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This study explores how engineering academic teachers perceive their practical knowledge on learning and feedback. Academic teachers and education directors of different disciplines in an engineering university were interviewed. Responses were analysed using the matrix method and cross-case analysis. Five different profiles emerged that provided insight into educators’ practical knowledge on learning and feedback and the associated relations. Feedback is not only a necessary tool to foster learning but is also intrinsically interlinked to learning. Learning and feedback were observed to be dynamic during the study programme. Findings suggest that learning theories can be useful to label, describe, and interpret practical knowledge on learning and feedback. The study has practical implications for those supporting academic teachers’ professional development in higher engineering education (HEE) with respect to providing feedback.

Rubrics are often used as tools for criteria-based assessments. Although students indicate that they appreciate comments given as feedback which make reference to the rubric and provided in addition to it, there is little information on how this type of feedback actually differs from in-text comments with respect to focus, level, and function of the feedback. The focus refers to three major questions in evaluating students’ understanding of information: Where am I going? How am I going? and Where to next? That is, feedup, feedback, feedforward. The level refers to the level at which feedback is directed. That is, the level of task performance, the level of the process of understanding how to do a task, the regulatory or metacognitive process level, and/or the self or personal level. Finally, the function refers to the type of content of the feedback. For example, feedback can be a question, suggestion, or correction. More information on this issue could better inform the decisions on how to provide written feedback to students on written coursework/assignments. The study described in this article gathered data from almost 1000 feedback instances. The results revealed that about two-thirds of the feedback instances were provided in-text and about one-third were comments which made reference to the rubric and were provided in addition to it. The results show that comments in both modalities are overrepresented by feedback at the task level, but that comments which made reference to the rubric and provided in addition to it contain somewhat more feedforward and process-related comments. The largest differences were found in the function of feedback. Whereas in-text comments ask for clarifications, provide corrections, and ask questions, written comments which made reference to the rubric and are provided in addition to it include mainly affirmations, argumentations, and suggestions. Implications for practitioners are discussed.

This article provides a comprehensive overview of artificial intelligence (AI) for serious games. Reporting about the work of a European flagship project on serious game technologies, it presents a set of advanced game AI components that enable pedagogical affordances and that can be easily reused across a wide diversity of game engines and game platforms. Serious game AI functionalities include player modelling (real-time facial emotion recognition, automated difficulty adaptation, stealth assessment), natural language processing (sentiment analysis and essay scoring on free texts), and believable non-playing characters (emotional and socio-cultural, non-verbal bodily motion, and lip-synchronised speech), respectively. The reuse of these components enables game developers to develop high quality serious games at reduced costs and in shorter periods of time. All these components are open source software and can be freely downloaded from the newly launched portal at gamecomponents.eu. The components come with detailed installation manuals and tutorial videos. All components have been applied and validated in serious games that were tested with real end-users.

When searching for information on the Internet, it can be stored in a bookmarking system. The ability to organize this information in such a system depends on one’s own prior knowledge to create an appropriate classification scheme. Providing a classification system for bookmarks might support people with low prior knowledge. Even though different bookmarking systems exist, hierarchical menus and tagging are being most widely used. In the current exploratory study with 95 ninth-grade students, a 2 × 2 between-subjects design was used to investigate the influence of providing classification support (or not) for either a tagging or a hierarchical system. Results showed that despite the low familiarity with tagging systems, using a hierarchical system is not necessarily a better approach than using a tagging system to organize previously found information. Rather, a tagging system seems to yield storage of fewer but higher-quality information sources. The most important conclusion is that, despite the low familiarity with tagging systems, using a hierarchical system was not beneficial over using a tagging system to organize previously found information.Tras una búsqueda de información en Internet, ésta se puede alma- cenar en un sistema de marcadores. La capacidad de organizar la información en algún tipo de sistema depende de los conocimientos previos para poder crear un plan de clasificación apropiado. La dis- ponibilidad de un sistema de clasificación de marcadores podría ayudar a las personas con escasos conocimientos previos. Aunque existen distintos sistemas de marcadores, los menús jerárquicos y las etiquetas son los más utilizados. En el presente estudio exploratorio, con 95 estudiantes de Grado 9 (14-15 años), se aplicó un diseño de investigación inter sujeto 2 × 2 para analizar la influencia de la disponibilidad (o no disponibilidad) de un sistema de clasificación propuesto para etiquetar o clasificar jerárquicamente los marcadores. Los resultados demuestran que, a pesar de la escasa familiaridad de los participantes con los sistemas de etiquetas, el uso de un sistema jerárquico no es necesariamente mejor que el uso de etiquetas para organizar información previamente identificada. Por el contrario, el sistema de etiquetas parece incentivar el almacenamiento de un número menor de informaciones, pero de mayor calidad. La conclusión más importante es que, a pesar de los escasos conoci- mientos de los participantes con los sistemas de etiquetas, el uso de un sistema jerárquico no resultó ventajoso frente al sistema de etiquetas para organizar la información obtenida.

A large body of research has established the value of learner characteristics on cognitive load. However, little attention has been paid to the physical environment where learning takes place. The present study takes a step to address this gap by studying the impact of the presence of others during learning on cognitive load. In a between-subject design, participants (N = 115) were randomly arranged in groups of different group sizes to study computer-based multimedia materials (group size range: 1-13, continuous variable). Further, participants' working memory capacity, topic interest, and their prior knowledge were measured to reveal relevant learner characteristics. Dependent variables were learning performance, perceived task difficulty (mental load), and invested mental effort. We tested the predictions from cognitive load theory with alternative path models to identify the best model fit. Our results show that group size predicted learners' perceived task difficulty: the larger the group of co-actors in the learning situation was, the higher the perceived task difficulty. Moreover, higher topic interest led to lower perceived task difficulty, and more mental effort, although that effect became non-significant after multiple testing adjustment. Perceived task difficulty mediated the effect of group size and topic interest on mental effort.

Learners can experience difficulties to form a mental model of a complex skill and what its mastery implicates in terms of actual behavior. Text-based analytic rubrics can support training and formative assessment of complex skills. However, they lack (1) contextual information needed to convey real-world attributes (2) sensor-motoric information (such as gesturing in the complex skill of presenting) (3) procedural information needed to support the automation of (sub)skills. Text-based analytic rubrics deficiencies for skill-mastery can be remedied by adding video-modeling examples with embedded self-explanation prompts, turning text-based analytic rubrics (TR) into so-called ‘video-enhanced analytic rubrics’ (VERS). The current study contrasts two experimental conditions (TR, n = 54; VERS, n = 49) for fostering the growth of learners' mental model of complex skills. This was done using the formative assessment supporting Viewbrics online tool and one control condition with a secondary school's current approach for skills-development (without rubrics nor Viewbrics-formative assessment (n = 50)). We measured learners' mental models at three times during their project work by assessing the richness of their constructed concept maps. A multilevel regression analysis showed that learners in the VERS condition form richer mental models when compared to the control condition for most complex skills.

Stealth assessment is a principled assessment methodology proposed for serious games that uses statistical models and machine learning technology to infer players’ mastery levels from logged gameplay data. Although stealth assessment has been proven to be valid and reliable, its application is complex, laborious, and time-consuming. A generic stealth assessment tool (GSAT), proven for its robustness with simulation data, has been proposed to resolve these issues. In this study, GSAT’s robustness is further investigated by using real-world data collected from a serious game on personality traits and validated with an associated personality questionnaire (NEO PI-R). To achieve this, (a) a stepwise regression approach was followed for generating statistical models from logged data for the big five personality traits (OCEAN model), (b) the statistical models are then used with GSAT to produce inferences regarding learners’ mastery level on these personality traits, and (c) the validity of GSAT’s outcomes are examined through a correlation analysis using the results of the NEO PI-R questionnaire. Despite the small dataset GSAT was capable of making inferences on players’ personality traits. This study has demonstrated the practicable feasibility of the SA methodology with GSAT and provides a showcase for its wider application in serious games.

Body-worn sensors can be used to capture, analyze, and replay human performance for training purposes. The key challenge to any such approach is to establish validity that the captured expert experience is actually suitable for training. In this paper, to evaluate this, we apply a questionnaire-based expert assessment and a complementary trainee knowledge assessment to study the approach adopted and the models generated with the WEKIT solution, a hardware and software application that complements Augmented Reality glasses with wearable sensor-actuator experience. This solution was developed using the ID4AR framework which as also developed within the WEKIT project. ID4AR framework is a domain agnostic framework which can be used to design augmented reality and sensor based applications for training. The study presented triangulates validity across three independent test-beds in the professional domains of aircraft maintenance, medical imaging, and astronaut training, with 61 experts completing the expert survey and 337 students completing the trainee knowledge test. Results show that the captured expert models were positively received in all three domains and the identified level of acceptance suggests that the solution is capable of capturing models for training purposes at large.

Although there is a large body of evidence for the utility of particular study strategies such as retrieval practice and distributed practice as memory-enhancing instruments, they are seldom used by learners in educational practice. Thus far, the research on the use of these study strategies has focused only on undergraduate university students, oftentimes only investigating a set of predefined strategies. The question, thus, remains whether these results are generalisable to secondary school students. The present study is the first to explore the use of different study strategies by secondary school students. With the use of an open question, 316 secondary school students from three different secondary school levels were asked how they prepare for an exam when they are studying by themselves. The results show that secondary school students use study strategies considered to be suboptimal. In the discussion, we compare our findings with results of previous studies among undergraduate university students.

The present research examines how the usefulness of source information to explain conflicting scientific claims affects laypersons’ processing of this information as they seek possible explanations for the conflicting scientific claims in the sources and during resolution of the conflict. In an eye-tracking experiment, we presented 76 participants with two conflicting scientific claims (on a controversial nanotechnology issue) put forward by two scientists (sources) that did or did not differ in their implied trustworthiness. We expected differences in trustworthiness to be useful source information for claim evaluation and explanation of the conflict. This should lead to longer processing of the source information during reading, to a stronger explanation of the conflict through differences in the scientists’ motivations, and to stronger agreement with the claim of the source which was more trustworthy. Our results show that differences in the sources’ trustworthiness indeed led to increased visual attention to source information during reading. Moreover, the source information affected individuals’ explanation of the conflict as well as their claim agreement: Individuals in the condition with differences in trustworthiness agreed more strongly with scientists’ motivations as a potential explanation for the conflict and agreed more strongly with the claim of the more trustworthy source than the individuals in the control condition. These results are discussed in the context of the content-source integration (CSI) model.

The role of learning strategies in gaining academic success has been widely investigated for campus-based college students. Within distance education (DE) students, however, research on this relationship is limited, while this group of learners is growing. The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between learning strategies and academic performance in DE students. Participants were 758 students (age 19–71 years) at a distance education university in the Netherlands. An online questionnaire was used to determine learning strategies and exam grades were obtained from the university exam database to determine academic performance. Mixed model analyses showed that management of time and effort, as well as complex cognitive strategy-use were positive predictors of academic performance, whereas contact with others was a negative predictor of academic performance. Explanations for these results as well as their implications are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to validate a new inventory designed to measure epistemic beliefs concerning the justification of knowledge claims encountered on the Internet. Confirmatory factor analysis of the scores of 394 preservice teachers showed that a three-factor model including justification by authority, justification by multiple sources, and personal justification fit the data well. Moreover, latent variable structural equation modeling showed that these three types of justification beliefs differentially predicted aspects of Internet-specific reading motivation and engagement. Taken together, these results provide evidence for the construct validity of the inventory and lay the foundation for further validation work. The theoretical and educational significance of the study is discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) are important for brain development and function, maybe especially during adolescence. Observational studies have demonstrated an association between fish consumption (a source of LCPUFA) and cognition in adolescents, but intervention trials are lacking. The goal of the current study was to investigate the effect of one year of krill oil (a source of LCPUFA) supplementation on the cognitive performance of adolescents with a low Omega-3 Index (O3I &le, 5%). A double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled supplementation trial with repeated measurements (baseline (T0), three months (T1), six months (T2), and 12 months (T3)) in adolescents (267 randomized) was executed. Participants were randomized to 400 mg eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) per day in Cohort I or placebo and 800 mg EPA + DHA per day in Cohort II or placebo. O3I was monitored by a finger prick at all time points. At T0, T2, and T3, participants executed a neurocognitive test battery. Covariate corrected mixed models were run with either condition (krill or placebo) or O3I as predictors. Krill oil supplementation led to a small but significant increase in mean O3I, but few participants increased to the intended O3I range (8&ndash, 11%). There was no significant effect of supplementation on the neurocognitive tests, nor a relationship between O3I and neurocognitive test scores. The increase in O3I was small in most participants, probably due to non-compliance. Possibly the increase in O3I was too small to demonstrate an effect. More research on the influence of LCPUFAs on cognition in adolescents is needed.

BackgroundThe prenatal exposure to maternal n-6 and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) might influence the development of social competence and internalizing and externalizing behaviours of the child, because of the numerous functions of PUFAs within the nervous system.MethodsTo analyse the association of selected maternal PUFAs (i.e., AA, EPA, DHA, total n-6, total n-3, and the n-6:n-3 ratio) measured during gestation with childhood social competence and problem behaviours, we examined 311 mother-child pairs from the Maastricht Essential Fatty Acid Birth (MEFAB) cohort. For each woman, PUFA-specific changes in relative concentrations were calculated by identifying the best-fitting curve of PUFA concentration by linear splines of gestational age. The associations of changes in maternal PUFAs in early and late pregnancy with childhood social competence, total problems, internalizing and externalizing behaviours, measured with the Child Behaviour Checklist 4/18 at age 7, were investigated with linear regression analyses adjusted for maternal and children's socio-demographic characteristics.ResultsIn late gestation (i.e., from gestational week 30), an increase in AA was associated with higher social competence, while a decrease in total n-6 was associated with lower externalizing behaviours. No other significant associations were found.DiscussionIn this prospective study, increasing maternal AA and decreasing total n-6 were associated with improved social competence and externalizing behaviours, respectively, in 7-year old children. Nonetheless, the clinical significance of the identified associations is modest and further investigations are warranted to clarify the relationship between maternal AA and total n-6 during pregnancy and childhood social and behavioural development.

Background/objectives Polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) status during pregnancy has been suggested to influence offspring obesity and cardiometabolic health. We assessed whether prenatal PUFA exposure is associated with rapid infant growth, childhood BMI, and cardiometabolic profile.Subjects/methods In the Dutch MEFAB (n = 266) and Greek RHEA (n = 263) cohorts, we measured n-3 and n-6 PUFA concentrations in cord blood phospholipids, which reflect fetal exposure in late pregnancy. We defined rapid infant growth from birth to 6 months of age as an increase in weight z-score >0.67. We analyzed body mass index (BMI) as continuous and in categories of overweight/obesity at 4 and 6 years. We computed a cardiometabolic risk score at 6-7 years as the sum of waist circumference, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and blood pressure z-scores. Associations of PUFAs with child health outcomes were assessed using generalized linear models for binary outcomes and linear regression models for continuous ones after adjusting for important covariates, and for the pooled estimates, a cohort indicator.Results In pooled analyses, we found no association of PUFA levels with rapid infant growth, childhood BMI (beta per SD increase in the total n-3:n-6 PUFA ratio = -0.04 SD; 99% CI: -0.15, 0.06; P = 0.65 at 4 years, and -0.05 SD; 99% CI: -0.18, 0.08; P = 0.78 at 6 years), and overweight/obesity. We also found no associations for clustered cardiometabolic risk and its individual components. The results were similar across cohorts.Conclusions Our findings suggest that PUFA concentrations at birth are not associated with later obesity development and cardiometabolic risk in childhood.

In the present study the construct inquiry of mind explored and an instrument to measure it is proposed. Using three different samples, explorative and confirmative factor analyses were performed, resulting in three empirical dimensions that correspond to the three theoretical dimensions: 1) ‘value deep understanding,’ 2) ‘reserve judgment and tolerate ambiguity,’ and 3) ‘taking a range of perspectives and posing increasingly focused questions.’ Our findings suggest the teachers’ inquiry habit of mind scale has good psychometric properties making it useful not only for research that investigates teachers’ research attitude and intention to do research but also as an evaluation tool for the development of an inquiry habit of mind in both student teachers and teacher educators (in teacher education) as well as in experienced teachers (participating in professional development).

Goal achievement is a measure of success; this could be particularly true in Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC), which are approached by a massive audience with an enormous variety of needs. Despite the huge number of MOOC users, it is unlikely to find solutions that allow them to pursue their individual goals. To overcome this issue, we have developed a first prototype of the Stimulated Planning (SP) game element, inspired by the implementation intention theory and by our experience with strategy games. In this study, the SP prototype is presented and its performance assessed via a new combination of three methodologies: usability test, eye tracking and the retrospective think-aloud technique. The results are promising and contribute to the field of gamification of MOOC at three levels: at conceptual level, by introducing and interpreting a new theory for gamification design; at design level, by demonstrating that is possible to design advanced gamification for MOOCs; and at assessment level, by applying a new methodology for MOOC gamification design assessment.

With modern technological advances, distance education has become an increasingly important education delivery medium for, for example, the higher education provided by open universities. Among predictive factors of successful learning in distance education, the effects of non-cognitive skills are less explored. Grit, the dispositional tendency to sustain trait-level passion and long-term goals, has raised much research interest and gained importance for predicting academic achievement. The Grit Questionnaire, measuring Perseverance of Effort and Consistency of Interests, has been shown to be a reliable instrument in traditional university student populations. However, the measurement and predictive validity of this questionnaire is still unknown for adult distance education university students who differ from traditional students in various ways (e.g., having a wider range of student ages). Based on a sample of 2,027 students from a distance education university, this study assessed the psychometric properties of the two-factor structure grit measured by the Grit Questionnaire. The findings suggest that the short form of the Grit Questionnaire is a potentially useful assessment tool for measuring the grit construct for distance learning higher education and that the Consistency of Interests factor is especially relevant to consider the improvement of learning performance for distance education in terms of courses credit and exam attempts. The measurement precision of the Perseverance of Effort factor, however, should be improved in future research to provide higher measurement accuracy and broader item coverage.

In contemporary education, students often need to use the Internet to find information for solving a problem and completing a learning task. Teachers assume that students are sufficiently skilled to do so, but research shows the skills necessary for effective information problem solving (IPS) are more often than not underdeveloped. This paper presents a study on embedded IPS training consisting of whole IPS tasks integrated in a 20-week course on vocabulary development, and its effects on student teachers' IPS skills. Skill measurements show that student teachers receiving the training search and select information more systematically in the short term, but their search queries, sources, and solutions are not of significantly higher quality than those of student teachers who received the regular course without IPS training. In addition, the improvements were no longer visible after five weeks. The training therefore succeeded in developing cognitive strategies for approaching an information problem, but did not create lasting improvements in all aspects of the IPS skill. Methodological and practical implications are discussed.

PurposeDepression is common in adolescents and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) are suggested to be associated with depression. However, research in adolescents is limited. Furthermore, self-esteem has never been studied in relation to LCPUFA. The objective here was to determine associations of depression and self-esteem with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), Omega-3 Index (O3I), n-6 docosapentaenoic acid (n-6 DPA, also called Osbond acid, ObA), n-3 docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), and arachidonic acid (AA) concentrations in blood of adolescents attending lower general secondary education (LGSE).MethodsBaseline cross-sectional data from a krill oil supplementation trial in adolescents attending LGSE with an O3I ≤ 5% were analysed using regression models built with the BayesFactor package in R. Fatty acids and O3I were determined in blood. Participants filled out the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale (RSE).ResultsScores indicative of depression (CES-D ≥ 16) were found in 29.4% of the respondents. Of all fatty acids, we found extreme evidence [Bayes factor (BF) > 100] for a weak negative association between ObA and depression score [− 0.16; 95% credible interval (CI) − 0.28 to − 0.04; BF10 = 245], and substantial evidence for a weak positive association between ObA and self-esteem score (0.09; 95% CI, − 0.03 to 0.20; BF10 = 4). When all fatty acids were put in one model as predictors of CES-D or RSE, all of the 95% CI contained 0, i.e., no significant association.ConclusionNo evidence was found for associations of DHA, EPA and O3I with depression or self-esteem scores in LGSE adolescents with O3I ≤ 5%. The associations of higher ObA status with lower depression and higher self-esteem scores warrant more research.

Recent technological developments related to the World Wide Web including mobile computing, social media, and online videos are shaping the way we learn. As argued in the present commentary, the majority of educational psychological research that has examined how individuals learn by searching the Web, however, has not kept up with this pace. Therefore, the goal of this commentary is to discuss how recent technological developments might affect how learners acquire knowledge through Web search and to provide a respective research agenda. Specifically, we will focus on the use of mobile devices and digital assistants, social networking sites, and online videos, and the opportunities and challenges they present to learners. In addition, we suggest that future research should study the ongoing learning processes during Web search in greater detail. We believe that examining the research questions raised in the present commentary will uniquely contribute to the literature on Web-based searching and learning. MP3 File

There are major inter-individual differences in the school achievements of students aged 8-12. The determinants of these differences are not known. This paper investigates two possible factors: the self-regulation of the student and the educational levels obtained by their parents. The study first investigates whether children with high and low academic achievement differ in their self-regulation. It then evaluates whether there are differences in the self-regulation of children with high and moderate-to-low level of parental education (LPE). The focus was on the self-regulation of students as judged by their teacher. Teacher evaluations were assessed using an observer questionnaire: the Amsterdam Executive Functioning Inventory. Results showed that students with low school achievement had substantially lower teacher-perceived self-regulation than children with high school achievement. Furthermore, teacher-perceived self-regulation was lower for children with moderate-to-low LPE than for children with high LPE. The findings suggest that interventions on the domain of self-regulation skills should be developed and used, particularly in students at risk of poor school achievement.

Eye-tracking technology was used to examine Internet search result evaluation strategies adopted by sixth-grade students (N = 36) during ten experimental information search tasks. The relevancy of the search result’s title, URL, and snippet components was manipulated and selection of search results as well as looking into probabilities on the search result components was analysed. The results revealed that during first-pass inspection, students read the search engine page by first looking at the title of a search result. If the title was relevant, the probability of looking at the snippet of the search result increased. During second-pass inspection, there was a high probability of students focusing on the most promising search result by inspecting all of its components before making their selection. A cluster analysis revealed three viewing strategies: half of the students looked mainly at the titles and snippets; one-third with high probability examined all components; and one-sixth mainly focused on titles, leading to more frequent errors in search result selection. The results indicate that students generally made a flexible use of both eliminative and confirmatory evaluation strategies when reading Internet search results, while some seemed to not pay attention to snippet and URL components of the search results. peerReviewed

In het tertiair onderwijs is de kwaliteit van inferieure beoordelingen een probleem dat ernstige gevolgen heeft voor studenten, leraren, de overheid en de samenleving. Het ontbreken van een duidelijke en overkoepelende conceptualisering van de kwaliteit van de beoordeling kan problemen veroorzaken bij het garanderen van de beoordelingskwaliteit. Het doel van deze studie is om de beoordelingskwaliteit in het tertiair onderwijs te conceptualiseren door een overzicht te geven van de kwaliteitscriteria voor de beoordeling, hun invloeden, de evaluatie van de beoordelingskwaliteitscriteria en de perspectieven waarmee rekening moet worden gehouden bij de beoordeling van de beoordelingskwaliteit. Deze studie verzamelde 78 peer-reviewed tijdschriftartikelen in een kader met behulp van MAXQDA en een tekstanalyse werd uitgevoerd met Leximancer. De resultaten wezen op validiteit, transparantie en betrouwbaarheid als beoordelingskwaliteitscriteria; standaardisatie, belanghebbenden, duidelijkheid, en construeren irrelevante variantie als invloeden op de beoordelingskwaliteitscriteria; validatie en statistische gegevensanalyses om de evaluatiekwaliteit te evalueren; en studenten, personeel, overheid en experts als perspectieven waarmee rekening moet worden gehouden bij het evalueren van de beoordelingskwaliteit. Deze inzichten zijn belangrijk voor docenten, educatieve adviseurs en managers die deze informatie kunnen gebruiken om te bepalen welke beoordelingskwaliteit voor hun onderwijsorganisatie is en waar ze rekening mee moeten houden bij het garanderen van de beoordelingskwaliteit. Bovendien geeft het onderzoek onderzoekers inzicht in de huidige stand van zaken van wetenschappelijk bewijs.

Background: It has been suggested that prenatal exposure to n-3 long-chain fatty acids protects against asthma and other allergy-related diseases later in childhood. The extent to which fish intake in pregnancy protects against child asthma and rhinitis symptoms remains unclear. We aimed to assess whether fish and seafood consumption in pregnancy is associated with childhood wheeze, asthma and allergic rhinitis. Methods: We pooled individual data from 60 774 mother-child pairs participating in 18 European and US birth cohort studies. Information on wheeze, asthma and allergic rhinitis prevalence was collected using validated questionnaires. The time periods of interest were: infancy (0-2 years), preschool age (3-4 years), and school age (5-8 years). We used multivariable generalized models to assess associations of fish and seafood (other than fish) consumption during pregnancy with child respiratory outcomes in cohort-specific analyses, with subsequent random-effects meta-analyses. Results: The median fish consumption during pregnancy ranged from 0.44 times/week in The Netherlands to 4.46 times/week in Spain. Maternal fish intake during pregnancy was not associated with offspring wheeze symptoms in any age group nor with the risk of child asthma [adjusted meta-analysis relative risk (RR) per 1-time/week = 1.01, 95% confidence interval 0.97-1.05)] and allergic rhinitis at school age (RR = 1.01, 0.99-1.03). These results were consistently found in further analyses by type of fish and seafood consumption and in sensitivity analyses. Conclusion: We found no evidence supporting a protective association of fish and seafood consumption during pregnancy with offspring symptoms of wheeze, asthma and allergic rhinitis from infancy to mid childhood. This work was supported by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program [EU- FP7- HEALTH-2009-single-stage-241604]. Details of funding per cohort are available at IJE online.

Background. The EMERGO method and online platform enable the development and delivery of scenario-based serious games that foster students to acquire professional competence. One of the main goals of the platform is to provide a user-friendly authoring environment for creating virtual environments where students can perform authentic tasks. Aim. We present the findings of an in-depth qualitative case study of the platform’s authoring environment and compare our findings on usability with those found for comparable environments in literature. Method. We carried out semi-structured interviews, with two experienced game developers who have authored a game for higher education, and a literature review of comparable environments. Findings. The analysis shows that the usability of the authoring environment is problematic, especially regarding understandability and learnability, which is in line with findings of comparable environments. Other findings are that authoring is well integrated with the EMERGO method and that functionality and reliability of the authoring environment are valued. Practical implications. The lessons learned are presented in the form of general guidelines to improve the understandability and learnability of authoring environments for serious games.

Experience in the classroom influences how teachers interpret classroom events. This article investigated differences between expert and novice teachers' interpretations of authentic, problematic classroom events. Two types of videos presented problematic events, displaying either unrelated problems, such as disengaged, off-task students, or interrelated problems leading to a flagrant disruption. Predicted differences in teachers’ verbalized interpretations were analyzed through a multi-category coding scheme. All coding categories showed significant main effects for expertise. Novices interpretations focused on issues of behavior and discipline. Experts were markedly focused on student learning, stressing the influential role of the teacher on events arising in the classroom.

This study aims to provide more insight into how students’ perceptions of assessment quality are related to their learning approaches and learning outcomes. Six variables associated with the construct of students’ perceptions of assessment quality are distinguished: 1) effects of assessment on learning, 2) fairness of assessment, 3) conditions of assessment, 4) interpretation of test scores, 5) authenticity of assessment, and 6) credibility of assessment. 204 higher education students completed the Students’ Perceptions of Assessment Quality Questionnaire (SPAQQ), and the Approaches to Learning and Studying Inventory (ALSI), and the students’ learning outcomes (grades) were obtained. Firstly, results indicate that the students’ perceptions of the effects of assessment on learning are positively related to the students’ deep learning approach and the strategic learning approach and negatively related to the surface learning approach. Secondly, the students’ perceptions of the conditions of assessment are positively related to their learning outcomes of the assessments.

This study presents a quality assurance methodology geared to reusable (serious) game software that is posted on the Gamecomponents.eu marketplace portal. This portal provides an online hub for the exchange of serious game software components. The quality assurance methodology comes with a running prototype in C#. It is based on a flexible, plug-in architecture, which allows to flexibly add new checks. The tool starts at solution/project file level rather than code level and covers a variety of issues, e.g. naming conventions, warnings, documentation, portability, namespaces and classes. Specific coding level tests check for portability of game software components. Software testing results show that the approach uncovers a large numbers of hidden flaws and issues that require to be fixed. The tool will empower developers to enhance the quality of their software during development and will contribute to the overall quality level of exposed game software at the Gamecomponents.eu portal.

This study investigated how student autonomy in physical education can be enhanced without producing adverse effects. A sample of 150 students from Dutch preparatory vocational education was divided into four groups subjected to different levels of autonomy during a physical education lesson. The autonomy conditions varied from teacher-led lessons to student-led task strategy selection, self-monitoring of task execution with video-based self-feedback and self-assessment of performance. Students in the autonomy conditions showed significantly higher motor performance than students in the teacher-led condition. Also, video-based self-feedback led to increased motor learning as compared to video-based teacher-led feedback. Students’ self-assessment scores of exercise performance were found to converge very well with the scores assigned by the teachers. Finally, it was established that high performers benefited more from enhanced autonomy than low performers. Motivation was found to be high in all conditions, revealing no significant differences.

Computer-based simulation games provide an environment to train complex problem-solving skills. Yet, it is largely unknown how the in-game performance of learners varies with different levels of prior knowledge. Based on theories of complex-skill acquisition (e.g., 4C/ID), we derive four performance aspects that prior knowledge may affect: (1) systematicity in approach, (2) accuracy in visual attention and motor reactions, (3) speed in performance, and (4) cognitive load. This study aims to empirically test whether prior knowledge affects these four aspects of performance in a medical simulation game for resuscitation skills training. Participants were 24 medical professionals (experts, with high prior knowledge) and 22 medical students (novices, with low prior knowledge). After pre-training, they all played one scenario, during which game-logs and eye-movements were collected. A cognitive-load questionnaire ensued. During game play, experts demonstrated a more systematic approach, higher accuracy in visual selection and motor reaction, and a higher performance speed than novices. Their reported levels of cognitive load were lower. These results indicate that prior knowledge has a substantial impact on performance in simulation games, opening up the possibility of using our measures for performance assessment.

Observing how a knowledgeable person demonstrates (or ‘models’) how to perform a task is a natural way of learning and can help with the acquisition of new skills (Van Gog & Rummel, 2010). Over the past years, video-based modeling examples have become easier to generate and disseminate. However, learners are often deprived from important social cues such as eye movements, head turns, or pointing gestures to the referred elements which would, in a traditional classroom setting, guide the learners’ attention to understand the model’s references (Ouwehand, van Gog, & Paas, 2015). One idea for fostering video learning is ‘Eye Movement Modelling Examples’ (Van Gog, Jarodzka, Scheiter, Gerjets, & Paas, 2009). In EMMEs, a model’s eye movements are superimposed onto the task material during execution, for instance as circles or a spotlight. These eye-movement displays could disambiguate the model’s references and thus improve the learners’ understanding. In the field of programming education, studies recently showed promising first results that EMME-based interventions can foster the acquisition of programming skills (Bednarik, Schulte, Budde, Heinemann, & Vrzakova, 2018; Stein & Brennan, 2004). However, clear design guidelines on how to create an optimal EMME are lacking and the creation process of EMMEs differs highly across studies. For instance, model instructions to create EMMEs range from no specific instruction (e.g., Litchfield, Ball, Donovan, Manning, & Crawford, 2010; Nalanagula, Greenstein, & Gramopadhye, 2006) to studies that explicitly prompt the models to adjust their behavior in a didactic manner to a novice audience (e.g., Jarodzka et al., 2012; Jarodzka, van Gog, Dorr, Scheiter, & Gerjets, 2013). Whether, and if so, to what extent, such instructions affect learning outcomes, is unknown. On the one hand, following naturally behaving experts might be more difficult for learners than following didactic examples. On the other hand, natural modeling examples could foster observational learning and the learners could gain insights into the standards their performance should ultimately meet. Our study aims at investigating how displaying either programming experts’ natural or didactic behavior in EMMEs affects learners’ mental effort ratings, video understanding, and debugging performance. This can later provide researchers and practitioners with evidence-based guidelines on how to create effective EMME videos and raise awareness of the importance of model instruction for EMME creation. Data collection will take place in May and June 2019 and we will present preliminary results at the network meeting. References Bednarik, R., Schulte, C., Budde, L., Heinemann, B., & Vrzakova, H. (2018). Eye-movement Modeling Examples in Source Code Comprehension: A Classroom Study. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 18th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research. Jarodzka, H., Balslev, T., Holmqvist, K., Nyström, M., Scheiter, K., Gerjets, P., & Eika, B. (2012). Conveying clinical reasoning based on visual observation via eye-movement modelling examples. Instructional Science, 40(5), 813-827. Jarodzka, H., van Gog, T., Dorr, M., Scheiter, K., & Gerjets, P. (2013). Learning to see: Guiding students' attention via a model's eye movements fosters learning. Learning and Instruction, 25, 62-70. Litchfield, D., Ball, L. J., Donovan, T., Manning, D. J., & Crawford, T. (2010). Viewing another person's eye movements improves identification of pulmonary nodules in chest x-ray inspection. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 16(3), 251. Nalanagula, D., Greenstein, J. S., & Gramopadhye, A. K. (2006). Evaluation of the effect of feedforward training displays of search strategy on visual search performance. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 36(4), 289-300. Ouwehand, K., van Gog, T., & Paas, F. (2015). Designing effective video-based modeling examples using gaze and gesture cues. Educational Technology & Society, 18(4), 78-88. Stein, R., & Brennan, S. E. (2004). Another person's eye gaze as a cue in solving programming problems. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Multimodal interfaces. Van Gog, T., Jarodzka, H., Scheiter, K., Gerjets, P., & Paas, F. (2009). Attention guidance during example study via the model’s eye movements. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(3), 785-791. Van Gog, T., & Rummel, N. (2010). Example-based learning: Integrating cognitive and social-cognitive research perspectives. Educational Psychology Review, 22(2), 155-174.

Stealth assessment could radically extend the scope and impact of learning analytics. Stealth assessment refers to the unobtrusive assessment of learners by exploiting emerging data from their digital traces in electronic learning environments through machine learning technologies. So far, stealth assessment has been studied extensively in serious games, but has not been widely applied, as it is a laborious and complex methodology for which no support tools are available. This study proposes a generic tool for the arrangement of stealth assessment to remove its current limitations and pave the road for its wider adoption. It describes the conceptual design of such a tool including its requirements regarding users, functions, and workflow. A prototype was implemented as a basic console application covering the tool's core requirements, including a Gaussian Naive Bayes Network utility. Generated input files were used for testing and validating the approach. In a controlled test condition the stealth assessment classification accuracy was found to be inherently stable and high (typically above 92%). It is argued that the proposed approach could radically increase the applicability of stealth assessment in serious games and inform current learning analytics approaches with unobtrusive, more detailed and genuine assessments of learning.

In recent studies, a component-based software engineering framework (RCSAA) has been proposed to accommodate the reuse of game software components across diverse game engines, platforms, and programming languages. This study follows up on this by a more detailed investigation of the portability of a RCSAA-compliant game software component across three principal programming languages: C#, JavaScript (TypeScript), and Java, respectively, and their integration in game engines for these languages. One operational RCSAA-compliant component in C# is taken as the starting point for porting to the other languages. For each port, a detailed analysis of language-specific features is carried out to examine and preserve the equivalence of transcompiled code. Also, implementation patterns of required RSCAA constructs are analysed for each programming language and practical workaround solutions are proposed. This study demonstrates that the software patterns and design solutions used in the RCSAA are easily portable across programming languages based on very different programming paradigms. It thereby establishes the practicability of the RSCAA architecture and the associated integration of RCSAA-compliant game components under real-world conditions.

Nowadays, there is a high demand for programming expertise on the labor market. New technologies such as eye tracking could help to improve programming education and thereby help to fulfill this demand. For instance, Eye Movement Modeling Examples (EMMEs) are learning videos that visualize a person’s (the model’s) eye movements while s/he demonstrates how to perform a (programming) task. The eye movements can, for in-stance, get visualized as moving dots onto a screen recording. By observing where an expert programmer looks, programming beginners might better understand what s/he is doing and referring to. Recent studies showed promising first results about the beneficial effects of using EMMEs in programming education. In this manuscript, we present a research project that aims to provide evidence-based guidelines for educational practitioners on how to use eye-tracking technology for programming training. We first introduce the basic concept of EMMEs and exemplary gaps in literature. We then present our first empirical study on how different instructions affect expert programmer’s eye movements when modeling a debugging task (and hence EMME displays). With this manuscript, we hope to inspire more programmers to use eye-tracking technology for programming education.

Standing classrooms could potentially counteract excessive sedentary behavior. This paper describes the protocol for an exploratory longitudinal randomized controlled trial aimed at studying the effects of standing during tutorials on learning in undergraduate students. Learning is operationally defined as the use of interactions that are conducive to learning and an improved performance on concept tests. Final examination scores are also used as a measure of learning performance. The secondary aim is to explore the unintended effects of standing tutorials through the students’ subsequent physical activity, tutorial attendance, and affect. Participants were randomly recruited to a sitting or standing tutorial for nine weeks. This study addresses learning in a real-world setting and reveals insights on the effects of standing on learning.

Internet-based texts addressing science issues can contain inaccurate and contradictory information. However, prior research has shown that students often have difficulties in identifying contradictions in science texts. In a quasi-experimental study with treatment-control groups design with N = 129 high-school students from grades 10 and 11, we thus investigated whether a short classroom intervention could foster students' identification of contradictions in a physics text presented in a question & answer forum. Specifically, the intervention, which was provided in a regular physics lesson, was aimed at sensitizing students to the existence of inaccurate physics information on the Internet. Five weeks after the intervention, students of three intervention and three control classes were tasked to read a paper-printout of an Internet forum text on wind power plants that contained several contradictions. Subsequently, students performed a Conflict Verification Task (CVT) that measured their identification of the contradictions. The effectiveness of the intervention was moderated by students' reading comprehension skills. Students with higher reading comprehension skills benefitted from the intervention, with those in the intervention group achieving higher CVT scores than those in the control group. For students with lower reading comprehension skills, however, no differences between intervention and control group were obtained. In addition, prior domain knowledge was positively related to the identification of contradictions, independent of the intervention or students' reading comprehension skills. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

BACKGROUND: Physical activity not only is beneficial to a person's health, but can also have a positive influence on cognitive functioning. However, elderly people with chronic illness(es) often do not meet the physical activity guidelines. Physical activity programs for the elderly exist, but these are often expensive and not easily accessible to the elderly with chronic illness(es). In addition, the beneficial effects of these physical activity programs on cognitive functioning have never been specifically tested in this target group. Hence, this randomized controlled trial aims to test whether Active Plus, a proven effective physical activity intervention, is able to improve the cognitive functioning of elderly people with chronic illness(es) or to slow down cognitive decline. In addition, it studies what kind of activity, intensity, duration and frequency of physical activity most strongly influence cognitive functioning.METHODS: A randomized controlled trial is performed, comparing the Active Plus intervention group to a waiting list control group. In total 540 older adults (≥65 years) with at least one chronic illness that limits mobility are recruited from 7 municipalities. Comparable neighborhoods within a municipality are randomly allocated to the intervention or control group. Baseline and follow-up measurements after 6 and 12 months assess cognitive functioning and physical activity behavior, measured both objectively with an accelerometer and subjectively with a self-report questionnaire. Multilevel analyses are conducted to assess effects on cognitive functioning, including analyses on moderation effects for physical activity type, frequency, duration and intensity.DISCUSSION: To our knowledge this is the first study to investigate effectiveness of a physical activity program on cognitive functioning in elderly people suffering from a broad range of chronic illnesses. If proven effective Active Plus would be a very cost effective intervention not only to increase physical activity, but also to improve cognitive functioning or slow down cognitive decline. Up till now clear evidence is lacking on the kind of physical activity, intensity, duration and frequency needed to achieve cognitive benefits. By measuring both with accelerometers and self-report questionnaires we hope to gain insight in these processes.TRIAL REGISTRATION: Nederlands Trial Register NL6005 ; Date of Registration 21-03-2017.

This paper investigates the usability of the RAGE component-based software architecture (RCSA). This architecture was designed to support serious game development by enabling cross-platform reuse of game software components. While the architecture has been technically validated elsewhere, this paper studies the perceived usefulness and ease of use of the architecture in practice. An extensive questionnaire based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was administered to 23 software and game developers that have been creating RCSA-compliant game components or integrating these in actual serious games. The results show that developers are generally positive about the usability of the architecture and that the architecture helps them to do a better job in less time. It turns out that developers effectively use all communication modes that are offered by the architecture, most frequently those based on the component´s APIs and the bridge pattern. Some issues were reported, but could be easily addressed. Most developers reported that they have well understood the effectiveness of the architecture and indicated to keep using the architecture in future projects. The outcomes of this study show that the architecture opens up new opportunities to the cross-platform reuse of advanced game functionalities in serious game projects, to reduce production efforts and to advance the domain of serious games at large.

Sensors can monitor physical attributes and record multimodal data in order to provide feedback. The application calligraphy trainer, exploits these affordances in the context of handwriting learning. It records the expert&rsquo, s handwriting performance to compute an expert model. The application then uses the expert model to provide guidance and feedback to the learners. However, new learners can be overwhelmed by the feedback as handwriting learning is a tedious task. This paper presents the pilot study done with the calligraphy trainer to evaluate the mental effort induced by various types of feedback provided by the application. Ten participants, five in the control group and five in the treatment group, who were Ph.D. students in the technology-enhanced learning domain, took part in the study. The participants used the application to learn three characters from the Devanagari script. The results show higher mental effort in the treatment group when all types of feedback are provided simultaneously. The mental efforts for individual feedback were similar to the control group. In conclusion, the feedback provided by the calligraphy trainer does not impose high mental effort and, therefore, the design considerations of the calligraphy trainer can be insightful for multimodal feedback designers.

This paper represents our newly developed software for emotion recognition from facial expressions. Besides allowing emotion recognition from image files and recorded video files, it uses webcam data to provide real-time, continuous, and unobtrusive facial emotional expressions. It uses FURIA algorithm for unordered fuzzy rule induction to offer timely and appropriate feedback based on learners’ facial expressions. The main objective of this study was first to validate the use of webcam data for a real-time and accurate analysis of facial expressions in e-learning environments. Second, transform these facial expressions to detected emotional states using the FURIA algorithm. We measured the performance of the software with ten participants, provided them with the same computer-based tasks, requested them a hundred times to mimic specific facial expressions, and recorded all sessions on video. We used the recorded video files to feed our newly developed software. We then used two experts’ opinions to annotate and rate participants’ recorded behaviours and to validate the software’s results. The software provides accurate and reliable results with the overall accuracy of 83.2%, which is comparable to the recognition by humans. This study will help to increase the quality of e-learning.

Het probleem: De verwerving van vakoverstijgende complexe vaardigheden zoals samenwerken, presenteren en informatievaardigheden is cruciaal voor (onderbouw)leerlingen in het voortgezet onderwijs. Hierbij is het belangrijk dat leerlingen en leraren een concreet en consistent beeld krijgen van (aspecten van) deze zogenaamde 21ste -eeuwse vaardigheden om zowel de verwerving (door leerlingen) als de begeleiding (door leraren) te stroomlijnen. Kenmerkend voor elke vaardigheid is dat de leerling deze op verschillende niveaus kan beheersen. Als de leerling weet naar welk vaardigheidsniveau hij of zij toewerkt (feed-up) en waar hij of zij zelf staat ten opzichte van dit niveau (feedback), dan kan de leerling ook beter bepalen welke leeractiviteiten hij of zij moet ondernemen (feed forward) om de doelstelling te bereiken (Hattie& Timperley, 2007). Een beoordelingsrubriek (‘rubric’) beschrijft vaardigheidsniveaus, meestal met tekst, via een set kwaliteitscriteria voor de samenstellende deelvaardigheden bij de vaardigheid. Tekstuele beoordelingsrubrieken zijn voor verbetering vatbaar; zo zijn veel aspecten van het gewenste gedrag nauwelijks in woorden te vatten, zoals de lichaamshouding of goed stemgebruik tijdens een presentatie (De Grez, Valcke & Roozen, 2014). Tekstuele beoordelingsrubrieken zijn beperkt in het verduidelijken van het gewenste gedrag bij een vaardigheid en hoe dat gedrag er ineen bepaalde context uitziet (O’Donovan, Price & Rust, 2004). We veronderstellen dat video-verrijkte beoordelingsrubrieken hiervoor een oplossing kunnen bieden. Bij een video-verrijkte beoordelingsrubriek wordt de tekstuele beoordelingsrubriek gecombineerd met videomodelvoorbeelden. Deze voorbeelden ondersteunen observationeel leren van gewenst gedrag van een rolmodel, een methode die eerder succesvol is gebleken (Rohbanfard & Proteau, 2013; Van Gog& Rummel, 2010).De onderwijspraktijk toont dat veel scholen in het voortgezet onderwijs worstelen met de begeleiding bij en beoordeling van vakoverstijgende complexe vaardigheden. Zowel scholen als leraren erkennen het belang van het aanleren van vakoverstijgende complexe vaardigheden, maar komen er in de dagelijkse praktijk slechts incidenteel aan toe (Thijs,Fisser & van der Hoeven, 2014). Vaak is de uitwerking afhankelijk van de inzet van individuele leraren. Bovendien wijst het SLO-onderzoek erop dat de verwerving van vakoverstijgende complexe vaardigheden vaak niet methodisch en opeen gestructureerde, doelgerichte en onderbouwde manier verloopt (Thijs, Fisser & van der Hoeven, 2014, p. 103). Als scholen al toekomen aan vakoverstijgende complexe vaardigheden, dan is het vaak in de vorm van projectonderwijs waarbij ze tekstuele beoordelingsrubrieken op een incidentele manier gebruiken. Dit gebeurt veelal op een tijdrovend een papier verslindende wijze.Alle betrokkenen in dit project wilden daarom graag weten in hoeverre video-verrijkte beoordelingsrubrieken binnen een online ondersteunde formatieve evaluatiemethodiek zowel een efficiënte als effectieve oplossing zouden kunnen bieden om vakoverstijgende complexe vaardigheden aan te leren en formatief te evalueren.We verwachtten dat gestructureerd en methodisch gebruik van beoordelingsrubrieken binnen een online formatieve evaluatiemethodiek in vergelijking met het reguliere onderwijs een verbeterde beeldvorming van de vaardigheid en een verbeterde feedbackkwaliteit (concreter en consistenter) zou opleveren, bij zowel leerlingen als leraren. Daardoor verwachtten we uiteindelijk ook een verbeterde beheersing van de vaardigheid. Daarnaast verwachtten we dat videoverrijkte beoordelingsrubrieken in vergelijking met tekstuele beoordelingsrubrieken binnen dezelfde online formatieve evaluatiemethodiek zouden leiden tot een verbeterde beeldvorming van de vaardigheid, verbeterde feedbackkwaliteit,en verbeterde beheersing van de vaardigheid. Dit leidde tot de volgende onderzoeksvraag, die voor drie vakoverstijgende complexe vaardigheden (samenwerken, presenteren, en informatievaardigheden) werd onderzocht.