Jeffrey Earp

Italian National Research Council | CNR · Institute for Educational Technology ITD

Teacher’s digital competence is a key aspect in the European Commission’s Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027, which stresses the importance of improving the use of digital technology for teaching and learning in Europe’s schools. Moreover, with the current COVID-19 pandemic, teachers have generally needed to increase their digital competence t...

Research in the social sciences devotes a great amount of attention to investigating the impact of video games on the individual and on society. However, results generated by this research often fail to inform game development. The present study investigated the outreach of research conducted by the academic community by interviewing 30 game develo...

Digital technologies play an important role in the development of partially children, who require early intervention to help sustain and improve their visual capacity throughout childhood, and also to stimulate their other senses so as to prevent any global development deficit. To this end, therapists, parents and teachers must be able to choose fr...

The research field of Learning Design (LD) has been active for some time now, but several questions remain open for the scientific community. In particular, the article tackles issues that have been core concerns in LD over the years: (1) how to support the different phases of the LD process; (2) what representations should be used in the various s...

Digital technologies play an important role in the development of partially children, who require early intervention to help sustain and improve their visual capacity throughout childhood, and also to stimulate their other senses so as to prevent any global development deficit. To this end, therapists, parents and teachers must be able to choose f...

This paper explores the relationship between digital games and learning along the continuum from formal to informal learning. Games are an increasingly important component of our learning ecologies but their potential can prove difficult to fully harness due to the downsides of gaming in informal contexts and to the limitations games can present wh...

This paper reports on a literature review investigating the main ethically-related themes appearing in the academic literature on digital games, and considers their connections with games and learning, identity development, and the construction of personal beliefs. The themes explored include how videogames can shape players' attitudes or encourage...

The mandate of the Gaming Horizons research project was to critically challenge the status quo in video games to potentially foment change. Such a change is to recognise that all types of video games (serious/applied and arts/entertainment, on phones, consoles, traditional computers, or other platforms) are already changing the political, economic,...

This report discusses the introduction of Computational Thinking (CT) in compulsory education in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Promoted and funded by the Nordic@BETT2018 Steering Group, the report provides an overview of the current status of CT and Programming in the four countries’ curricula and national plans. It also discusses ongoing CT...

Le tecnologie digitali sono spesso introdotte in modo innovativo nei vari livelli scolastici. Per consolidare i progressi raggiunti ed assicurare una innovazione sostenibile e su ampia scala, è necessario che le istituzioni educative rivedano le proprie strategie organizzative al fine di migliorare le proprie capacità di innovazione, nonché di sfru...

This case study draws on a pilot experience investigating learners' digital game making as an educational strategy for adoption in schools. It was one of a series of classroom pilots run within an EC project called MAGICAL-Making Games in Collaboration for Learning 1. The main research aim of MAGICAL and of the reported pilot was to investigate the...

Game making as a strategy for supporting learning processes is a research topic that has roots stretching back to the constructionist movement of the 1980s and 1990s. However, the current popularity of digital gaming, Game Based Learning (GBL), 21st century skills development and learner-centred strategies is sharping interest in the affordances th...

Continuing interest in digital games indicated that it would be useful to update Connolly et al.'s (2012) systematic literature review of empirical evidence about the positive impacts and outcomes of games. Since a large number of papers was identified in the period from 2009 to 2014, the current review focused on 143 papers that provided higher qu...

One of the core activities teachers perform as part of their professional practice is conceptual preparation of educational interventions of whatever type and at whatever level of granularity: single learning opportunities and activities, sequences, lessons, units, modules, courses or even whole programmes. A longstanding pillar in the constant que...

This report presents and analyses research data gathered in 2015 as part of a systematic review of the research literature dedicated to the topic of game making for learning. The core data are contained in the research paper Game Making for Learning: A Systematic Review Of The Research Literature, published in the Proceedings of ICERI15, 8th Intern...

Introduzione Negli ultimi anni, l'adozione di giochi digitali in ambito didattico è cresciuta significativamente, non solo all'estero ma anche nel nostro paese. Il potenziale di questi strumenti a livello di apprendimento e di sviluppo delle abilità cognitive è stato ampiamente indagato dai ricer-catori nell'area dell'apprendimento basato sui gioch...

The term “gamification” is generally used to denote the application of game mechanisms in non-gaming environments with the aim of enhancing the processes enacted and the experience of those involved. In recent years, gamification has become a catchword throughout the fields of education and training, thanks to its perceived potential to make learni...

This paper describes a pilot deployment in lower secondary school of a serious game dedicated to the learning of history. The primary aim of the initiative was to investigate the integration of Serious Games-based learning environments in the school study of humanities subjects. The pilot was carried out as part of investigations that researchers i...

One of the areas of Game-Based Learning (GBL) that has been attracting consid-erable interest in recent years is digital game making, whereby learners play games but also design, construct and share them as active participants in a learn-ing community. Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is a critical aspect of pro-cesses and tools within game making,...

With the rapid social, economic, and technological changes currently taking place in our society, collaboration skills and creativity are nowadays seen as basic survival and success factors. Technology-driven changes are also generating new challenges in the knowledge society. For example, the widening gap between daily information-centered activit...

Narratives are used to construct and deconstruct the time and space of events. In games, as in real life, narratives add layers of meaning and they engage players by enhancing or clarifying content. From an educational perspective, narratives are a semiotic conduit for evoking critical thinking skills and promoting knowledge discovery/acquisition....

Research in Serious Games (SG), as a whole, faces two main challenges in understanding the transition between the instructional design and actual game design implementation [1] and documenting an evidence-based mapping of game design patterns onto relevant pedagogical patterns [2]. From a practical perspective, this transition lacks methodology and...

Serious Games (SGs) are increasingly being used in formal educational settings and it is almost universally acknowledged that they have strong potential for bringing innovation to education and for enhancing learning, this way also contributing to the development of Human Capital. This paper proposes some reflections on the usefulness and effective...

With the rapid social, economic, and technological changes currently taking place in our society, collaboration skills and creativity are nowadays seen as basic survival and success factors. Technology-driven changes are also generating new challenges in the knowledge society. For example, the widening gap between daily information-centered activit...

Many examples exist of the effective use of digital games for learning, both in the classroom and informally, for developing subject knowledge, skills (cognitive, (psycho)motor and psychodynamic), attitudes and behaviours. However, educational games are often limited in scope to the topic of the game itself and position learners as 'players' in the...

This paper presents the results of a literature search and review focused on the integration of digital games into educational processes, specifically in primary schools. It briefly analyses around 78 papers reporting research carried out in a range of different countries and with a variety of educational objectives. The study confirms the increasi...

This white paper surveys present and emerging trends in online language learning (OLL) courses. It provides an overview of the current offering from the major players in the field, focusing in particular on English as a Foreign/Second Language (EFL/ESL), especially Business English services targeted at the corporate sector. The paper contains an in...

Twenty-First Century skills like creativity, problem solving and collaboration are acknowledged as fundamental in the technology-driven knowledge society. Increasingly, education is being called on to support the development of such skills from the earliest years. This paper examines a promising methodology for this purpose, Learners’ Digital Game...

The process of knowledge sharing can be seen as the lifeblood for the establishment of a true Knowledge Society. Such a society must be grounded on an iterative process whereby existing knowledge is constantly shared, consolidated and – crucially – enriched with new knowledge. And knowledge sharing is the means by which that enrichment can take pla...

Over the years, there have been numerous definitions of curriculum integration, where the curriculum is interwoven, connected, thematic, interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, correlated, linked, and holistic (Fogarty and Pete 2007). Curriculum integration is based on both philosophy and practicality, drawing together knowledge, skills, attitudes, a...

This paper tackles the issue of ICT-enhanced development of so-called 21st Century skills. In doing so, it draws on the experience gained in the framework of MAGICAL (MAking Games In CollAboration for Learning), an EU project funded in 2011 under the LLP transversal ICT Programme. The core mission of MAGICAL is to exploit the potential of collabora...

The territory of Game Based Learning has been widely explored, yet much has still to be done in the field. Both the methodological and the empirical aspects of adopting games for educational purposes require further in-depth investigation. What are, then, the current hot issues in the field? What relevant research questions are still to be answered...

We developed a conceptual tool intended to help teachers make a good start in using digital games in the classroom. The tool is a matrix of questions based on a literature search and an empirical study with teachers. Its primary aim is to foster self-reflection and communication with other practitioners or designers. It was produced in the context...

This proposal describes the aims and the expected outcomes of the MAGICAL (MAking Games In CollaborAtion for Learning) project that was funded in 2011 under the LLP transversal ICT Programme. MAGICAL is proposed here as an example of how digital games can fruitfully be employed to support students' intellectual development, which actually represent...

Nowadays formal education systems are under increasing pressure to respond and adapt to rapid technological innovation and associated changes in the way we work and live. As well as accommodation of technology in its ever-diversifying forms, there is a fundamental need to enhance learning processes through evolution in pedagogical approaches, so as...

Over the years, there have been numerous definitions of curriculum integration,where the curriculum is interwoven, connected, thematic, interdisciplinary multidisciplinary, correlated, linked and holistic.(Robin Fogarty, 2007) Curriculum integration is based on both philosophy and practicality, drawing together knowledge, skills, attitudes and valu...

Over the years, there have been numerous definitions of curriculum integration,where the curriculum is interwoven, connected, thematic, interdisciplinary multidisciplinary, correlated, linked and holistic.(Robin Fogarty, 2007) Curriculum integration is based on both philosophy and practicality, drawing together knowledge, skills, attitudes and valu...

This work describes some of the web services that have been developed within the Share.TEC project to foster access, sharing and reuse of Teacher Education digital resources at European level. The Share.TEC platform features personalized functions to help users search for and select educational material via a broad repository of metadata records. T...

The process of learning through Game Based Learning (GBL) presents both positive aspects and challenges to be faced in order to support the achievement of learning goals and knowledge creation. This study aims to characterise game dynamics in the adoption of multi-player GBL. In particular, we examine the multi-player GBL dynamics may enhance colla...

Innovation in technology together with evolution in pedagogical approaches is encouraging increased integration of technology-supported interventions in mainstream teaching practices. One area attracting particularly close attention in this respect is Serious Games (SGs), which offer considerable potential for facilitating both formal and informal...

Earp, J., & Klemke, R. (2011, 21 September). Introducing GaLA: Serious Game potentials, challenges and TEL-related issues. Presented at TEL-Think-Tank Workshop at the 6th European conference on Technology enhanced learning: towards ubiquitous learning (EC-TEL 2011), Palermo, Italy.

This paper focuses on pedagogical plans intended as objects to support human communication. Its purpose is to describe a structural model for pedagogical plans which can assist both authors and users. The model helps authors to engage in the design of a plan as a communication project and helps users in the process of understanding, customizing, en...

This contribution falls at the intersection between the fields of terminology and the sharing of information in a multicultural context, with particular reference to the field of Teacher Education (TE). The Share.TEC project aims to develop services to support the sharing and reuse of digital resources among European TE practitioners; it addresses...

In this contribution we propose a comparison between two distinct approaches to the annotation of digital resources. The former, top-down, is rooted in the cathedral model and is based on an authoritative, centralized definition of the adopted mark-up language; the latter, bottom-up, refers to the bazaar model and is based on the contributions of a...

This paper deals with some approaches for providing adaptability for end users when working with digital libraries. The paper is focused on several techniques and methods for achieving adaptability in general, and provides specific examples and guidelines for their implementation related to the user interface of digital libraries.

Teacher Education (TE) is a dynamic, lifelong process that needs to fully embrace innovation and assume a broader European perspective. The EC-funded Share.TEC project aims to provide enhanced, culturally-aware access to TE-related resources across Europe by means of a federated resource brokerage system whose semantic core is the proposed Teacher...

Ontologies provide a structured knowledge representation scheme capable of supporting and informing a knowledge base system. This paper describes the rationale for an ontology-driven approach adopeted in a specific domain (i.e. Teacher Education, TE) and used to describe and share TE-related digital resources across Europe. It also gives an overvie...

In quanto processo permanente, dinamico ed in evoluzione, la Formazione Docenti (FD) svolge un ruolo cruciale nello svilup- po della società della conoscenza a livello europeo. Il progetto europeo Share.TEC mira alla costruzione di un sistema per aggregare metadati che descrivano le risorse educative digitali nel campo della Formazione Docenti in E...

Teacher Education (TE) is a dynamic, lifelong process that needs to fully embrace innovation and assume a broader European perspective. The EC-funded Share.TEC project aims to provide enhanced, culturally-aware access to TE-related resources across Europe by means of a federated resource brokerage system whose semantic core is the proposed Teacher...

Pilot actions for introducing ICT-based innovation in school education generally involve a multitude of elements and a range of different actors. Accounting for and grasping this complexity calls for systematic pedagogical planning efforts that provide a solid basis for accommodating the different perspectives, for analysing the factors at play and...

Teacher Education (TE) is a dynamic, lifelong and lifewide learning process that is central to Europe's Lisbon Strategy ambitions. To fulfil these expectations, however, TE needs to embrace innovation more fully and assume a broader European perspective. The EC-funded Share.TEC project aims to help achieve this by providing enhanced, culturally-awa...

The paper addresses the issue of school inclusion, focusing on the strong potential that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) offer to all students, including those who, for a variety of reasons, cannot regularly attend classes and/or cannot access and use mainstream educational tools. An explanation of the basic concepts underpinning t...

This research report describes and analyses a set of case studies of Narrative Learning Environments. It also provides a summary with the classification of each application according to four dimensions (knowledge domain, role of the user towards the story, learning approach and technological means).

This paper examines how the idea of pedagogical planning has evolved, both in form and practice, within the research work in educational technology that we have been carrying out over recent years. Specifically, it investigates two initiatives in the field of teachers' professional development in ICT, and another undertaken as part of European rese...