Blended instruction integrating off-line and on-line teaching has become an important instrument for promoting educational reform and innovation. However, the results of current empirical studies diverge on the effect of blended instruction on student performance, which necessitates further research on the effectiveness of blended instruction and…

Protracted conflict presents students with an unfamiliar and often puzzling context. Why do negotiations sometimes succeed, while at other points, actors are unable to reach agreement on key issues, even in the face of deadly costs? In this article, I introduce an extended role-playing simulation designed to enhance student understanding of…

Hadoop is a well-known big data system and a subject covered in many big data courses. This article describes two role play games for teaching the two fundamental components in the Hadoop framework, MapReduce and Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). In the games, students form teams and play different roles as a part of a Hadoop cluster. The…

This paper presents a hands-on simulation that is conducted in an introductory integrated supply chain management course using enterprise resource planning concepts associated with the Cash-to-Cash Manufacturing Operating Cycle. More specifically, this activity simulates the activities in the procure-to-pay, plan-to-produce, and order-to-cash…

The high percentage of new teachers who leave the profession within the first five years of teaching motivated the teacher educator to consider an alternative path to andragogically approaching course content. Thus, the teacher educator grappled with the process of transitioning theories of the content to application-based andragogy. The…

Self-awareness is important in social work education because it promotes knowledge, skill, and value development. However, little is written about the ways in which educators facilitate this process. A project was undertaken to design a new self-awareness assignment (SAA) and examine its value. The SAA's development, which relies on role-plays, is…

Mission HydroSci (MHS) teaches water systems and scientific argumentation towards meeting Next Generation Science Standards. MHS is a game-based 3D virtual environment for enacting transformational role-playing, wherein students must learn new knowledge and competencies in order to successfully complete the game missions. MHS was developed for…

"Playing With Dragons: Using Role-playing Games to Support Academic Objectives" explores how table role-playing games might positively impact the attainment of classroom learning objectives. This paper begins with an exploration of what a table role-playing game is, and compares it to educational theatre techniques, primarily process…

This paper describes the design and development of ERAS, an experiential role-playing aging simulation. This webbased tool was designed for psychology students to engage in a role-playing experience that serves to increase individuals' empathy toward the elderly, as they learn about aging. In ERAS, the learners take on the role of aging…

This paper explores the contribution to geography teaching which can be made by serious games. We describe the ways in which gaming has progressed from "dissected maps" and jigsaws through board games, to the range of online games which are available today. We describe the development, in conjunction with European partner institutions,…

This paper describes the process of implementing the Global Storylines (GSL) approach in Czech primary schools by looking at the data (interviews, participatory observations, written teachers' reflections) collected from 12 primary schools. It attempts to analyze the main effects of GSL on pupils, teachers, and the class as a whole and…

Scholars have advocated for practice-based experiences, including high-leverage practices and metacognition, to be incorporated within preservice teacher programs, as they have the most pervasive impact on students' learning. One way in which teacher preparation programs have incorporated practice-based experiences is through the use of…

The value of simulations in the classroom is well established, and there are numerous publications that feature specific role-play exercises that can readily be introduced into the classroom. Frequently, however, instructors would like to design their own simulations to fit their specific learning objectives for a class, but don't know where to…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse which are the active learning methodologies, which had better contribute to acquiring competences for sustainable development (SD) in higher education. Design/methodology/approach: Cluster analysis is used to define 252 students' skills patterns and their perception of the different active learning…

This study investigates the effect of an instructional design for medical Chinese, which incorporates research findings from Conversation Analysis (CA) and uses authentic doctor-patient consultations in primary-care visits as teaching materials. The goal of the instruction is to develop students' interpersonal communicative competence in medical…