Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of a simulator for teaching programming to foster student engagement and meaningful learning. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory mixed-method research approach was adopted in a classroom-based environment at a UK university. A rich account of student engagement dimensions…

Aim/Purpose: This study was aimed at enhancing students' learning of software engineering methods. A collaboration between the Computer Science, Business Management, and Product Design programs was formed to work on actual projects with real clients. This interdisciplinary form of collaboration simulates the realities of a diverse Software…

Although past research has sought to identify the factors of student engagement in traditional online courses, two questions remained largely unanswered with regard to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): do the factors that could influence student engagement in traditional online courses also apply to online courses that are massive and open?…

Gamification is the use of game design elements in non-game settings to engage participants and encourage desired behaviors. It has been identified as a promising technique to improve students' engagement which could have a positive impact on learning. This study evaluated the learning effectiveness and engagement appeal of a gamified learning…

The acquisition of programming skills specially in introductory programming courses poses an important challenge for freshmen students of engineering programs. These courses require students to devote a sustained effort during the whole course and a failure to do so may contribute to not passing the course. However, it is difficult for the…

Involving two or more academic subjects, interdisciplinary studies aim to blend together broad perspectives, knowledge, skills, and epistemology in an educational setting. By focusing on topics or questions too broad for a single discipline to cover, these studies strive to draw connections between seemingly different fields. Cases on…

Over the past decade, three rationales have emerged for emphasizing the reinforcement of the United States' science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pipeline. The first rationale pertains to U.S. global competitiveness, the second revolves around the benefits of a diverse workforce, and the third argument points to social justice…

For the thirty-fourth year, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Jacksonville, FL. A limited quantity of these Proceedings were printed and sold in both hardcopy and electronic…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…