Números Publicados > Volumen y Número

Title- Innovative Approaches to Serious Games

Abstract- Online education is pushing universities to search for technologies that can support e-assessment. Opinions and behaviors of stakeholders are required in order to develop such technologies. This paper underlines the need for mechanisms to prevent cheating and increase security, by analyzing the differences between students’ perceptions of cheating and the acts of academic dishonesty they commit, contributing to fill a gap in the literature on cheating behaviors in online education. The research questions are: RQ1) Are students aware of what constitutes cheating in online education? RQ2) Do students believe that an e-authentication system may increase their security and prevent cheating? RQ3) Would the use of an e-authentication system for assessment increase students’ trust? RQ4) What are students’ real cheating behaviors? 154 students taking an online course from the Computer Engineering and Telecommunications degree consented to participate in the study. The research instruments were two surveys, and two tools of the course (an intelligent tutoring system and an image plagiarism detection tool). Results show that the fact students know an e-authentication and authoring system is used may prevent cheating and make students feel more confident. The findings have significant implications for institutions interested in e-assessment secure systems.

Index Terms- cheating, e-authentication, e-assessment, students’ perceptions, students’ behavior

Title- Innovative Approaches to Serious Games

Abstract- There are some subjects that are seen as a challenge by both students and teachers. One of these subjects is Software Engineering, where the novelty of its concepts and the need of applying abstract thinking need major efforts to understand new paradigms of design and development of information systems. Due to these difficulties, students face the subject with low motivation. The present work describes a series of teaching methodology changes carried out during the last three academic years, specially the implementation carried out during the 2017-18 year. The analysis of the results shows a high correlation between the students’ participation and the success ratio of the subject by comparing the results obtained by students studying the active methodology in 2017-18 and the results for the academic year 2013-14.

Index Terms- Active methodology, collaborative learning, virtual campus, software engineering, PBL, technological ecosystem.

Title- Innovative Approaches to Serious Games

Abstract- This paper presents a case study of integration of virtual instrumentation in the development of engineering projects in undergraduate electrical engineering education, regarding a Data Acquisition and Interface Systems (DAIS) course. The DAIS course is part of the undergraduate curriculum in electrical engineering degree of Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG). This course is very important in the training of students who will work in the area of electronics, and uses LabVIEW as educational tool to carry out the practical activities. In the semester course, the teacher and the monitor followed up the student teams that proposed engineering projects to be developed during four milestones of the DAIS course. For each milestone, LabVIEW tutoring sessions and educational assessment are performed with student teams. Statistical analysis of the collected data is done by semester course and by academic year. At the end of the course, students learned about the content passed and they were fully satisfied with LabVIEW, considering the tool with 95.50% of usefulness during the academic year and 100.00% recommendation to be applied in other engineering projects.

Index Terms- Data acquisition and interface systems, electrical engineering, LabVIEW, engineering projects, virtual instrumentation.

Title- Innovative Approaches to Serious Games

Abstract- In this study, wikis and glossaries as complementary and optional tools to develop an active methodology based on online peer-learning with the objective of promoting active participation, the acquisition of competences and improving in the teaching-learning process, as well as, the academic performance in the subject Materials Science of the Chemistry Degree of the students’ self-learning during two academic years. Making use of the learning management system ILIAS, a collaborative learning environment has been created by and for students. The problems found in the experience carried out during the first academic year have been described. The analysis and corrective actions carried out have allowed more satisfactory results to be obtained during the following academic year in which this methodology was applied. Students have been asked a questionnaire to find out their perception of the competences they consider to have consolidated and / or developed with the collaborative work carried out. The impact of the implementation of collaborative learning methodology on the academic performance of students has been obtained through the analysis of academic results The implication of students has contributed successfully to the acquisition of competences and self-learning, providing them with more control over their own learning process.

Index Terms- collaborative work, collaborative tools, materials science and technology, learning.

Title- Innovative Approaches to Serious Games

Abstract- Data analysis subjects are an important part of the computer science degree. In these subjects, seminars and practical sessions where students can practice different data mining algorithms and techniques are a paramount part. This usually involves the installation and deployment of a common development environment for all the students including libraries, databases, datasets and so forth. Due to the heterogeneity of these environments and the characteristics of the undergraduates, such a configuration and deployment task might be an important step in the seminars schedule. Consequently, the present work puts forward an open-source tool for the automatic deployment of data-mining environments based on Docker containers. By means of this tool, the teacher can specify the parameters of the environment to deploy. This results in a set of virtual images comprising the whole practice environment that can be easily distributed among students. This way, we meaningfully optimize the aforementioned deployment step and we also guarantee that all students work with the same practice environment. Finally, we have evaluated the performance of the tool and the level of satisfaction of the students with the generated environments showing quite promising results.

Index Terms- Virtualization, Containers, Machine Learning, Environment.

Title- Innovative Approaches to Serious Games

Abstract- This paper describes the architecture of an Arduino remote lab that supports the deployment of many Arduino-based experiments, such as a sensors remote lab consisting on eleven sensors and a LCD display connected to an Arduino MEGA, or a 3D RGB LED cube remote lab consisting on 16 RGB LEDs connected to an Arduino UNO-compatible board. The proposed on-line system allows students to write code on a website to be executed on these experiments. The execution results can be observed in real time through an IP camera. The use of this kind of on-line didactic tools is very important to provide high quality on-line education programs on technical fields.

Index Terms- Remote lab, Arduino, Sensors, Raspberry Pi

Title- Innovative Approaches to Serious Games

Abstract- An augmented reality app for real-time analysis of direct current in resistive circuits is presented. The app allows the manipulation of circuit elements and computes the values of voltage and current intensity using the loop method and applying the Kirchhoff's voltage law. The app can be used in theoretical classes and laboratories. The contributions of this paper are two-fold. First, the app has higher levels of interactivity than other apps in the same domain since it allows defining the configuration and the parameters of the circuit. Second, the app performs more complex computations than similar apps in real-time.

Index Terms- Augmented reality, resistive circuits, laboratories, DC analysis.

Title- Innovative Approaches to Serious Games

Abstract- We present the development planning of the subject “Practical Development of Electronic Systems” using the project- based learning strategy. The planning stages include: project specification; electronic design and schematic capture; the design and manufacture of printed circuit boards; the implementation, simulation and debugging of the firmware; the assembly, verification and characterization of the hardware; and finally the project documentation. All of this describe the main stages of engineering from the first sketch to the final and complete realization of a portable game console. The initial project seeks to make a video game console, compatible with games of a computer from the 80s: the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Plan B involves the realization of a video game in native mode as a consequence of the difficulty of completing the initial objective in the duration of the subject. Students motivation, obtained with the project-based learning method and the project proposal, is very high. In addition, a SWOT analysis of the adaptation to synchronous telematic teaching is carried out, within the context given by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. As conclusions we want to say that, despite not having been able to carry out the physical and face-to-face development stages of the project included in the initial planning, motivation remained very high, without dropouts, and the project was ended by all.

Index Terms- Project-based learning, electronic systems engineering, Microcontrollers. SWOT analysis.

Title- Innovative Approaches to Serious Games

Abstract- Training is critical on engineering and technology disciplines, and it must be used to encourage today’s children and youngsters to become the engineers and scientists of the future. For this reason, the Techno Museum Project carried out a series of workshops that used robotics as a motivational item to bring electronics and programming closer to children from 6 to 18 years. These topics are, a priori, commonly considered complex. The effects of these experiences on engineering and science understanding were analyzed. This work presents those analyses, which prove that learning scenarios based on the use of robotic equipment increases the motivation and curiosity of children and young people towards the use of new technologies. Motivation promotes their will to understand engineering and science. The paper shows the processes carried out by the Techno Museum Project. As for the results, a set of questions was asked to each of the participants in the experience. We will conclude that the use of mechatronics and robotics on education is a powerful motivational tool to enhance the interests of children and young people with minimal training on science and engineering.

Index Terms- Educational activities; Interactive systems; Robot control; Robot programming.