Comparing the Student Engagement with Two Versions of a Game-based Learning Tool

Research has shown that game-based learning techniques positively impact students' engagement, motivation, and learning outcomes. We performed a study to explore the differences in student engagement with a game-based learning tool implemented on two different platforms: mobile and web-based. We developed two versions of a peer-quizzing game where the students can create quiz questions related to the learning material, which their peers can attempt to answer. The students can create three types of questions: Multiple Choice Questions, True/ False, and short answers. Students from a first-year introductory programming computer class were recruited to evaluate both versions of the game during one academic term (four months) during the Covid-19 pandemic when classes were entirely online. A bonus participation mark of up to five percent of the course was offered to students who posted at least three questions per week. In addition, we collected data about the students' in-game activities for the study duration. The Mann-Whitney U-test results show no significant difference in the engagement between the web and the game's mobile version. However, students posed more questions in the mobile version than in the Web version of the game. On the contrary, students solved more questions in the web version than in the mobile version. We have learned from the study that both game-based learning platforms effectively engage students. We also collected data about the students' experience with the game in a post-study survey. The responses show that both game versions got similar user experience ratings. © 2022 Dechema e.V.. All rights reserved.

IAEA support to the radiation protection of patients in the time of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

The IAEA contribution to the radiation protection of patients during the global COVID-19 pandemic included a webinar on the use of CT and optimization for COVID-19 pneumonia, a survey with 137 responses from 84 sites across five continents, and a study on the CT utilization, protocols and patient doses with data from 62 healthcare sites from 34 countries. This paper outlines the main results of these efforts, which have been presented in the scientific literature and in several national trainings and international meetings.

A Comparative Evaluation of the Effect of Social Comparison, Competition, and Social Learning in Persuasive Technology on Learning

The design of successful online learning systems that attract and sustain students’ active engagement with their learning activities remains an open question. With the rapid adoption of online learning systems (including learning management systems) due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a need to ensure that the systems’ design can encourage and sustain students to actively use them to achieve the required learning objectives. We argue that it is possible to incorporate socially-oriented persuasive strategies in the design of online learning systems to support students’ engagement and improve learning outcomes. We integrated three socially-oriented persuasive strategies (upward social comparison, social learning and competition) with a learning management system used in a university course. The strategies were implemented as social visualizations, and we explored their influence on 628 students’ access to learning materials. We found that the three persuasive strategies implemented as social visualizations encouraged students to access more frequently the learning materials, and this increase in frequency correlated positively with their academic performance (final grade in a course). Our results can help designers of online learning systems to improve the efficacy of their systems. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The Effect of Race on the Social-Cognitive-Beliefs of Observers of Behavior Models

During this current COVID-19 pandemic, video-based behavior modeling has become a popular persuasive technique to motivate exercise performance in most fitness apps. However, there is limited research on the effectiveness of race-based tailoring. To bridge this gap, we investigated users' social-cognitive-belief profile when observing behavior models performing bodyweight exercises and the moderating effect of race. We based our study on 567 participants (50 blacks and 517 whites) recruited from Canada and United States. We asked the participants to watch a video modeling a bodyweight exercise and answer questions on three social-cognitive beliefs: perceived self-efficacy, perceived self-regulation, and outcome expectation. The results of a three-way repeated-measure analysis of variance showed that there is an interaction between the race of the observer and the race of the behavior model. Among white observers, there is no significant difference between their overall social-cognitive belief when observing white models and that when observing black models. However, among black observers, there is an effect of the race of the behavior model. They have a significantly higher overall social-cognitive belief when observing white models than when observing black models. We discuss our findings in the context of tailoring behavior models to users of different races. © 2021 ACM.