No abstract

Background. Games can be great pedagogical tools for educators and students. COTS games (commercialoff-the-shelf) are designed for the pure purpose of leisure but can also contain educational value.Aim. In this paper, we address the potential of COTS games as serious games. We develop an interpretive evaluation framework that can identify the educational value in COTS games.Application. The presented framework can create evaluative profiles of the learning, social, game, and immersive mechanics of COTS games as educational tools. Moreover, the framework can position COTS games between four intertwined dimensions, namely pedagogical, design, knowledge, and sociotechnical considerations.Demonstration. To validate the practical application of the interpretive framework, we apply it to a real-world example. Our demonstration reveals the usefulness of the framework.Conclusions. The framework enables critical reflection on the game mechanics; thereby capturing the complexity of the game mechanics that makes COTS game both educational and fun to play.

This paper reports on an investigation into learning mediated by the elective elements of an electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) designed to facilitate four learning styles. The design takes a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. The setting was Course 4, a ten-week clinical course in Basic Nursing. The participants were eleven first-year students on Course 4 randomly selected. Data were generated by participant observations, interviews and portfolio documents. The entire material was interpreted according to Ricoeur's theory of interpretation. The study showed that the elective elements of ePortfolio were mostly used by students with theorist style and used the least by students with pragmatist style. Some students can reflect without a learning tool, other students need supervision. The themes a fellow player and an opponent were deduced. The conclusion was that the elective elements work like fellow players and opponents, as they facilitate reflections on nursing practice and one's own learning processes, and they mediate learning of important nursing competency elements. The tools can promote differentiation of supervision, and allow more time to supervise students who need more support. There is potential to enable students to select among the learning tools.

This study reports the use of electronic portfolio in clinical nursing education. The study is part of a larger study investigating learning mediated by ePortfolio. The method takes a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. The setting was a ten-week clinical course in basic nursing. The participants were 11 first-year students randomly selected. Data were generated by participant observations, interviews and portfolio documents. Findings showed that the ePortfolio was used individually and mostly at home. Using ePortfolio in the ward is more time-consuming. The ePortfolio was used to reflect on practice and one's own learning process. The principal initiators were emotional involvement in clinical nursing, consciousness of learning through writing; ponder over practice, and a confident and constructive student-preceptor relationship. Inhibitors were vulnerability, a preconception that one learns only in one way, lack of supervision about how to learn. The study showed some but not unambiguous connection between preferred learning styles and ePortfolio use.

I dette bidrag diskuteres problemfeltet ”didaktisk spildesign” i forhold til principper for godt spildesign og didaktisk design.  På baggrund af forskellige forskningsbidrag og udviklingen af et spilelement til støtte for behandlingen af veteraner med PTSD undersøges forholdet mellem spil og læring. Artiklen fremhæver udfordringerne ved at skabe koblinger mellem spillets rationalitet og logik i forhold til sammenhænge, hvor det ønskede resultat er læring. De forskellige rationaliteter skaber behovet for en flerfaglig udviklingsproces, men samtidig understreges det, at en sådan proces skaber behov for et struktureret metadesign, hvor forståelse af strukturer og processer i flerfaglige samarbejder gøres eksplicitte, og øger sandsynligheden for, at forskellighederne bliver ressourcer og ikke genererer atomiserede udviklingsforløb. Afslutningsvis diskuteres spillet som et særligt læringsrum, og hvorfor og hvordan det kan tænkes i forhold til andre læringsrum.