this platform is based on the International Competency Framework on Privacy Education. Moreover, the proposed platform is equipped with a partner-matching mechanism based on matching game theory. This mechanism guarantees a stable student-student matching according to the student's need (behavior and/or knowledge). Thus, mutual benefits will be attained by largely minimizing the chances of cooperating with incompatible students. Experimental results show that the average utility obtained by applying the proposed algorithm is much higher than the average utility obtained using other matching mechanisms. The results suggest that by adopting the proposed approach, each student can be paired with their optimal partners, which in turn can help them to engage more in learning activities.

Using technology in teaching and learning finds a wide adoption in recent years. 63.3% of chief academic leaders surveyed by the Babson Survey Research Group confirm that online education is critical to their long-term strategy. Modern engagement pedagogies, such as digital gamification, hold a promise of shaping student experience. While course builders and instructors investigate new technologies and teaching methods questions arise about the instructional quality of academic courses with online content or with gamification elements. In addition, students are not the digital natives many hoped them to be. 83% of millennials report sleeping with their smartphones, but 58% have poor skills in solving problems with technology. This paper reports on a gamefully designed course, delivered in a hybrid modality, which was selected through a peer review process as an exemplary course in consideration of instructional design. The course was evaluated according to the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program rubric. Gamification was introduced in three phases: player onboarding phase, player scaffolding phase, and player endgame. Various technologies involved in the course included: MyGame gamification mobile app, Blackboard Learn, Cengage Skills Assessment Manager, Kahoot, Amazon Alexa, Google Traveler, Twitter, and others. The course focused on gamification according to the short and long game theory to engage students during lectures (short game) and throughout the semester (long game).

In this excerpt from their new book, "Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games Is Wrong" (BenBella Books, 2017), the authors present an argument in defense of video games while dispelling the myth that such games lead to real-world violence. The authors define and examine moral panics and provide guidelines for identifying and understanding this phenomenon. They focus in particular on how the moral panic around video games has affected scientific research on games.

Real-life room-escape games are ludic activities in which participants enter a room in order to get out of it only after solving some riddles. In this paper, we explain a Room Escape teaching experience developed in the Engineering School at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The goal of this activity is to increase student's motivation and to improve their learning on two courses of the second year in the "Computer Engineering degree: Computer Networks and Information and Security". [Paper presented at the International Conference on University Teaching and Innovation (CIDUI): Learning and Teaching Innovation Impacts (9th, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain, Jul 5-7 2016.)]

The three-party evolutionary game model of government, enterprises, and institutions of higher learning is established, and the dynamic evolution process of collaborative innovation behavior is discussed under the two strategies of "incentive" and "non-incentive" chosen by the government. The results show that under the premise of stronger innovation consciousness of the government and institutions and smaller the innovation cost of enterprises, the system is easier to reach the ideal state. The incentive degree of government should be controlled within a reasonable range to prevent enterprises from falling into a bad state because of the temptation of economic interests.

Research shows that teachers and educators struggle to act when conflict appears in the classroom. This article argues that (political) conflict should not be avoided or eradicated. Teachers should enable conflict and attend to their pupils in the process, in order to enable further understanding of each other and their differences, as part of living together in a plural and diverse society. Scholars and educators often take a deliberative approach to citizen education by focusing on problem solving and consensus seeking. This article explores how conflict can be educational if we accept that antagonisms are inherent parts of human relations. The aim of this paper is not to propose moral boundaries to conflicts. Instead, it wants to contribute to a shift from teaching citizenship as conflict-free space towards learning democracy, in which educational conflict, or "friction," is seen as an important part of the political education of pupils. This paper uses democratic theory, narrative theory, and the cultural-historical theory of play as described by Dutch historian Johan Huizinga, to construct analytical tools to further understand conflict in the classroom.

A dynamic game theoretic model of concordance of interests in the process of social partnership in the system of continuing professional education is proposed. Non-cooperative, cooperative, and hierarchical setups are examined. Analytical solution for a linear state version of the model is provided. Nash equilibrium algorithms (for non-cooperative and cooperative setups) are identified. H. Stakelberg's algorithms of equilibrium solution of the game in hierarchical setup are described (in the general case). A method of building the precise discrete analogue of a continuous model is used for examining the hierarchical setup. Examples of test calculations for different data sets are provided; content interpretation of the results is discussed.

The relevance of the researched problem is caused by the increasing interest in using potential of transdisciplinary approaches, and mathematical methods, which include the game theory in analysis of public and economic processes. The aim of the article is studying a possibility of implementation of the transdisciplinary approaches in economic researches. The leading approach is institutional and evolutionary, which allows to reveal such tendencies of relationship development and interrelations of individuals that remain hidden and implicit. It also allows to receive new and quite unexpected important results, significant for practice. In the article the hypothesis is proved. According to it, innovations, its generation and autopoiesis itself are structural units. In the innovative environment it assumes various forms. The materials of the article can be useful for development of the theory of the system analysis, and also when developing macroeconomic forecasts of social and economic development.

This research investigates the extent to which creative processes can be fostered through computer gaming. It focuses on creative components in games that have been specifically designed for educational purposes: Digital Game Based Learning (DGBL). A behavior analysis for measuring the creative potential of computer game activities and learning outcomes is described. Creative components were measured by examining task motivation and domain-relevant and creativity-relevant skill factors. The research approach applied heuristic checklists in the field of gameplay to analyze the stage of player activities involved in the performance of the task and to examine player experiences with the Player Experience of Need Satisfaction (PENS) survey. Player experiences were influenced by competency, autonomy, intuitive controls, relatedness and presence. This study examines the impact of these activities on the player experience for evaluating learning outcomes through school records. The study is designed to better understand the creative potential of people who are engaged in learning knowledge and skills during the course while playing video games. The findings show the creative potential that occurred to yield levels of creative performance within game play activities to support learning. The anticipated outcome is knowledge on how video games foster creative thinking as an overview of the Creative Potential of Learning Model (CPLN). CPLN clearly describes the interrelationships between principles of learning and creative potential, the interpretation of the results is indispensable.

The knowledge society has brought many possibilities for open education practices and, simultaneously, deep ethical challenges related to the use, sharing and reuse of digital content. In fact, even at university level, many undergraduate students do not respect the licences of digital resources. As part of the contents of a third-year educational technology course for primary teacher training at the University of the Balearic Islands (Spain), prospective teachers learned about these ethics issues. During the 2015/16 academic year, 125 pre-service teachers from two groups of this course were involved in a gamification experience, using Socrative in real-time in the classroom, in which they had to answer different questions related to digital ethics. Its aim was not only to find out what they knew before working directly with the topic--an initial self-assessment--but also to arouse interest and encourage dynamic participation and interaction. At the end of the course, the participants answered a questionnaire in which they were asked about their perceptions of the use of this kind of educational strategy and their transfer in the future. Data were also collected from the same Socrative quiz and the final exam results related to digital ethics. Overall, the assessment from pre-service teachers was highly positive, as well as the scores of the questions related to digital ethics in the final test, and the conclusions of this study highlight both the importance of using more interactive educational strategies in the classroom and the need for training on digital ethics issues in teacher studies.

Many preservice teachers find parental involvement theories, strategies and concepts they learn in university classrooms too abstract to help address parental involvement issues they encounter in schools. Case study method is one of the many approaches that have been used in teacher education programs to connect theory and practice. This study evaluated the effectiveness of online case studies as a methodology for improving teacher preparation on working with families and dealing with parents.

Recently, group learning has been introduced in various countries as part of educational reform. While there are various approaches to group learning, the focus of this study is on collaborative learning, which is based on mutual help-seeking and consultation. This requires teachers' decision to integrate collaborative learning into their practices and all actors to participate therein. This demonstrates whether implementing and participating in collaborative learning is a game theoretic situation. However, in the majority of studies on group learning, the game theoretic aspect has not been sufficiently investigated. Therefore, this paper aims to provide a conceptual discussion on this situation in collaborative learning using a comparative institutional analysis (CIA) framework.

The method of normalisation combined with peer ratings is utilised to provide the solution to the biased rating problem of mapping group work marks to individual marks. We critically evaluate the method of normalisation following the findings of an article which argued against the use of self and/or peer rating mechanism. We demonstrate that the findings of that article also hold for the method of normalisation as the influence of human behavioural factors are not accommodated in the designs. Additionally, we argue that the method (and its variants) is rather complicated, where all possible contingencies are not pre-specified. It makes the arrangement between tutors and students in conducting peer assessments incomplete and unverifiable by a third party.

Recommending educational resources to groups of students is a common task in collaborative learning contexts. However, differences in within-group motivational factors might lead to conflicts in students' intention to use the resources. Previous methods fail to achieve high goodness of recommendation for the majority of students in heterogeneous groups. This study demonstrates a game-theoretic solution for recommending educational resources to homogeneous and heterogeneous groups. The group members are the players, the resources comprise the set of possible actions, and selecting those items that will maximize all students' motivation in the collaborative activity is a problem of finding the Nash Equilibrium (NE). In case the NE is Pareto efficient, none of the players can get more payoff (motivation) without decreasing the payoff of any other player, indicating an optimal benefit for the group as a whole. The suggested approach was empirically evaluated in a controlled experiment with a real dataset. The relevance of each delivered item to its corresponding students was explored both from the perspective of the group and its the individual students. The accuracy of the predicted group/individual motivation, the goodness of the ranked list of recommendations, and the problem-solving performance for the treatment group were significantly higher compared to the control groups. Limitations of the approach, as well as future work plans conclude the paper.

The authors identify competitive speech and debate as a form of play that helped democratize American citizenship for the poor, who used what they learned through the practice to advance their personal social and economic goals. In addition, this competitive activity led to the development of speech communication as an academic discipline and legitimized the pedagogy of game theory. Through a brief overview of the evolution of competitive forensics, an overview of the theory of play and its role in personal development and interpersonal and group interaction, and an explanation of the theory of forensics as a form of playfulness, the authors show the impact of forensics on the course of educational practices in America.

In this paper I describe how students use a project management simulation game based on an attack-defense mechanism where two teams of players compete by challenging each other's projects. The project management simulation game is intended to be played by pre-service construction workers and engineers. The gameplay has two parts: a planning part, where the player make managerial decisions about his construction site, and a challenge part where the player chooses between typical problems to occur on the opponent's construction site. Playing the game involves analyzing both your own and you opponent's building project for weak spots. The intention of the project management simulation game, is to provide students with an increased sensitivity towards the relation between planning and reality in complex construction projects. The project management simulation game can be interpreted both as a competitive game and as a simulation. Both of these views are meaningful and can be seen as supporting learning. Emphasizing the simulation aspect let us explain how students learn by being immersed into a simulated world, where the players identify with specific roles, live out specific situations, and experiment with relevant parameters. Emphasizing the competition game aspect we can see how play and competition allow players to experience intrinsic motivation and engagement, as well as thinking strategically about their choices, and hence put attention towards all the things that can go wrong in construction work. The goal of the paper is to investigate empirically how these two understandings influence game experience and learning outcome. This question is approached by qualitative post-game interviews about the experienced fun, competition and realism. Specific attention is given to how the understandings of the experience (for instance as a game and as a simulation) is entangled when the students describe their experience. Using the concepts frame and domain it is analyzed how the students conceptualize and make meaning of the particular educational scenario manifested by the project management simulation game. We take as an outset that students interpret the situations in the project management simulation game as relating to one or several domains, especially the domains competition and simulation. Results suggest that the views of the scenario as a competition and as a simulation do coexist, and that these views merge in a subtle way. The players consider the game to be both a realistic simulation of construction site work and a fun competition in which they try to beat their opponents and these two views do not seem to create cognitive conflicts. In the discussion it is explored how aspects of the design affords this double conceptualization (e.g. the "manage mode" and "challenge mode"), and finally it is discussed how we can explain why the players experience the challenges that they pose on each other as a natural part of the gameplay, but not as a realistic aspect of the game as a simulation.

The importance of active learning in the classroom has been well established in the field of Economic education. This paper examines the connection between active learning and performance outcomes in an Economics 101 course. Students participated in single play simultaneous move game with a clear dominant strategy, modeled after the Prisoner's Dilemma. The hypothesis is that if a student understands the Prisoner's Dilemma and the relevant assumptions in Economic theory, he will choose the dominant strategy in the game. But will his choice be correlated with his performance on two important metrics? Empirical evidence indicates that there is a correlation between a student's performance on the Prisoner's Dilemma game and his performance on the subsequent in-class exam and in the course overall.

In recent decades, increasing participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has emerged as a globally shared policy objective in higher education. This policy objective is underpinned by a commitment to the economic framework of the knowledge economy and the belief that STEM education, knowledge and innovation are prerequisites for economic growth. This paper is concerned with doctoral scientists, who occupy a position of considerable privilege according to knowledge economy discourse: expertly knowledgeable, highly skilled and sought by elite employers. This paper assesses these policy claims against the experiences of recent doctoral scientists studying in the UK. Data from a 3-year mixed-method study are subjected to a novel, game theory informed analysis of students' values, decision-making behaviour and career ambitions. While all doctoral scientists engage in career-oriented strategizing, the game strategies employed by students are diverse and reveal conflicted understandings of knowledge economy policy. Implications of these findings and the analytical merits of game theory are discussed.

Ireland is set to introduce an examinable physical education curriculum (Leaving Certificate Physical Education (LCPE)) in the final two years of post-primary school. A Physical Education Development Group (PEDG) were tasked with the responsibility of constructing the LCPE specification. This paper explores the LCPE curriculum development process by drawing on Elias's [(1978). "What is sociology?" New York: Columbia University Press] 'game models' framework to provide a theoretically informed analysis of the operations of the PEDG. Interviews were conducted with 10 PEDG members. The results revolved around curriculum content knowledge, assessment weightings, and debating the responsibility for assessing students' work. The game models framework allowed us to understand the power-struggles in the PEDG and how they worked to arrive at a consensus about curriculum content and assessment. The outcome was one that no 'player' could have anticipated, and Elias's game models framework shed light on how a curriculum with original intentions became a curriculum made up of unintended consequences.

In this article, the author describes the structure and content of a video game that she developed for a hybrid principles of microeconomics course that consists of two 50-minute lectures and a 50-minute online portion per week. The game comprises seven modules, each of which was assigned to be played during the course of the semester for the online portion of the class. The concepts covered in the game include the circular flow model, demand and supply, externalities, comparative advantage, types of market structure, sunk costs, and game theory, and the article explains in detail how the gameplay was related to these concepts. The game can be downloaded for either Windows or Mac computers, or played online at https://sites.google.com/site/gamesforecon/.

A literature review establishes a working definition of recreational mathematics: a type of play which is enjoyable and requires mathematical thinking or skills to engage with. Typically, it is accessible to a wide range of people and can be effectively used to motivate engagement with and develop understanding of mathematical ideas or concepts. Recreational mathematics can be used in education for engagement and to develop mathematical skills, to maintain interest during procedural practice and to challenge and stretch students. It can also make cross-curricular links, including to history of mathematics. In undergraduate study, it can be used for engagement within standard curricula and for extra-curricular interest. Beyond this, there are opportunities to develop important graduate-level skills in problem-solving and communication. The development of a module 'Game Theory and Recreational Mathematics' is discussed. This provides an opportunity for fun and play, while developing graduate skills. It teaches some combinatorics, graph theory, game theory and algorithms/complexity, as well as scaffolding a Pólya-style problem-solving process. Assessment of problem-solving as a process via examination is outlined. Student feedback gives some indication that students appreciate the aims of the module, benefit from the explicit focus on problem-solving and understand the active nature of the learning.

The knowledge-sharing activity is a major drive force behind the progress and innovation of university teacher team. Based on the evolutionary game theory, this article analyzes the knowledge-sharing process model of this team, studies the influencing mechanism of various factors such as knowledge aggregate gap, incentive coefficient and risk factor that influence the knowledge-sharing result, and accordingly proposes a strategy to promote the knowledge sharing of university teacher team.

When problem based learning occurs in a social context it is open to a common social behaviour, scrounging. In the animal behaviour literature, scroungers do not attempt to find resources themselves but rather exploit resources found by other group members (referred to as producers). We know from studies of animal behaviour (including humans) that scrounging can be expected whenever animals exploit resources in groups. We also know that scrounging can have deleterious effects on the group. We can expect scrounging to occur during social learning because the exchange of information (which I will consider here as a resource) is essential to social learning. This exchange can be seen as each individual scrounging from the other members of the group whenever the individual learns from the work of others. However, there is a danger if some individuals learn mostly through their own efforts while others indulge in "social loafing" relying heavily on colleagues to provide knowledge. Here I propose that game theory models developed to analyse feeding in animal societies may also apply to social learning. We know from studies of birds feeding in groups that scrounging behaviour depends on the extent to which resources can be shared. Further, when scrounging is prevalent groups tend to obtain fewer resources. By contrast, in social learning we attempt to facilitate sharing of knowledge. We thus encourage scrounging and run the risk of reducing learning within study groups. Here I analyse the role of scrounging in problem based learning. I argue that scrounging is inherent and necessary to any social learning process. However, it can have perverse effects if the acquisition of facts rather than understanding comes to dominate learning objectives. Further, disparities among individuals within a group can lead certain individuals to specialise in scrounging thus undermining the functioning of the group. I suggest that motivation, problem structure, discussion group dynamics, attention to results expected from students and careful evaluation can be used to encourage scrounging as a cooperative tactic while minimising its negative impacts on group "performance."

To strengthen the professional competence and basic ability is the objective requirements of the Chinese higher vocational college English teaching, while the positioning of the teaching objectives is partial to a "prisoner's dilemma" in game situations that any party will result in. To get rid of the "dilemma", we have to adopt strategies to coordinate them by cultivating students' ability to transform their English knowledge to English applying, select or prepare a variety of professional-oriented materials, increase ESP elective courses and application assessment projects of English test.

Movement-based gaming technologies, such as the Nintendo Wii, are becoming more visible within the physical education. As research on movement-based technologies develops, an aspect that has gained interest is the potential educational value for the physical education student. The purpose of this study was to examine movement-based sport games and the potential learning opportunities (i.e. game performance elements) for physical education students. Using qualitative measures, experts in the field of physical education teacher education analyzed the game performance opportunities across multiple sport-based games. Findings indicated that movement-based games provide opportunities to develop and work on the cognitive understanding of sport and games. (Contains 2 tables.)

The authors examine technology-driven games--especially active gaming--as an evolving form of children's play. They offer an overview of play and its developmental benefits, describe the literature on the emergence of technology-driven play, and reflect on the diminishment of physical play in contemporary culture. They suggest that active gaming, which they describe in detail, not only meets the research-based definition of play, but also may fill the role of traditional play whose growing absence has left behind a vacuum.

Information technologies have reshaped teaching and learning in schools, but often not in ways anticipated by technology proponents. This paper proposes a contrast between technologies for learning and technologies for learners to explain how technologies influence teaching and learning in and out of schools. Schools have made significant use of assessment and instructional technologies that help promote learning for all students, whereas technologies for learners, such as mobile devices, video games, and social networking sites, are typically excluded from school contexts. The paper considers how these contrasting models of technology use will come to shape schools and learning in a pluralistic society.

A close look at the educational literature reveals both negative perceptions among peer assessment participants and evidence that peer assessment may not as effective as generally thought. An analysis of peer assessment using game theory is proposed and examined. This examination helps to explain the aforementioned lack of effectiveness and negative perceptions. The resulting model suggests interventions that may mitigate these negative perceptions and lead to an increase in peer assessment effectiveness.

This paper explores the perceptions and experiences of women academics in the UK, participating in a small-scale qualitative study exploring career progression and encountered institutional obstacles. The accounts are considered in terms of both disadvantageous institutional strategies and interpersonal ones governing day-to-day working relationships. The findings contribute to a growing body of international research on gender constructions in the academy, where both inhibiting and exclusionary barriers are examined in focus group discussions (FGDs) in terms of gendered constructions that are perceived to impact upon the career opportunities of women academics. Analysis of data encouraged the employment of a ludic construction in this critical exploration of games playing and 'gamesmanship' (a masculinised term); these being themes raised in the FGDs as representing blocks and challenges to women's academic careers.

The valuable insights of game theory sometimes remain out of reach for students who are overwhelmed by the subject's complexity. Comic book applications of game theory, with superheroes as players, can facilitate enthusiasm and classroom interaction to enhance the learning of game theory. Drawing from content in superhero movies and books, the authors construct games to illustrate pure-strategy Nash equilibrium, Bayes-Nash equilibrium, mixed strategies, sub-game perfection, and perfect Bayesian equilibrium. To help instructors build students' skills in finding and interpreting game solutions, they translate comic book scenarios into specific game forms; however, not all scenarios are obvious so they suggest instructors help students develop their own game-theoretic judgments to determine what game forms, payoffs, and solution concepts might be appropriate for understanding a situation.