Frontiers in Education: Digital Learning Innovations

This paper explores the potential use and limitations of ChatGPT in a programming course, specifically focusing on its evaluation in a Data Analytics course due to its broad applications. The study reveals that ChatGPT offers valuable assistance to teachers in creating class materials, facilitating teaching-learning activities, and designing assessments. Students also benefit from the technology, as it can generate R programming codes and serve as a learning companion. However, limitations were identified, including the generation of incorrect reference materials, the tendency to produce pattern-like content, and potential misuse. The paper encourages replication of the study in other courses to uncover additional strengths and limitations, contributing to the development of ethical guidelines for responsible utilization of this exciting technology.

Video games, although not originally designed for educational purposes, have the potential to serve as a significant tool in creating an efficient and motivating learning environment that facilitates the acquisition of mathematical concepts or notions. This study aims to examine the responses provided by students (n = 100) majoring in Early Childhood Education to the video game “Connect the dots” concerning the opportunities it offers. These opportunities encompass the knowledge and notions that can be addressed, strategies employed to overcome various stages or levels in comparison to those posed for problem-solving, potential modifications for classroom integration or the exploration of alternative concepts, as well as the emotions evoked in a non-traditional learning environment. The responses were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively to gain a deeper understanding of their alignment with the research objectives and questions. Our data show that the students demonstrated the ability to identify the possibilities offered by a video game for classroom application and to envision alternative approaches to mathematical knowledge teaching.

IntroductionMobile learning (M-learning) is integral to language education, offering accessibility, portability, and diverse resources. It offers real-life language use with synchronous learning, flexibility, and an opportunity to engage with the global community. It allows learners to practice language skills from anywhere. This study aims to evaluate linguistic instructional mobile applications' effectiveness on listening comprehension among Indian rural students.MethodsPedagogic mobile applications were employed in an experimental study with 149 tertiary-level students from rural colleges in Tamil Nadu, India. Participants were divided into control (n = 75) and experimental (n = 74) groups. Pre and post-tests assessed listening comprehension levels, considering demographic variables. Different types of audio files were used in the intervention to improve the listening skills of the experimental group.ResultsStatistical analyses, including paired t-tests, independent t-tests, and ANOVA, revealed significant improvement in listening skills for the experimental group. Gender, locality, and parental income were considered as significant variables, showing that students from diverse backgrounds benefited from mobile applications.DiscussionThe results indicate that M-learning effectively aids rural students in overcoming language barriers, emphasizing the potential of mobile applications in language education.

IntroductionThough technologies for individualization appear to benefit primary school students’ learning, studies suggest that their integration remains sparse. Technology acceptance research has largely focused on exploring teachers’ general acceptance of educational technologies, although factors might predict usage intentions differently depending on the specific usage purpose of an educational technology. Digital learning platforms for individualized practice are comparably challenging and complex to use and so far, predictors of primary school teachers’ intention to integrate such technologies into lessons are largely unknown. Meanwhile, research on teachers’ technology acceptance generally lacks comparability due to the absence of a shared theoretical model and usage purpose specification.MethodsIn a sample of 272 German primary school teachers, this study aims to identify predictors of teachers’ acceptance of digital learning platforms for students’ individualized practice in consideration of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). To ensure a shared understanding, teachers were provided with a video which specified the addressed usage purpose. Regarding teachers’ usage intention, the explanatory power of the standard UTAUT predictors was investigated and compared with an extended UTAUT model accounting for seven additional context-specific predictors.ResultsThe standard UTAUT significantly explained teachers’ usage intention, with performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and the availability of the necessary technical infrastructure showing significant associations with intention. However, neither a significant nor meaningful increase in explained variance was observed for the extended UTAUT model.DiscussionResults suggest that the standard UTAUT model is sufficient in explaining teachers’ usage intention and that its extension by context-specific predictors provides no added value. Acceptance facilitating interventions should therefore target performance and effort expectancy as well as the availability of technical infrastructure. Thus, underlining that successful implementation of complex educational technologies should consider both, individual and structural factors.

IntroductionThe metaverse is a promising platform for learning that all participants in the teaching and learning process may find appealing. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of using metaverse-related visualization technologies, such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), in teaching chemistry.MethodsThe study has an experimental research design and uses the following tools to collect data: Dombrovskaya’s Motivation for Learning Scale, the SAMOAL Questionnaire, and the Self-management Questionnaire. The study sample includes 236 first-year undergraduate students studying chemistry at the Faculty of Natural Sciences.ResultsResults suggest that the integration of immersive VR/AR technologies in chemistry education signifies the beginning of a metaverse transition; the process, however, is in its early stages.DiscussionThe study concludes that immersive VR/AR technologies have an advantage over traditional programs in terms of motivation and competence development. Future research can investigate the impact of VR/AR technologies on students’ anxiety and build a model for predicting student achievements in the metaverse-based chemistry classroom.

The increasing interest in Learning Experience Design (LXD) has consolidated this field as a new way to transform educational practices. Thanks to its interdisciplinary nature which is mainly rooted in the close relation between human–computer interaction, user experience design and the learning sciences, LXD is a field that demands frameworks to design and develop products that can grow into services, to create interactive learning environments able to provide improvement-driven analytics and to guarantee a significant and satisfactory experience, designed to achieve learning outcomes. Innovative Village serious video game (IVVG) is a service-oriented product within an entrepreneurship and innovation system of platforms developed as an abilities-focused learning environment, and that builds a case study for LXD. This research aims to contribute to the consolidation of the emergent field of Learning Experience Design by providing a case around the Entrepreneurship and Innovation area from EAFIT University in Medellin, a learning system that comprises several service-oriented products; by being one of the products that constitute this system, and as a serious video game, Innovative Village has proven to be a key player in facilitating the learning outcomes and the knowledge integration that stem from the learning environment of the Interactive Design program, where the students’ learning experiences take place. First, related theoretical concepts and historical data will be analyzed to provide background information, then the case study will be addressed focusing on the materials, methods, and results. The study shows that the video game encourages collaborative behavior between players, as perceived by a significant proportion of participants. The research establishes a link between this perception and the role of creaticides in the game. Learning Experience Design (LXD) is about creating products that link the learning process with key competences. The game “Innovative Village” exemplifies this approach and provides insights into design, use, and required competencies. It also presents a framework for designing user-centered learning experiences that incorporate assessments to enhance the learning process. This framework is applicable from the early stages and can be tested in real learning environments.