Design Of Educational Software Research Articles

Design specifications and capabilities of a 3D simulation software for clinical education of physiotherapy students in the neurology department.

In this revolutionized era, thanks to cutting-edge technological breakthroughs like 3-dimensional (3D) computerized environments, physiotherapy trainers can improve their knowledge and confidence by using such training tools. Hence, there is room for developing these technologies for training medical students to expand their skills and expertise. This study aims to identify the design requirements and key functionalities of a 3D simulation software for the clinical education of physiotherapy students in neurology departments. First, by carefully reviewing neurological books, scientific articles, curriculum, and medical records, and consulting with experts, a scenario was compiled. In the next step, a researcher-developed questionnaire was designed. Then, experts' opinions were considered to confirm the validity and reliability of the questionnaire. The designed questionnaire was distributed among several neurological physiotherapists. Finally, the information elements, contents, and functional capabilities of the 3D software were determined by analyzing the data obtained from the questionnaire. The main components for the design of physiotherapy educational software were identified based on the findings of the literature review, curriculum analysis, and medical record review. A survey of physiotherapy professors was conducted using a questionnaire created by the researcher in order to enhance the capabilities of simulation software and ascertain its primary functions. Following an analysis of the data from the distributed questionnaire, 37 essential features and contents have been proven to be more crucial than the rest for the creation of 3D simulation software. As a result, the essential and fundamental needs for the patient's training in reading their medical records and performing muscle strength assessments were recognized and extracted. Based on these findings, a researcher-developed scenario for the various real cases was then established. In the patient's medical record reading scenario, the student is required to read the patient's record in text format. Similarly, in the section on cranial nerves, pictures are utilised to reinforce the student's assessment skills in addition to textual content. Together with the audio and pop-up texts, the simulated 3D environment also offers training for the assessment of muscle strength. As an educational tool, this software can enhance students' learning and assist in addressing the drawbacks of conventional teaching methods like lectures and hospital visits.

Design and development of educational software on the principles and methods of protection against dental radiographic radiation and its effect on the learning rate of dental students

Design and development of educational software on the principles and methods of protection against dental radiographic radiation and its effect on the learning rate of dental students

User satisfaction evaluation of an educational distance-learning platform with MUSA methodology

The purpose of this study was to provide an exhaustive analysis of user satisfaction regarding Moodle, an online educational platform, employing an innovative approach through Multicriteria Satisfaction Analysis (MUSA). Contrary to the traditional methods of assessing parameters like Ease of Use and Effectiveness, our study considered unique criteria including Technical Dimension, Possibilities of Teachers/Participants, Pedagogical Dimension, and Automated Functions. The distinctiveness of our approach was amplified by the application of MUSA for criteria weight selection, deviating from the conventional Pairwise Comparison methodology and its reliance on extensive questionnaire administration. Our methodology encompassed the distribution of online questionnaires via Google Forms to a sample of 100 participants from Greece, focusing on the bespoke criteria to derive a holistic perspective of user satisfaction. The MUSA algorithm was instrumental in not only delineating the analytical satisfaction evaluation but also in formulating a structured improvement action plan for the educational platform. A noticeable variance in criteria weight selection was observed when juxtaposing the MUSA algorithm and the traditional Pairwise Comparison methodology, underscoring the precision and reliability of our approach. The findings emanating from the application of MUSA underscore its potential as a pivotal tool in enhancing the quality and user satisfaction of educational platforms. Practical implications of the study are profound for software developers and educational institutions alike. The integration of MUSA into the design and evaluation process of educational software promises a pathway to incessant refinement, aligning with the dynamic needs of educators and learners, thereby elevating the educational experience to unprecedented heights.

Design and Validation of Software for the Training and Automatic Evaluation of Music Intonation on Non-Fixed Pitch Instruments for Novice Students

Music education, whether professional or amateur, includes learning musical instruments. Intonation is a critical factor in their training. The main objective of this research work is the design and validation of online educational software for the real-time training and evaluation of intonation in non-fixed pitch musical instruments, such as fretted string instruments (violin, viola, and cello) and brass instruments (trumpet, horn, and trombone). This software is intended to create a practice artefact for novice music students. A design sciences research methodology is adopted to achieve a product tested for functionality and usability. Novice students carry out the validation phase through a study consisting of previous practice with the software and the administration of a questionnaire with open-ended items grouped in technical-didactic, emotional, and overall dimensions, plus two additional questions. The results show evidence that the software was well received, confirming previous studies on the design and validation of educational music education software.

Iranian Arabic teachers’ perception of applying educational software

Educational technology with its wide variety of usage has assisted teachers and learners to learn from the material which has been produced and reviewed by experts. However, the question may come to mind concerning the number of teachers applying such productions, how they perceive such productions, and if they use them, for what purpose they use them. This study was designed to investigate the Iranian Arabic teachers’ perception of applying educational software. To find the answer to these questions, the researchers have developed a survey and interview with 29 Arabic teachers in Ahar. The results from the interview and survey indicated that more than half of the teachers apply such productions for teaching grammar and pronunciation more than other skills and sections of the book. However, they also believe that not all parts of the available software are adequate for usage. Thus, the findings of the present study might be useful for Arabic language supervisor teachers and educational software designers, to improve the quality of the software and also to motivate the teachers to use them in their classrooms. 
 Keywords: Arabic language; educational software; foreign language.

User-Centered Software Design: User Interface Redesign for Blockly–Electron, Artificial Intelligence Educational Software for Primary and Secondary Schools

According to the 2021 and 2022 Horizon Report, AI is emerging in all areas of education, in various forms of educational aids with various applications, and is carving out a similarly ubiquitous presence across campuses and classrooms. This study explores a user-centered approach used in the design of the AI educational software by taking the redesign of the user interface of AI educational software Blockly–Electron as an example. Moreover, by analyzing the relationship between the four variables of software usability, the abstract usability is further certified so as to provide ideas for future improvements to the usability of AI educational software. User-centered design methods and attribution analysis are the main research methods used in this study. The user-centered approach was structured around four phases. Overall, seventy-three middle school students and five teachers participated in the study. The USE scale will be used to measure the usability of Blockly–Electron. Five design deliverables and an attribution model were created and discovered in the linear relationship between Ease of Learning, Ease of Use, Usefulness and Satisfaction, and Ease of use as a mediator variable, which is significantly different from the results of previous regression analysis for the USE scale. This study provides a structural user-centered design methodology with quantitative research. The deliverables and the attribution model can be used in the AI educational software design. Furthermore, this study found that usefulness and ease of learning significantly affect the ease of use, and ease of use significantly affects satisfaction. Based on this, the usability will be further concretized to facilitate the production of software with greater usability.

The impact of employing technology in the achievement of the tenth grade students in the national and civil education curriculum developed in the capital city of Amman: أثر توظيف التكنولوجيا في تحصيل طلاب الصف العاشر الأساسي في مبحث التربية الوطنية والمدنية المطوّر في محافظة العاصمة عمّان

This study aimed to identify the impact of technology utilization on the achievement of the tenth grade students in the field of national and civil education. The study sample consisted of (140) students from two main schools in the university's university. The control and experimental groups were selected randomly, And the study used the experimental method, where the first group was taught using technology as experimental, and the second group of the same material was taught in the traditional way as the control during the first semester of the school year 2018/2019, To achieve the objectives of the study, the achievement test was constructed. The results of the study showed that there were statistically significant differences between the experimental group and the control group and for the benefit of the experimental group. The results also showed no statistically significant differences due to sex. Therefore, the researcher recommends the need to generalize the experience of employing technology in schools and diversify in the use of teaching strategies, and emphasizes the need to train teachers in the design and use of educational software and modern techniques in the teaching method to achieve the maximum amount of learning and effective education.

Revisiting variation affordance: applying variation theory in the design of educational software

ABSTRACT Variation theory, which is a theory of learning developed by Marton and others, has quickly become popular in education research. Our purpose of this paper is to articulate the application of variation theory in the form of a number of concrete design principles that offer prescriptive and practical guidelines for improving the designs of educational software programs. To achieve this, we analyzed a wide range of educational software programs produced over the years in our previous projects for learning Chinese characters. From this analysis, we identified four design principles, namely, (i) not aiming to test but to bring about learning, (ii) focusing on a specific object of learning, (iii) allowing learners to explore variation to be learned, and (iv) keeping all other aspects invariant. These design principles are specialized for designing how learners interact with educational software programs, which is the major practical contribution of this paper.

Machine behaviourism: future visions of ‘learnification’ and ‘datafication’ across humans and digital technologies

ABSTRACTThis paper examines visions of ‘learning’ across humans and machines in a near-future of intensive data analytics. Building upon the concept of ‘learnification’, practices of ‘learning’ in emerging big data-driven environments are discussed in two significant ways: the training of machines, and the nudging of human decisions through digital choice architectures. Firstly, ‘machine learning’ is discussed as an important example of how data-driven technologies are beginning to influence educational activity, both through sophisticated technical expertise and a grounding in behavioural psychology. Secondly, we explore how educational software design informed by behavioural economics is increasingly intended to frame learner choices to influence and ‘nudge’ decisions towards optimal outcomes. Through the growing influence of ‘data science’ on education, behaviourist psychology is increasingly and powerfully invested in future educational practices. Finally, it is argued that future education may tend toward very specific forms of behavioural governance – a ‘machine behaviourism’ – entailing combinations of radical behaviourist theories and machine learning systems, that appear to work against notions of student autonomy and participation, seeking to intervene in educational conduct and shaping learner behaviour towards predefined aims.

فاعلية استخدام برنامج وسائط متعددة على التحصيل في مقرر الحاسب الآلي لدي طلاب الصف الثالث متوسط بمدارس محافظة القرى.

هدفت الدراسة لمعرفة فاعلية استخدام برنامج وسائط متعددة على التحصيل والتفکير الابتکاري لطلاب الصف الثالث متوسط في مقرر الحاسب الآلي بمدارس محافظة القرى. تم استخدام التصميم شبه تجريبي .تکونت عينة الدراسة من (41) طالب موزعه على مجموعتين، تجريبية( 20) طالب، وضابطة(21) طالب. تألفت أدوات الدراسة من اختبار تحصيلي، واختبار تورانس للتفکير الابتکاري . وللتحقق من صحة فروض الدراسة ، تم استخدام : اختبار(ت) (t-test) للعينات المستقلة، ومعادلة مربع إيتا (n2) لقياس حجم الأثر. وکانت نتائج الدراسة: توجد فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية عند مستوى الدلالة (α≤ 0.05) بين متوسطي درجات المجموعتين في القياس البعدي للاختبارين الابتکاري والتحصيلي لصالح المجموعة التجريبية. وأوصت الدراسة بضرورة تبني فکرة استخدام الوسائط المتعددة في التعليم بشکل عام ، وتصميم برمجيات تعليمية لجميع وحدات کتاب الحاسب الآلي. The aim of the study was to find out the effectiveness of using a multimedia program on the achievement and creative thinking of the average third grade students in the computer curriculum in the villages' villages schools. The design was used semi-experimental. The study sample consisted of (41) students distributed in two groups, experimental (20) students, and control (21) students. The tools of the study consisted of an achievement test and the Torrance test of innovative thinking.To verify the validity of the hypotheses, a t-test was used for the independent samples, and an ETA (n2) is measured to measure the effect size.The results of the study were:There were between statistically significant differences at the level )α≤ 0.05)) the mean scores of the two groups in the post-measurement of the creative and experimental tests in favor of the experimental group.The study recommend the adoption of the idea of ​​using multimedia in education in general, and the design of educational software for all units of the computer book.

The Personalized Computer Support of Teaching

In comparison with the traditional learning, the computer support of collaborative teaching represents a combination of didactics and informatics approaches. This requires researchers to solve an additional design of specific edu-cational software and suitable ICT infrastructure. This contribution describes a continuous progress under the umbrella of the research on technology-enhanced learning; and how the ICT integration is modelled for the collaborative teaching and appropriated activities when using an in-house educational beta-software BIKE(E)/WPad. The practical experiences are demonstrated with some examples of how it is applied within the teaching bachelors students and from the related research on computer support from a teacher point of view.

Developing Multi-Disciplinary Skills through a Course in Educational Software Design

This design case covers a graduate course in educational software design that focuses on semester-long projects in response to client requests. The course was intended to address the need for professionals across disciplines, such as instructional design, computer science, and human-computer interaction design, to usefully collaborate on educational software projects. The ability to work on a multi-disciplinary team was fostered in several ways: through recruiting students across multiple majors; providing readings and student presentation topics related to language, processes, and techniques used by each discipline; and by scaffolding the work of multi-disciplinary student groups in a major semester-long project.

Diseño de software interactivo en las matemáticas

El propósito de esta investigación fue crear un Software Educativo que permita la integración del uso de las matemáticas al Aprendizaje Significativo. La investigación está marcada en documental y campo. El método utilizado fue el estudio de casos. El procedimiento que se llevó a cabo en esta investigación se dividió en tres fases: (a) Análisis, se investigaron y analizaron las teorías, estrategias y etapas que existen para el desarrollo de software educativo. (b) Diseño del Software Educativo, se planteó la incorporación del computador como instrumento para el aprendizaje de la informática a través del software educativo. (c) Implantación y evaluación. Las técnicas e instrumentos utilizados para recolección de datos fueron la entrevista semiestructuradas, la observación participativa y las evidencias documentales. Los resultados que se obtuvieron permitieron verificar la factibilidad que tuvo el software educativo en el Aprendizaje Significativo de las matemáticas.

A Design Model for Educational Multimedia Software

The design and implementation of educational software call into play two well established domains: software engineering and education. Both fields attain concrete results and are capable of making predictions in the respective spheres of action. However, at the intersection, the reports about the development of computer games and other educational software reiterate similar difficulties and an embarrassing degree of empiricism. This study aims to bring a contribution, presenting a model for the conception of educational multimedia software by multidisciplinary teams. It joins three elements: Ausubel’s theory of meaningful learning; the theory of multimedia from Mayer; and the study of software ergonomics. The structure proposed here emerged from a theoretical study with the concurrent development of software. Observations gathered in a small scale test confirmed the expected design issues and the support provided by the model. Limitations and possible directions of study are discussed.

Modular Design of Flash-Based Educational Software

In order to resolve the problems of inefficiency and difficulty in educational software development, a new idea of modular method based on Flash technology is proposed in this paper. Under the guidance of advanced education, educational software constitutes are decomposed, the different module types are analyzed, learning modules are built by using Flash layer, different learning modules are integrated through a control module. It is indicated through practice that our method can greatly improve the efficiency of educational software development.

A case study on the design of learning interfaces

The design of educational software interfaces is a complex task, given its high domain dependency and multidisciplinary nature. It requires that teachers’ knowledge and pedagogical beliefs be incorporated into the interface, posing a challenge to both teachers and designers, as they have to act as partners from the earliest phases of the process, sharing their knowledge. The present work investigates the strategies designers used when paired with experienced teachers, to design two interfaces on chemistry, evaluating how designers work with subjects they know little about, in the initial phases of the design process. Our observations demonstrate that although experienced and non-experienced designers use different strategies to couple with the design task, both approached the task in a depth-first manner. These results should not be generalized, because few subjects were investigated, but point to the importance of being familiar with the knowledge domain – which poses a challenge for designers. ► The experienced designer used the approach “integrate as fast as you can”. ► The inexperienced designer used the approach “structure then design”. ► Both can be classified as depth-first strategies. ► Our result does not match Goel’s, probably because the domain was unfamiliar.

NOTE FOR EDITOR: Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Achievement Motivation And Gender As Related To Educational Software Development

This study aims to investigate preservice computer teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and achievement motivation levels for educational software development before and after the “Educational Software Design, Development and Evaluation (ESDDE)” course. A pretest and post test design without a control group was employed. In 2008, 46 senior students (25 male and 21 female) who were enrolled at Computer Education and Instructional Technology department participated in this study. The data were collected by the scale of self-efficacy beliefs towards Educational Software Development (ESD), achievement motivation scale besides student demographics form. Positively, the results revealed that the students’ self efficacy beliefs towards educational software development significantly improved after ESDDE course. Before the course, the students’ self-efficacy beliefs were significantly different according to perceived level of programming competency and gender in favor of male, however after the course there was no significant difference in self-efficacy beliefs regarding gender and perceived level of programming competency. Hence, achievement motivation levels after the course were significantly higher than before while gender and perceived level of programming competency had no significant effect on achievement motivation for ESD. The study is considered to contribute studies investigating gender and computer related self efficacy beliefs in IT education.

Motivating PAU language testing candidates through mobile technology

Mobile learning permits combining the most motivating elements of online learning. When becoming a supplement to face-to-face education, it is likely to become a most motivating achievement in e-learning. Up to now, little interest and work has been posed in proposing mobile learning as a supporting element for language testing. In this paper, we introduce the concept of motivation for language testing through mobile telephone technology. The purpose of this study was to explore the acceptance of objective tasks by PAU candidates in an academic context.24 students in a blended enrolled in the last high school year took a test through a mobile telephone simulator and responded to a questionnaire. Results indicate that students were genuinely interested and motivated towards independent autonomous training through mobile technology. The implications are both attractive for the different stakeholders and the educational software designers.

Fictional characters in participatory design sessions: Introducing the “design alter egos” technique

In recent years, the discourse concerning the relationship between narrative theory – storytelling in general – interactivity, and design is undeniably noteworthy. A significant part of this discourse concerns the use of fictional characters in design. Fictional characters have been used as user representatives, either substituting actual users or supporting idea generation, and their foremost objective is to facilitate the identification of user needs and goals and to support the development of detailed and comprehensive scenarios. Motivated by the aforementioned ongoing discourse and inspired by relevant approaches in the use of fictional characters in design, we aim to investigate the applicability and effectiveness of their use as a creative technique in participatory design sessions. We present a novel approach to using fictional characters in collaborative design of educational software with students, one that asks the participants for the formation and use of their own fictional characters – we introduce the term “design alter egos” – as a means to eliciting requirements and design ideas. In order to evaluate our approach, we conducted 20 collaborative design sessions with the participation of 94 undergraduate university students (aged 19–24) for eliciting requirements for the design of an ideal course website. The analysis of the results suggests that the design alter egos technique liberated the majority of the students from the fear of straightforwardly exposing themselves, supported and enhanced their introspection, stimulated their creativity, and helped to establish an informal and constructive atmosphere throughout the design sessions. We suggest the use of design alter egos as an engaging and effective supportive technique for co-designing educational software with students.

Would boys and girls benefit from gender-specific educational software?

Most boys and girls interact differently with educational software and have different preferences for the design of educational software. The question is whether the usage of educational software has the same consequences for both genders. This paper investigates the characteristics of drill-and-practice programmes or drills that are efficient for boys and girls. The experiment was carried out in order to find out the characteristics of drills that have statistically significant correlations with the learning outcome of boys and girls. The findings about statistically significant gender differences will be discussed. The paper concludes with some recommendations for composing drills appropriate for both genders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]