Where is the student who was here? Gamification as a strategy to engage students

Purpose: Education is undergoing digital transformation intensified by COVID-19. In this context, gamification is an attractive alternative based on the use of elements of the games with educational purposes. However, it keeps the educational content to be learned as a central element without neglecting the "fun,” which contributing to engaging students. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the factors that affect students' engagement in an undergraduate course of Business Administration with gamified activities in remote education. Design/methodology/approach: The authors collected data through a survey available to students of the administration course at a private university in São Paulo (n = 671). This study used a quantitative approach, using SEM with PLS estimation and with the support of other analytical techniques. Findings: The results support all the hypotheses formulated. Those with the associated construct "competition” obtained the most robust relationships, which denotes that competition is an essential element in gamification. Despite being supported by the results, "network exposure” influencing engagement is one point of attention to improving teaching strategies. Research limitations/implications: Graduate schools could implement this type of gamified activity, evaluating whether students enrolled in higher degrees would willingly engage in a learning activity considered "less serious.” Practical implications: Higher education institutions can benefit from this study by understanding that gamification is presented as an active methodology that increases students' engagement in teaching. Originality/value: This research addressed gaps in the factors that affect students' engagement with gamified activities, proposing an alternative theoretical model to those present in the literature. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Smart technologies in supermarket retail and their influence on citizens' quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose - This research aims to propose the development of a model that identifies, in essential services, the determining factors affecting the technological advances offered by different smart technologies in supermarket retail channels that influence citizens' quality of life, amidst the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Design/methodology/approach - The data were collected using a cross-sectional questionnaire survey (n = 469). The authors applied the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique to test the hypotheses, along with the partial least squares (PLS) method for estimating latent variables and combining with the necessary condition analysis (NCA) method. Findings - According to the results of the NCA method, the results were adequate, and more attention should be paid to the quality of life construct after finding the bottleneck point of 50%. In this sense, adaptive resilience was characterized as the main necessary predictor construct for quality of life. In addition, Generation Z and Millennials have the highest frequency of use in all smart technologies, with "assisted purchase" being the most widely used. Social implications - Finally, the effect of the pandemic changed the consumption routine with supermarkets, not being a mere option but a necessity in the context of a smart city. Originality/value - As a result, the proposed model was consistent, showing that all direct and indirect SEM paths were validated, highlighting data security and privacy and resilience issues. In addition, the NCA method complemented the procedures performed in the SEM phase.

Education in COVID times: what the teaching institutions are doing according to online media

The situation experienced with the Covid-19 pandemic in the first semester of 2020 in the world impacted nearly all human activities, including education, whose face-to-face modality became unfeasible. A documentary research was carried out through online media in newspapers, magazines and news portals in order to verify whether it is being implemented by educational institutions in Brazil, in the midst of the pandemic, with the steps suggested by the literature, which are: analysis of the organization, diagnosis of the target audience, definition of the intended project, preparation of teaching materials, preparation of the virtual environment, control and evaluation of the experience by students and documents. In addition, we also verified how the difficulties faced are present in other studies. We observed that the necessary steps for implementing distance education presented in the literature are not being totally followed (focusing on the creation of teaching materials) and that the difficulties most often faced are also distinct: concern about poorer students, younger ones and adaptation by parents. Finally, a matrix based on the preparation/background with distance education vs. a complexity of the teaching-learning process is presented directing towards possible teaching strategies.