Implementing Synchronous Online Flipped Learning for Pre-service Teachers During COVID-19

<p style="text-align: justify;">Most research has examined flipped learning within the context of face-to-face (F2F) instruction. However, previous research has not effectively explored the possibility of how online synchronous flipped learning influences pre-service teachers (PSTs) in teacher education programs during Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Recognizing the gap in the literature, this paper explored three aspects of online synchronous flipped learning by understanding 1) PSTs' learner engagement, 2) self-directed learning, and 3) learner satisfaction in a Korean university. The data was collected from Korean PST's interviews, reflection notes, and course evaluations. The thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data sources. The study findings showed that PSTs favored a synchronous online FL because it encouraged them to engage in various collaborative activities through Zoom breakout sessions. Also, pre-class materials from online FL can positively enhance the PSTs' self-directed learning process. Based on these findings, this study provides suggestions on how to effectively implement online synchronous flipped learning in teacher education programs.</p>

Amalgamation of Game-Based Learning With Interactive Instructional Strategies for Active Learner Engagement

In recent years, the teaching-learning process in higher education has undergone unprecedented change. Learners from across the world can enroll in any university using online platforms. This learning freedom is fantastic for all stakeholders, but it raises some serious concerns, such as how to ensure effective learner engagement and make the learning experience meaningful for the learners. While technology has aided learning, it has also become a significant source of distraction for students, as they spend too much time on gadgets solely for entertainment. This necessitates innovative and engaging teaching styles from educators. Designing course content as a game makes learning more engaging as learners get a sense of motivation and accomplishment. However, aligning games with lesson plans, designing assessment criteria, and learning outcomes takes a significant amount of time and effort. Hence, this chapter proposes learner-centered interactive instructional strategies that employ GBL to pique learners' curiosity and recommends popular GBL platforms for creating educational games.

Learning Creativity and Students' Performance

This research aims to recognize the influence that creativity units/modules/seminars has on academic performance of students who attend. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to understand the impact that learning creativity has on Porto Accounting and Business School (ISCAP) students. Therefore, a quantitative methodology was developed through a questionnaire with 240 answers from ISCAP's students. The data was studied through reliability and explanatory factorial analysis in order to find the relation between the physical environment, learning climate, and learner engagement on the performance of students. The results show that the physical environment and learning climate have a positive influence on student performance but the same does not happen with the motivation of students. These findings focus on the necessity to improve the student engagement. It is recommended that ISCAP will take into account the factors that lead to the referred results so as to reform and develop new ways in which to improve student performance through student motivation.

Game-Based Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Game-based pedagogies use games for achieving learning outcomes by guiding the learners through specific tasks, which can be digital and/or non-digital and can promote deep meaningful learning. Therefore, the design of game-based learning helps learners to engage in the meaning-making process and ensure better participation. As the boundaries of classroom learning become blurred through blended or hybrid learning approaches, game-based learning enhances digital literacies for digital natives to prepare them for building a knowledge economy. By exploring existing literature, this chapter highlights how technology can support teachers and learners to go beyond their existing pedagogical boundaries by focusing on ways games may serve as digital sources of learning. It also explores the role game-based pedagogies and digital learning design frameworks play in enhancing learner engagement, collaboration, and cultural understanding.

The interaction of working memory capacity and engagement with recasts on different L2 outcome measures: A replication of Révész ()

We report on a conceptual replication of Révész (2012) in order to investigate the idea whether learners provided with recasts do engage in different kinds of behavioral engagement as a function of their working memory and if/how this engagement comes to bear on performance on different measures. Engagement with recasts was measured through a coding method categorizing responses to the recasts running the gamut from: (1) no opportunity, (2) opportunity, but did not repeat, (3) repeated the recasted form, (4) negotiated the response, to (5) used the recasted form later in the discourse. Consistent with Révész (2012), though with lower effect sizes, the results showed that recasts were most conducive to gains on an oral task and less so on a written description task, but non-effective on a grammaticality judgment task. Furthermore, it was revealed that learners with a high phonological short-term memory were more prone to recast-induced engagement on an oral production task, whereas those enjoying a higher reading span were considerably less so. We propose that learner engagement be deemed more important in future interaction research.

Engaging L2 Learners in Information-gap Tasks: How Task Type and Topic Familiarity Affect Learner Engagement

This study examines four learner engagement dimensions (behavioural, cognitive, emotional and social) in pedagogical task performance and provides insights into the effects of two task types (information-seeking and direction-giving) and topic familiarity on learner engagement in a semester-long English course. A total of 28 foreign language learners engaged in eight interactive tasks, and all played the roles of both information-receiver and information-provider alternately under familiar and unfamiliar conditions. Seven measures of engagement and an open-ended questionnaire were employed to understand the learners’ engagement in the tasks and their emotional responses to them. The results revealed that the information-providers produced more words and also spent more time on information-seeking tasks wherein they would exchange information than on direction-giving ones that required them to ask for and provide instructions or directions. This was the case for topics they were unfamiliar with; however, when they were faced with familiar topics, they produced significantly more words, spent more time, and spoke more elaboratively in direction-giving tasks. The information-seeking tasks elicited positive emotions, but the direction-giving tasks yielded mixed feelings, attaching positive emotions to familiar tasks but negative ones to unfamiliar tasks. The pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed.

Art and Aging: Use of Social Media for Geriatric Education

Social media as an educational tool for health care learning has untapped potential. Benefits of social media include peer-to-peer engagement, active learning and interprofessional training. Here we explored social media platforms as a vehicle to deliver short, pithy clinical pearls from evidence-based, peer-reviewed manuscripts. Key points from recent medical publications are paired with pre-existing artwork to provide visual reinforcement of the clinical pearl. Dubbed “Art and Aging”, the clinical pearl and artwork combination is posted on different social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, thus allowing for an expansive audience. Different hashtags and tags are used to increase followers and engagement on each platform. Over a 9 months period learner engagement increased by 150% and includes a diverse learner profile. These curated social media platforms show considerable promise for disseminating Geriatrics best practices. As yet, we do not know subject matter retention or whether it changes clinical practices - both questions which are future research objectives.