Many theories of complex cognitive-motor skill learning are built on the notion that basic cognitive processes group actions into easy-to-perform sequences. The present work examines predictions derived from laboratory-based studies of motor chunking and motor preparation using data collected from the real-time strategy video game StarCraft 2. We examined 996,163 action sequences in the telemetry data of 3,317 players across seven levels of skill. As predicted, the latency to the first action is delayed relative to the other actions in the (...) group. Other predictions, inspired by the memory drum theory of Henry and Rogers, received only weak support. (shrink)

One crucial design characteristic of auditory texts embedded in instructional videos is the speaker gender, which has received some attention from empirical researcher in the recent years. Contrary to the theoretical assumption that similarity between the speaker’s and the learner’s gender might positively affect learning outcomes, the findings have often been mixed, showing null to contrary effects. Notwithstanding the effect on the outcomes, a closer look at how the speaker’s gender and speaker–learner similarities further determine cognitive variables, such as different (...) cognitive load types, is overdue. Moreover, on the part of the learner, the role of situational interest in the learning topic that might be gender related has been neglected so far. Therefore, this study explored the role of speaker and learner gender and their interaction regarding learning outcomes. We broaden our perspective by investigating the effects of gender-related differences concerning situational interest in the topic being taught and by determining different types of cognitive load. In a 2 (female/male speaker) × 2 (female/male learner) within- and between-subject design, 95 students learned about female and male human sexual maturity with an instructional video containing auditory explanations. Analysis results indicate that speaker gender and speaker–learner gender similarity had no impact on learning gains, situational interest, and cognitive load types. However, the results demonstrate that learner’s gender, especially for the topic of female sexual maturity, matters the most in line with the assessed variables. Compared with males, females had higher learning gains, reported higher interest in the topic, and invested more germane cognitive resources. Thus, instructional designers may want to consider learner gender-dependent interest and how it can be triggered when creating videos with auditory explanations. (shrink)

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the Baltimore Learning Community (BLC) project established a networked electronic learning community through the use of high-quality digital science and social studies resources and high-speed networking. The project will enable science and social studies teachers to access images, text, Web sites, and full motion video via high-speed connections to the Internet. Extending such multimedia configurations into urban schools has facilitated a rethinking of teaching and learning in content classes as well as a reconsideration (...) of how media and method are integrated. It facilitates teacher engagement in designing authentic classroom instruction framed by performance assessments and links project teachers and school site coordinators through a client server, thus promoting a network of teachers and students engaged in learning across schools. However, such a project is not without its challenges—human as well as technological. This article discusses the BLC project identifying technology possibilities, current situational constraints, and implications of creating networked learning communities across disciplines and beyond school walls. (shrink)

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has become a new mode of learning that students must adapt to. However, the mechanisms by which students receive and grasp knowledge in the online learning mode remain unknown. Cognitive load theory offers instructions to students considering the knowledge of human cognition. Therefore, this study considers the CLT to explore the internal mechanism of learning under the online mode in an experimental study. We recruited 76 undergraduates and randomly assigned them to four groups in (...) which they will watch videos at four different kinds of speed. The study observed and analyzed how video playback speed affected students' learning and cognitive load to obtain the following results: Video playback speed significantly influenced the students' learning effect. The best effect was observed at the speed of 1.25× and 1.5×. The speed that affected the learning effect best differed according to the students' learning abilities. High-level group students performed best at the speed of 1.5×, whereas low-level group students performed best at the speed of 1.25×. The 1.5× speed showed significant differences in the learning effect by students' majors. This indicates that the cognitive load of liberal arts students increased greatly at this speed. A change in playback speed has a significant impact on the cognitive load. Accelerated playback speed increases the cognitive load of students. The highest learning effect is observed under medium cognitive load. (shrink)

In this paper, we track the motion of multiple targets in sports videos by a machine learning algorithm and study its tracking technique in depth. In terms of moving target detection, the traditional detection algorithms are analysed theoretically as well as implemented algorithmically, based on which a fusion algorithm of four interframe difference method and background averaging method is proposed for the shortcomings of interframe difference method and background difference method. The fusion algorithm uses the learning rate to update the (...) background in real time and combines morphological processing to correct the foreground, which can effectively cope with the slow change of the background. According to the requirements of real time, accuracy, and occupying less video memory space in intelligent video surveillance systems, this paper improves the streamlined version of the algorithm. The experimental results show that the improved multitarget tracking algorithm effectively improves the Kalman filter-based algorithm to meet the real-time and accuracy requirements in intelligent video surveillance scenarios. (shrink)

Immersive 360-degree video has become a new learning resource because of its immersive sensory experience. This study examined the effects of textual and visual cues on learning and attention in immersive 360-degree video by using eye-tracking equipment integrated in a virtual reality head-mounted display. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: no cues, textual cues in the initial field of view, textual cues outside the initial FOV, and textual cues outside the initial FOV + visual cues. The results (...) showed that the cues helped learners achieve better learning outcomes and spend more time focusing on the areas with cues. In addition, the study found a serious imbalance in the distribution of learners’ attention in each region of the video. The attention directed to textual cues in the initial FOV is much higher than the attention directed to textual cues outside the initial FOV. Adding visual cues can effectively direct attention to textual cues outside the initial FOV and alleviate the imbalance of attention distribution. Consequently, adding cues to immersive 360-degree video can be an appropriate approach to promote learning and guide attention in immersive 360-degree video learning environments. This study provided new insights into the design and development of immersive 360-degree video instructional resources. (shrink)

Grey parrots do not acquire referential English labels when tutored with videotapes displayed on CRT screens if socially isolated, reward for attempted labels is possible, trainers direct birds’ attention to the monitor, live video feed avoids habituation or one trainer repeats labels produced on video and rewards label attempts. Because birds learned referential labels from live tutor pairs in concurrent sessions, we concluded that video failed because input lacked live social interaction and modeling. Recent studies, however, suggest that standard CRT (...) monitor flickering could instead have prevented learning. Using an LCD monitor, we found that eliminating flickering did not enable birds to learn from video under conditions of limited social interaction. Results emphasize the role of social interaction in referential label learning and may generalize to other systems. (shrink)

Grey parrots do not acquire referential English labels when tutored with videotapes displayed on CRT screens if socially isolated, reward for attempted labels is possible, trainers direct birds’ attention to the monitor, live video feed avoids habituation or one trainer repeats labels produced on video and rewards label attempts. Because birds learned referential labels from live tutor pairs in concurrent sessions, we concluded that video failed because input lacked live social interaction and modeling. Recent studies, however, suggest that standard CRT (...) monitor flickering could instead have prevented learning. Using an LCD monitor, we found that eliminating flickering did not enable birds to learn from video under conditions of limited social interaction. Results emphasize the role of social interaction in referential label learning and may generalize to other systems. (shrink)

Producing content-related gestures has been found to impact students’ learning, whether such gestures are spontaneously generated by the learner in the course of problem-solving, or participants are instructed to pose based on experimenter instructions during problem-solving and word learning. Few studies, however, have investigated the effect of (a) performing instructed gestures while learning concepts or (b) producing gestures without there being an implied connection between the gestures and the concepts being learned. The two studies reported here investigate the impact of (...) instructed hand movements on students’ subsequent understanding of a concept. Students were asked to watch an instructional video—focused on the concept of statistical model—three times. Two experimental groups were given a secondary task to perform while watching the video, which involved moving their hands to mimic the placement and orientation of red rectangular bars overlaid on the video. Students were told that the focus of the study was multitasking, and that the instructed hand movements were unrelated to the material being learned. In the content-match group the placement of the hands reinforced the concept being explained, and in the content-mismatch group it did not. A control group was not asked to perform a secondary task. In both studies, findings indicate that students in the content-match group performed better on the posttest, and showed less variation in performance, than did students in the content-mismatch group, with control students falling in between. Instructed hand movement—even when presented as an unrelated, secondary task—can affect students’ learning of a complex concept. (shrink)

As one of the traditional entertainment items, video background music has gradually changed from traditional consumption to network consumption, which naturally also has the problem of information overload. From the perspective of model design and auxiliary information, this paper proposes a tightly coupled fusion model based on deep learning and collaborative filtering to alleviate the problem of poor prediction accuracy due to sparse matrix in the scoring prediction problem. In the use of auxiliary information, this paper uses crawler technology to (...) obtain auxiliary information on the user side and the video background music side and compensates for the model’s sensitivity to the sparsity of the score matrix from a data perspective. In terms of model design, this paper conducts auxiliary information mining based on the diversity and structural differences of auxiliary information, uses an improved stack autoencoder to learn user’s interests, and uses convolutional neural networks to mine hidden features of video background music. Based on the idea of probabilistic matrix decomposition, the tightly coupled fusion of multiple deep learning models and collaborative filtering is realized. By comprehensively considering user’s interest and video background music characteristics, the collaborative filtering process is supervised, and the optimized prediction result is finally obtained. The performance test and function test of the system were carried out, respectively, to verify the effectiveness of the hybrid recommendation algorithm and the effect of the system for recommendation. Through experimental analysis, it is proved that the algorithm designed in this paper can improve the recommendation quality and achieve the expected goal. (shrink)

Learner control is an important instructional design in video-based learning. This study assessed two conditions: a full learner control where learners direct their learning path, and a hybrid learner control where learners follow the instructor-set path but still enjoy certain aspects of control. Two groups of university students participated in this study by learning statistics through online video courses. The findings show that the full learner control condition attained higher learning performance than the hybrid learner control condition, but spent more (...) time than the latter. The full learner control condition scored higher than the hybrid condition in the difficult sections of video-based learning; but no significant difference was found in the easy section. There was a significant difference between the two conditions in learning agency, but no differences in cognitive load and affective and cognitive engagement. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated differences between the full and the hybrid learner control conditions in the factors predicting overall scores. The findings carry important contributions and implications for the research and practice of instructional designs in online video-based learning such as MOOCs. (shrink)

In order to improve the efficiency of teaching and learning in Colleges and Universities, this work combines the Browser/Server framework with Model View Presenter technology to build a college student–oriented micro-video teaching system based on Deep Learning and Human–Computer Interaction technology. Firstly, it makes an in-depth analysis of the problems in the classroom teaching of Chinese CAUs. Three functional modules are designed for the micro-video online teaching platform: video management, user learning, and system management. Then, it uses MVP technology to (...) analyze the use-cases of these three functional modules in detail. Based on this, the micro-video online teaching platform is designed using the B/S framework. The teaching platform interface layer realizes the HCI between the platform and users. The business logic layer responds to the user requests submitted and returns the processing results to the interface layer. Finally, the function test and stress test of each module of the micro-video online teaching platform is carried out. The test results show that the response time of the proposed micro-video teaching platform increases with the number of users. Under the peak concurrent users, the system response time is 6 s, without abnormalities. Meanwhile, the proposed teaching platform has improved students' satisfaction with classroom teaching by nearly 15% and improved the compactness of the college classroom by nearly 12%. When the number of virtual users increases and the number of services increases linearly, the Random Access Memory and Central Processing Unit growth rate is significantly lower than that of the number of services. These outcomes indicate that many system resources are reused, and the system has good scalability, which can meet users' needs for the network video teaching system. The proposed teaching platform provides a new idea for applying DL and HCI technology in researching college students' micro-video teaching mode. (shrink)

The authors of Connected Gaming effectively update Yasmin B. Kafai’s 1995 discussion of “the first constructionist gaming project”, originally published as Minds in Play: Games to Be Played, Ga...

Commercial video games are popular entertainment media and part of students’ media reality. While commercial video games’ main purpose is not learning, they nonetheless could and should serve as objects of reflection in formal educational settings. Teachers could guide student learning and reflection as well as motivate students with commercial video games, but more evidence from formal educational settings is required. We conducted two mixed methods case studies to investigate students’ reflection processes using commercial video games in regular formal high (...) school teaching. In a double lesson, 29 students of a 10th-grade biology course and 17 students of a 12th-grade advanced course on history played and discussed a commercial video game related to the current curricular topic. We examined the reflection processes of students in terms of their reactions to the teachers’ game-related statements and questions. Regarding teachers’ statements, students discussed several topics related to game enjoyment and the games’ representation of topic-related content. Regarding teachers’ questions, students discussed multiple goals in each game, how the games represented topic-related content, and how the games could be appropriate for learning. In Study 2, students additionally discussed emotions, stereotypes, violence, and the narrative related to the digital history game. We found that the discussions provided students opportunities to reflect on their game experiences and the current curricular topic as well as to practice media criticism. We further provide quantitative results on students’ perceived topic knowledge, on several facets of their learning motivation, and on their acceptance of video games. Overall, our findings illustrate the educational value of using commercial video games as objects of reflection. (shrink)

This article builds upon earlier research in which the authors presented case studies focused on the design and development of two original ethical learning video games. Through this case study and a review of relevant literature, the authors explored the content creation of, and theoretical rationale for, the design and development of ethics games. Both games were geared toward an undergraduate student audience as casual learning games to be completed in a few hours of gameplay. To update and expand this (...) original work, the authors reviewed contemporary research on identity, cognition, and self in relation to video game environments as well as literature dealing more specifically with ethics and video games. From this literature base and their applied design experiences, the authors offer ten guidelines as best practices to follow for aspiring ethics game developers. (shrink)

In order to motivate students and create a tension free environment English language teachers implement different technological tools in the classroom. This paper aims to emphasize the importance of using video material in the classroom that facilitates ESL teaching. The study was conducted at SEEU Language Centre with 87 students’. Major ethnical groups include Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, and Roma. The respondents’ age varies from 18-20 studying ESP classes, such as Computer Sciences 1, ESP as well as Academic and Advanced Academic (...) English, and the research questions are: to what extent students are motivated to study English using videos, do Video presentations stimulate students’ critical thinking skills. Moreover, 8 teachers responded to the questionnaire and strongly agreed that Videos motivate students’ discussions in class. Teaching ESP courses using audio-visual tools is especially beneficial for both students and teachers because the appropriate video material can make students more interested in the subject, more engaged as well as become more confident in communicative language learning competencies. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung Der Aufsatz untersucht am Beispiel der Skateboard-Praktik den Einfluss audiovisueller Medien auf die Produktion von Bewegungen und die Konstitution von Stil-Kulturen in neuen sportiven Prakti­ken. Der Zusammenhang von Bewegungen und Bildtechnologien wird als „intermediale Konstella­tion“ analysiert. Zeigen lässt sich, wie seit den 1970er Jahren der Gebrauch sich wan­delnder Medientechnologien nicht nur das Aneignen von Manövern beeinflusst und beschleunigt. Auch auf die Vergemeinschaftung der Teilnehmer zu stilistischen ‚Kulturen‘ hat diese Entwicklung erheblichen Einfluss, indem sie immer wieder neue AutorenInnen und Bildgenres (...) zulässt. Eine Zä­sur markiert der in den frühen 1980er Jahren durchgesetzte Videorekorder, auf dessen Basis sich das ‚klassische‘ Skateboard-Video etabliert: Die Praktik verbreitet sich in körperlicher Aneignung von „Rockvideos über Sport“, die zugleich Imagefilme von Jugendmarken sind. Dieser Prozess, so die These, platziert ihre Träger exakt im Schnittpunkt von Sport- und Popkultur - und macht die Skateboard-Praktik zu einer exemplarischen Selbsttechnik, in denen sich ab 1980 das „konsumatorische Kreativsubjekt“ der postmodernen Ordnung heranbildet. (shrink)

Marginal comments on student essays are a near-universal method of providing feedback in philosophy. Widespread as the practice is, however, it has well-known drawbacks. Commenting on students' work in the form of a video has the potential to improve the feedback experience for both instructors and students. The advantages of video feedback can be seen by examining it from both the professor's and the student's perspective. In discussing the professor's perspective, this article shares observations based on the author's experience delivering (...) feedback through video. Turning to the student's view, it discusses qualitative feedback solicited from students that indicates a clear preference for video feedback over written marginalia. In particular, students describe video feedback as more informative, more personal, better at suggesting improvements on future assignments, enhancing the professor's ability to communicate through tone of voice and gesture, and easier to understand compared to written feedback. (shrink)

L’articolo colloca i videogiochi nell’area di ciò che chiamo “esperienze progettate”. Le esperienze progettate sono esperienze – nel mondo reale o attraverso i media – che sono progettate per sollecitare specifici effetti o affetti. Nei miei lavori precedenti, ho indagato il modo in cui gli insegnanti, nelle loro classi, o i designer dei videogiochi, nei loro giochi, progettino esperienze volte, in entrambi i casi, a condurre verso l’apprendimento. Tuttavia, le esperienza progettate possono essere volte a sollecitare attività diverse dall’apprendimento. Esse (...) possono anche cercare di sollecitare cose come il cambiamento sociale, i cambiamenti di atteggiamento o di comportamento, le emozioni o altri effetti del (o sul) corpo, la mente o l’anima. Nell’articolo considero la relazione tra i videogiochi intesi come esperienze progettate e i videogiochi intesi come arte. (shrink)

How can _Wii Sports_ teach us about metaphysics? Can playing _World of Warcraft_ lead to greater self-consciousness? How can we learn about aesthetics, ethics and divine attributes from _Zork_, _Grand Theft Auto_, and _Civilization_? A variety of increasingly sophisticated video games are rapidly overtaking books, films, and television as America's most popular form of media entertainment. It is estimated that by 2011 over 30 percent of US households will own a Wii console - about the same percentage that owned a (...) television in 1953. In _Philosophy Through Video Games, _Jon Cogburn and Mark Silcox - philosophers with game industry experience - investigate the aesthetic appeal of video games, their effect on our morals, the insights they give us into our understanding of perceptual knowledge, personal identity, artificial intelligence, and the very meaning of life itself, arguing that video games are popular precisely because they engage with longstanding philosophical problems. Topics covered include: * The Problem of the External World * Dualism and Personal Identity * Artificial and Human Intelligence in the Philosophy of Mind * The Idea of Interactive Art * The Moral Effects of Video Games * Games and God's Goodness Games discussed include: _Madden Football_, _Wii Sports_, _Guitar Hero_, _World of Warcraft_, _Sims Online_, _Second Life_, _Baldur's Gate_, _Knights of the Old Republic_, _Elder Scrolls_, _Zork_, _EverQuest_ _Doom_, _Halo 2_, _Grand Theft Auto_, _Civilization_, _Mortal Kombat_, _Rome: Total War_, _Black and White_, _Aidyn Chronicles_. (shrink)

This paper explores the benefits of video feedback for teaching philosophy. Our analysis, based on results from a self-report student survey along with our own experience, indicates that video feedback possesses a number of advantages over traditional written comments. In particular we argue that video feedback is conducive to providing high-quality formative feedback, increases detail and clarity, and promotes student engagement. In addition, we argue that the advantages of video feedback make the method an especially apt tool for addressing challenges (...) germane to teaching philosophy. Video feedback allows markers to more easily explain and illustrate philosophical goals and methods. It allows markers to model the doing of philosophy and thereby helps students to see philosophy’s value. Video feedback is a promising tool for addressing both cognitive and affective barriers to learning philosophy. Such advantages are especially valuable in the context of a student-centered, intentional learning framework. In light of these advantages, we find that video feedback is underappreciated and underutilized. (shrink)

Lately in the past couple of years, there are an increasing in the normal rate of playing computer games or video games compared to the E-learning content that are introduced for the safety of our children, and the impact of the video game addictiveness that ranges from (Musculoskeletal issues, Vision problems and Obesity). Furthermore, this paper introduce an intelligent tutoring system for both parent and their children for enhancement the experience of gaming and tell us about the health problems and (...) how we can solve them, with an easy user interface that way can our children be happy and excited about the information and their health. (shrink)

This paper presents an implemented computational model of word acquisition which learns directly from raw multimodal sensory input. Set in an information theoretic framework, the model acquires a lexicon by finding and statistically modeling consistent cross‐modal structure. The model has been implemented in a system using novel speech processing, computer vision, and machine learning algorithms. In evaluations the model successfully performed speech segmentation, word discovery and visual categorization from spontaneous infant‐directed speech paired with video images of single objects. These results (...) demonstrate the possibility of using state‐of‐the‐art techniques from sensory pattern recognition and machine learning to implement cognitive models which can process raw sensor data without the need for human transcription or labeling. (shrink)

Video games are ethically controversial. Some video games are effective training tools for learning various skills and approaches to problem-solving, but some video games are notorious for promoting discriminatory and barbaric behavior. We consider such ethical pros and cons of video games, but we also present a more fundamental ethical issue about video games. Most video games have a bias toward self-centered decision-making. Often the decision-making driver is not the impact of the decision on society but rather the quantity of (...) rewards for their individual character. This bias can be an obstacle to employing good ethical analysis and good ethical decision-making in video games. In this paper we discuss the ethical theory of Just Consequentialism and show how it can be used to introduce ethical values into video game design and how it can be useful for ethical decision-making, even rapid ethical decision-making, in both virtual world and real worlds. (shrink)

In this paper, we report on an experiment with The Walking Dead (TWD), which is a narrative-driven adventure game where players have to survive in a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies. We used OpenFace software to extract action unit (AU) intensities of facial expressions characteristic of decision-making processes and then we implemented a simple convolution neural network (CNN) to see which AUs are predictive of decision-making. Our results provide evidence that the pre-decision variations in action units 17 (chin raiser), 23 (...) (lip tightener), and 25 (parting of lips) are predictive of decision-making processes. Furthermore, when combined, their predictive power increased up to 0.81 accuracy on the test set; we offer speculations about why it is that these particular three AUs were found to be connected to decision-making. Our results also suggest that machine learning methods in combination with video games may be used to accurately and automatically identify complex decision-making processes using AU intensity alone. Finally, our study offers a new method to test specific hypotheses about the relationships between higher-order cognitive processes and behavior, which relies on both narrative video games and easily accessible software, like OpenFace. (shrink)

As one of the most widely used methods in deep learning technology, convolutional neural networks have powerful feature extraction capabilities and nonlinear data fitting capabilities. However, the convolutional neural network method still has disadvantages such as complex network model, too long training time and excessive consumption of computing resources, slow convergence speed, network overfitting, and classification accuracy that needs to be improved. Therefore, this article proposes a dense convolutional neural network classification algorithm based on texture features for images in virtual (...) reality videos. First, the texture feature of the image is introduced as a priori information to reflect the spatial relationship between pixels and the unique characteristics of different types of ground features. Second, the grey level cooccurrence matrix is used to extract the grey level correlation features of the image in space. Then, Gauss Markov Random Field is used to establish the statistical correlation characteristics between neighbouring pixels, and the extracted GLCM-GMRF texture feature and image intensity vector are combined. Finally, based on DenseNet, an improved shallow layer dense convolutional neural network is proposed, which can compress network parameters and improve the feature extraction ability of the network. The experimental results show that compared with the current classification method, this method can effectively suppress the influence of coherent speckle noise and obtain better classification results. (shrink)

Introduction : growing up gamer -- Leveling up in life : how meritocracy works in society -- A toxic culture : studying gaming's jerks -- Coding meritocracy: norms of game design and narrative -- Judging skill, from World of warcraft to Kim Kardashian : Hollywood -- Learning from others -- Conclusion : an obligation to do better.

The learning of immediate causation within a dynamic environment was examined. Participants encountered seven decision points in which they needed to choose which of three possible candidates was the cause of explosions in the environment. Each candidate was firing a weapon at random every few seconds, but only one of them produced an immediate effect. Some participants showed little learning, but most demonstrated increases in accuracy across time. On average, men showed higher accuracy and shorter latencies that were not explained (...) by differences in self-reported prior video game experience. This result suggests that prior reports of sex differences in causal choice in the game are not specific to situations involving delayed or probabilistic causal relations. (shrink)

Student-generated video creation assessments are an innovative and emerging form of assessment in higher education. Academic staff may be understandably reluctant to transform assessment practices without robust evidence of the benefits and rationale for doing so and some guidance regarding how to do so successfully. A systematic approach to searching the literature was conducted to identify relevant resources, which generated key documents, authors and internet sources which were thematically analysed. This comprehensive critical synthesis of literature is presented here under the (...) headings of findings from literature, relevance of digital capabilities, understanding the influence of local context and resources, and pedagogical considerations. Student-generated video creation for assessment is shown to have several benefits, notably in supporting development of digital and communication skills relevant to today’s world and in enhancing learning. As an emerging innovation within assessment, intentionally planning and supporting a change management process with both students and staff is required. The importance of alignment to learning outcomes, context and resources, choice of video format to desired skills development, and to relevance beyond graduation is emphasised for video creation in assessment to be used successfully. Video creation for assessment is likely to grow in popularity and it is hoped the evidence of benefits, rationale and guidance as to how to do this effectively presented here will support this transformation. Further research to consider video creation for assessment with individuals rather than collaborative group assessments, and to establish academic rigour and equivalence would be beneficial. (shrink)

Forty years have passed since video-games were first made widely available to the public and subsequently playing games has become a favorite past-time for many. Players continuously engage with dynamic visual displays with success contingent on the time-pressured deployment, and flexible allocation, of attention as well as precise bimanual movements. Evidence to date suggests that both brief and extensive exposure to video-game play can result in a broad range of enhancements to various cognitive faculties that generalize beyond the original context. (...) Despite promise, video-game research is host to a number of methodological issues that require addressing before progress can be made in this area. Here an effort is made to consolidate the past 30 years of literature examining the effects of video-game play on cognitive faculties and, more recently, neural systems. Future work is required to identify the mechanism that allows the act of video-game play to generate such a broad range of generalized enhancements. (shrink)

Believing Philosophy Video Lectures introduces Christians to the tools and resources of philosophy, helping them understand, articulate, and defend their faith in an age of unbelief. Dolores G. Morris first explains why Christians should read and study philosophy. She begins by introducing learners to the long tradition of Christian philosophy and then explains the basic resources of philosophical reasoning: the role and aim of reason; distinctions between truth, reason, and provability; learning to read like a philosopher; and the fundamentals of (...) philosophical arguments. In the remaining sessions, Morris explores a sampling of philosophical topics relevant to the Christian faith. These lessons focus on the problem of evil and the moral argument for the existence of God. The problem of evil is often invoked as an argument for atheism. In response, the moral argument considers the reality not only of evil but also of moral values in general as evidence for the existence of God. In evaluating these arguments, Morris introduces students to a variety of Christian philosophical positions, including skeptical theism, the free will defense, Reformed epistemology, Christian ethical theories, and a number of theodicies and defenses of the faith. (shrink)

In this volume, Julinna Oxley and Ramona Ilea bring together essays that examine and defend the use of experiential learning activities to teach philosophical terms, concepts, arguments, and practices. Experiential learning emphasizes the importance of student engagement outside the traditional classroom structure. Service learning, studying abroad, engaging in large-scale collaborative projects such as creating blogs, websites and videos, and practically applying knowledge in a reflective, creative and rigorous way are all forms of experiential learning. Taken together, the contributions to Experiential (...) Learning in Philosophy argue that teaching philosophy is about doing philosophy with others. The book is divided into two sections: essays that engage in the philosophical debate about defining and implementing experiential learning, and essays that describe how to integrate experiential learning into the teaching of philosophy. Experiential Learning in Philosophy provides a timely reflection on best practices for teaching philosophical ideals and theories, an examination of the evolution of the discipline of philosophy and its adoption of active modes of learning, and an anticipation of the ways in which pedagogical practices will continue to evolve in the 21 st century. (shrink)

If he were alive today, what might Heidegger say about _Halo, _the popular video game franchise? What would Augustine think about _Assassin’s Creed _? What could Maimonides teach us about Nintendo’s eponymous hero, Mario? While some critics might dismiss such inquiries outright, protesting that these great thinkers would never concern themselves with a medium so crude and mindless as video games, it is impor­tant to recognize that games like these are, in fact, becoming the defining medium of our time. We (...) spend more time and money on video games than on books, television, or film, and any serious thinker of our age should be concerned with these games, what they are saying about us, and what we are learning from them. Yet video games still remain relatively unexplored by both scholars and pundits alike. Few have advanced beyond out­moded and futile attempts to tie gameplay to violent behavior. With this canard now thoroughly and repeatedly disproven, it is time to delve deeper. Just as the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan recently acquired fourteen games as part of its permanent collection, so too must we seek to add a serious consideration of virtual worlds to the pantheon of philoso-phical inquiry. In _God in the Machine, _author Liel Leibovitz leads a fas­cinating tour of the emerging virtual landscape and its many dazzling vistas from which we are offered new vantage points on age-old theological and philosophical questions. Free will vs. determinism, the importance of ritual, transcendence through mastery, notions of the self, justice and sin, life, death, and resurrection—these all come into play in the video games that some critics so easily write off as mind-numbing wastes of time. When one looks closely at how these games are designed, at their inherent logic, and at the cognitive effects they have on players, it becomes clear that playing these games creates a state of awareness vastly different from that which occurs when we watch television or read a book. Indeed, gameplay is a far more engaged process—one that draws on various faculties of mind and body to evoke sensa­tions that might more commonly be associated with religious experience. Getting swept away in an engrossing game can be a profoundly spiritual activity. It is not _to think_, but rather simply _to be_, a logic that sustained our ancestors for millennia as they looked heavenward for answers. Today, as more and more of us look screenward, it is important to investigate these games for their vast potential as fine instruments of moral training. Anyone seeking a concise and well-reasoned introduction to the subject would do well to start with _God in the Machine_. By illuminating both where video game storytelling is now and where it currently butts up against certain inherent limitations, Liebovitz intriguingly implies how the field and, in turn, our experiences might continue to evolve and advance in the coming years. (shrink)