More than 300 million people use the gamified mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) application (app) Duolingo. The challenging tasks, reward incentives, systematic levels, and the ranking of users according to their achievements are just some of the elements that demonstrate strong gamification elements within this popular language learning application. This application's pervasive reach, flexible functionality, and freemium business model has brought significant attention to gamification in MALL. The present systematic review aims to summarize different methods, frameworks, settings, and research samples used to assess Duolingo's design and impact on various learning outcomes. We carried out a complete database search for articles focused on the issues of design, application, and pedagogies in the use of Duolingo. Three hundred and sixty-seven records were initially found, and 35 of those were selected for final inclusion based on language choice, theoretical frameworks, design, sampling, data collection, and analyses (see Appendix 1 for full list). The results indicated that the majority of research from 2012-2020 was design-focused, quantitative in nature, and used non-probability sampling methods. The focus on app design marks an emphasis on the creation of tools rather than the process and outcomes of language learning from using these tools. Additional results revealed preferences for performance-based research questions, for English as language of choice in research, and for the USA as the most prominent context for Duolingo research studies. Furthermore, our review highlights research gaps specific to Duolingo, yet generalizable to other MALL applications. The results are useful to researchers seeking to assess, evaluate, and understand MALL, gamification, and Duolingo as well as to practitioners interested in utilizing MALL in formal and informal learning environments.

Current distance education practices can be susceptible to types of content-heavy, topdown instruction often seen in physical classrooms. These practices are similar to the activities of corporations, which use recommendation systems and game theory to mold the public sphere and fragment it. We propose that free knowledge creation through open, multichannel communication needs to be used in distance education to allow both individual and collective agency for students to process knowledge and develop higher order reflectivity. Such frameworks would help students of distance education, and instructors to use critical thinking to discuss concepts as equal stakeholders, and develop varied ideological outcomes that could contribute to creating social change. This conceptual paper places current distance education practices within Habermasian theory, discusses ways in which the Internet, and its educative potential has come to be viewed thus far, and suggests platforms that could open distance learning to new possibilities. I would firstly like to thank my advisor, Michael Glassman, for having faith in my abilities. He really inspired me to get back to reading critical theory, and trying to understand how the merger of this powerful form of critique with the practical machinations of educational psychology can produce stunning results. To my lab (Logan, Irina, Marvin, Wendy, Qiannan); all of you have helped me immensely in developing my ideas. Working with my friends and creating the environment we have right now reflects the arguments made in this paper a lot. Lastly, I would like to thank my undergraduate advisor, Dr. Maya Dodd, for teaching me critical theory in the first place. While I did not fully understand it then, I now value what I learnt, because it lies at the basis of how we treat one another as humans.

This article outlines links between cybernetics and psychology through the black box metaphor using a tripartite narrative. The first part explores first-order cybernetic approaches to opening the black box. These developments run parallel to the decline of radical behaviorism and advancements in information processing theory and neuropsychology. We then describe how cybernetics migrates towards a second-order approach (expanding and questioning features of first-order inquiry), understanding applications of rule-based tools to sociocultural phenomena and dynamic mental models, inspiring radical constructivism, and also accepting social constructivism. Psychology, however, enters the cognitive revolution, adhering to the computer metaphor of first-order cyberneticians to streamline human consciousness. The article concludes by outlining how second-order cybernetic approaches emerging in the 1990s may provide cues to psychologists to adopt mixed methods, and bioecological models in the information age, uniting understandings of observable human activity, inner perceptions, and physiological processes across contexts to understand consciousness.

This three-part article reinforces crosscurrents between cybernetician Gordon Pask’s work towards creating responsive machines applied to theater and education, and Vygotsky’s theory, to advance sociohistorical approaches into the internet age. We first outline Pask’s discovery of possibilities of a neoclassical cybernetic framework for human–human, human–machine, and machine–machine conversations. Second, we outline conversation theory as an elaboration of the reconstruction of mental models/concepts by observers through reliance on sociocultural psychological approaches, and apply concepts like the zone of proximal development and perezhivanie to Paskian aesthetic technologies. Third, we interpret Pask’s teaching/learning devices as zones of proximal development, and outline how Paskian algorithms in digital devices like THOUGHTSTICKER have been generalized on today’s internet, supplemented by corporate interests. We conclude that Paskian theory may offer understandings of the roles of internet technologies in transforming human thinking, and suggest (re)designing tools incorporating algorithms that contextually advance conceptual understanding that deviates from current indexing approaches.

PurposeSchool leaders work in a fast-paced job that requires critical decision-making, often without the luxury of time. Additionally, problems may be new and leave school leaders feeling isolated and ill-equipped to adequately address situations. To that end, this study introduced the use of Reddit, a social media platform, to connect school leaders with colleagues who can provide real time support when pressing issues arise.Design/methodology/approachThis mixed methods study used hierarchical regressions, linguistic analysis of online discussions and qualitative analysis of focus group interviews to understand if online collective efficacy led to higher technology acceptance and principal efficacy for school leaders when discussing work-related and sociocultural issues online.FindingsFindings revealed that (1) school leaders build collective efficacy among their peers and are willing to engage more freely in online communities, (2) school leaders are willing to embrace the use of technology if provided time and exposure to such communities and (3) seasoned school leaders are more likely to interact openly with colleagues in online discussions versus their less-experienced peers on how online communities can support school leaders in challenging, ever-changing aspects of their work.Originality/valueWe recommend both school district and educational leadership professional associations consider creating easily accessible online communities as spaces where school leaders have opportunities to engage confidentially with their colleagues over important work-related issues. Future studies should also continue to investigate the impact of school leader online communities through both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.