This paper describes the redesign and implementation of an introductory Information Systems class. The redesign was guided by principles drawn from the experiential and active learning literature. Central to the redesign are two simulated companies: petGRO, a fictional ERP-enabled pet food and accessories e-tailer, and beans4all, a technology…

This paper presents a role-play exercise and assignment that provides an active learning experience related to the system investigation phase of an SDLC. Whether using waterfall or agile approaches, the first SDLC step usually involves system investigation activities, including problem identification, feasibility study, cost-benefit analysis, and…

Education researchers are exploring how well-designed video games can be used to improve knowledge, skills, and abilities known as game-based learning (GBL). Current American students are not receiving adequate exposure to authentic ill-structured problem-solving scenarios in their classrooms, and schools need to address the acquisition of…

Learning a language in a formal context is not the same as learning a language in a natural setting, in that the goal of one of the participants in the communicative events that occur in the classroom, the teacher, is to teach a language. For this reason, the majority of the actions undertaken by the participants are directed at achieving that…

Mission HydroSci is a game-based 3D virtual environment for enacting transformational role-playing for middle school science students. Student-players will be engaged in a narrative about needing to investigate water resources and use scientific argumentation to complete missions critical to the survival and accomplishments of the members of their…

Back-interpreting practice refers to interpreting the translated version of a speech back to its source language. The learning opportunities provided by backinterpreting practice can be explained by Swain's (1985) comprehensible output hypothesis, Laufer and Hulstijn's (2001) involvement load hypothesis, and Schmidt's (1990) noticing hypothesis.…

Numerous studies from China report that student teachers in English language teaching practicums resist communicative language teaching, CLT (Hu, 2002), to follow mentor teacher cultural practices of teaching to the Gaokao through explanations of vocabulary and grammar. This study addressed a knowledge gap to investigate the CLT problems and…

In recent years, simulation has increasingly underpinned the acquisition of pre-clinical skills by undergraduate medical imaging (diagnostic radiography) students. This project aimed to evaluate the impact of an innovative virtual reality (VR) learning environment on the development of technical proficiency by students. The study assessed the…

Management instructors are continually challenged to create learning activities in online courses that duplicate the same opportunities to develop managerial skills afforded to students in traditional face-to-face courses. The purpose of this experiential exercise is to provide online students an opportunity to develop the soft skills all managers…

This study explored the congruence and disparities among three groups of foreign language (Chinese, French, and German) students' and teachers' perceptions of collaborative/cooperative language learning (CLL) strategies in novice-level classroom contexts. A total of 168 participants from a university in the USA took part in this mixed-method…

This dissertation investigates the following research question within an informal games-based learning environment: "How do students construct scientific ideas within a games-based learning environment?" In this study, middle school youth role-played as scientists recruited by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to stop the Raven Virus…

The research studied the effectiveness of the integration of Facebook as a flexible ubiquitous learning space into the educational process for speaking skills development of undergraduate students learning English as a second language. For this purpose teaching was organised via a specially created and moderated Facebook group where various media…

This article describes research-based role-play on academic integrity. In the role-play, doctoral students negotiated the revision of an institutional integrity policy representing different groups of academics and students. On the one hand, role-play as a teaching method and learning activity demonstrated the difficulty of accommodating different…

Drama is used to build knowledge and understanding in science as part of a socio-linguistic, constructivist approach. Role-plays, where learners act as analogues for components and processes, help access abstract ideas. However, a problem restricting many science teachers using these approaches has been that they lack sufficient pedagogical…

This article describes the use of live action role-playing, or "LARPing," as a non-traditional activity that has the potential to reach students who are not interested in traditional physical education.