ABSTRACT
Purpose: This article aims to explore student views from a UK higher educational institution about the concept of remote online higher educational delivery. Students were asked about opinions towards working remotely and the psychological impact this had upon students and students' studies. The research provided students with the opportunity to reflect upon whether the practice of delivering education remotely continues to provide students with a beneficial student learning experience. Design/methodology/approach: The research adopted a case study methodology utilising a mixed methods approach via questionnaire-based research. In total, 894 students completed the questionnaire. The aim of the research was to obtain a wide breadth of student opinion from multidisciplinary backgrounds to ascertain whether students' learning experience differed per subject area. Findings: The research identified some interesting findings, namely that certain participants considered that learning remotely online was beneficial for instant feedback, supported motivation and fostered communities of practice. Negative perspectives related to feeling isolated, unmotivated and a preference towards face-to-face (F2F) delivery. One of the main areas of conflict identified from this study is that the aspect of engagement can impact students' online learning both positively and negatively. Originality/value: The study provides an in-depth multidisciplinary student tertiary perspective relating to online remote learning. The findings from this study can be useful for educators to reflect upon and inform educational policy in relation to how best to facilitate and support the student learning experience off-campus. © 2022, Gavin Baxter and Thomas Hainey.
ABSTRACT
Serious games are often characterised as being games developed and used for educational or non-entertainment purposes. The academic literature is saturated with definitions and developed games surrounding the concept. Despite this, there is a lack of quality meta-analytical and longitudinal analysis studies associated with use of serious games. One area where serious games have pedagogical potential is in teaching historical subjects and in displaying historical artefacts. Serious games, combined with evolving 3D modelling techniques and Virtual Reality (VR) capabilities can replicate historical events, artefacts, and environments. The creation of a serious game or even virtual museum that informs individuals about the past have the potential to provide a sense of historical realism or immersion. In the context of Covid-19 and the current global impact to the tourist industry, the application of serious games for such purposes has undoubted significance. This paper reviews the academic literature surrounding the concepts of content and assessment integration in relation to developing historical games for pedagogical and knowledge sharing purposes. The research focuses on two points. Firstly, can serious games exhibit a sense of realism and immersion towards teaching and learning history. Secondly, what are the immersive characteristics needed to make a historical game immersive. Based on the literature this paper will provide a framework that identifies best practice towards making historical games immersive from a games design perspective. The paper also presents an example of a serious game intended to educate users about military machinery used in World War two. A display of 3D modelled Roman artefacts is also presented to document how 3D modelling can replicate an interactive and immersive virtual experience. The findings of the paper argue that there is a close interdependency between aesthetical and content design and learning outcomes towards depicting historical realism and immersion. Future empirical work is also discussed in the paper with the aim of evaluating the framework presented. © The Authors, 2021. All Rights Reserved.