On Strategies of Educational Innovation: Between Substitution and Transformation

Wim Westera

Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education and Educational Planning Vol. 47, No. 4 (June 2004) pp. 501–517

The innovation of education seems to be self-evident. Boosted by a wide range of new technologies, educational institutes all over the world are innovating their educational systems, in order to extend their services, to improve their performances...

On the Changing Nature of Learning Context: Anticipating the Virtual Extensions of the World

Wim Westera

Educational Technology & Society Vol. 14, No. 2 (2011) pp. 201–212

Contextual learning starts from the premise that learning cannot take place in a vacuum, but should somehow be connected with real world attributes to make sense to learners. Today, digital media tend to bring about new dimensions of context:...

Beyond Functionality and Technocracy: Creating Human Involvement with Educational Technology

Wim Westera

Journal of Educational Technology & Society Vol. 8, No. 1 (2005) pp. 28–37

Innovation of education is highly topical. It is obviously boosted by a range of new technologies, which enable new modes of learning that, are independent of time and place through Web-based delivery and computer-mediated communication. However,...

Performance Assessment in Serious Games: Compensating for the Effects of Randomness

Wim Westera

Education and Information Technologies Vol. 21, No. 3 (2016) pp. 681–697

This paper is about performance assessment in serious games. We conceive serious gaming as a process of player-lead decision taking. Starting from combinatorics and item-response theory we provide an analytical model that makes explicit to what...

Simulating Serious Games: A Discrete-Time Computational Model Based on Cognitive Flow Theory

Wim Westera

Interactive Learning Environments Vol. 26, No. 4 (2018) pp. 539–552

This paper presents a computational model for simulating how people learn from serious games. While avoiding the combinatorial explosion of a games micro-states, the model offers a meso-level pathfinding approach, which is guided by cognitive flow...

Structured Reflection Breaks Embedded in an Online Course--Effects on Learning Experience, Time on Task and Performance

Dominique Verpoorten; Wim Westera

Interactive Learning Environments Vol. 24, No. 3 (2016) pp. 606–624

The purpose of this article is to gain an insight into the effects of practicing short, frequent, and structured reflection breaks interspersed with the learning material in a computer-based course. To that end, the study sets up a standardized...

Introducing Serious Games with Wikis: Empowering the Teacher with Simple Technologies

Peter van Rosmalen; Wim Westera

Interactive Learning Environments Vol. 22, No. 5 (2014) pp. 564–577

Despite the continuous and abundant growth of the game market the uptake of games in education has been hampered by the general impression that games require complex technologies and that games are difficult to organise and to embed in education...

Towards Real-Time Speech Emotion Recognition for Affective E-Learning

Kiavash Bahreini; Rob Nadolski; Wim Westera

Education and Information Technologies Vol. 21, No. 5 (2016) pp. 1367–1386

This paper presents the voice emotion recognition part of the FILTWAM framework for real-time emotion recognition in affective e-learning settings. FILTWAM (Framework for Improving Learning Through Webcams And Microphones) intends to offer timely...

Towards Multimodal Emotion Recognition in E-Learning Environments

Kiavash Bahreini; Rob Nadolski; Wim Westera

Interactive Learning Environments Vol. 24, No. 3 (2016) pp. 590–605

This paper presents a framework (FILTWAM (Framework for Improving Learning Through Webcams And Microphones)) for real-time emotion recognition in e-learning by using webcams. FILTWAM offers timely and relevant feedback based upon learner's facial...

Self-Arrangement of Fleeting Student Pairs: A Web 2.0 Approach for Peer Tutoring

Wim Westera; Gijs de Bakker; Leo Wagemans

Interactive Learning Environments Vol. 17, No. 4 (December 2009) pp. 341–349

This article presents a Web 2.0 approach for the arrangement of peer tutoring in online learning. In online learning environments, the learners' expectations of obtaining frequent, one-to-one support from their teachers tend to increase the teachers'...

Reflection amplifiers in online courses: a classification framework

Dominique Verpoorten; Wim Westera; Marcus Specht

Journal of Interactive Learning Research Vol. 22, No. 2 (2011) pp. 167–190

This paper provides a theoretical framework for "reflection amplifiers" that are used in online courses. Such reflection amplifiers are intervention techniques that aim at provoking reflective practices in learning, in order to enhance the quality...

Topics: eLearning, Schools, Learning Outcomes, Teaching Methods, Interaction, Distance Education, Multimedia

Communication Skills Training Exploiting Multimodal Emotion Recognition

Kiavash Bahreini; Rob Nadolski; Wim Westera

Interactive Learning Environments Vol. 25, No. 8 (2017) pp. 1065–1082

The teaching of communication skills is a labour-intensive task because of the detailed feedback that should be given to learners during their prolonged practice. This study investigates to what extent our FILTWAM facial and vocal emotion...

Strategic Alliances in Education: The Knowledge Engineering Web

Wim Westera; Jaap van den Herik; Evert van de Vrie

Innovations in Education and Teaching International Vol. 41, No. 3 (Aug 01, 2004) pp. 317–328

The field of higher education shows a jumble of alliances between fellow institutes. The alliances are strategic in kind and serve an economy-of-scales concept. A large scale is a prerequisite for allocating the budgets for new educational methods...

Achieving E-learning with IMS Learning Design--Workflow Implications at the Open University of the Netherlands

Wim Westera; Francis Brouns; Kees Pannekeet; Jose Janssen; Jocelyn Manderveld

Educational Technology & Society Vol. 8, No. 3 (2005) pp. 216–225

This paper uses the Open University of the Netherlands as an instructive case for the introduction of e-learning based on the IMS Learning Design specification (IMS LD). The IMS LD specification, as approved by the IMS Global Learning Consortium in...

The Design of the Virtual Company: Synergism of Learning and Working in a Networked Environment

Wim Westera; Peter B. Sloep; Jack F. Gerrissen

Innovations in Education and Training International Vol. 37, No. 1 (2000) pp. 23–33

Describes the Virtual Company, a learning environment developed by the Open University (Netherlands) that is modeled after real companies to bridge the gap between learning and working by situating learning in a real-life business setting. Discusses ...

Collaboration Scripts for Mastership Skills: Online Game about Classroom Dilemmas in Teacher Education

Hans Hummel; Walter Geerts; Aad Slootmaker; Derek Kuipers; Wim Westera

Interactive Learning Environments Vol. 23, No. 6 (2015) pp. 670–682

Serious games are seen to hold potential to facilitate workplace learning in a more dynamic and flexible way. This article describes an empirical study into the feasibility of an online collaboration game that facilitates teachers-in-training to...

A Quest for Meta-Learning Gains in a Physics Serious Game

Dominique Verpoorten; Jean-Loup Castaigne; Wim Westera; Marcus Specht

Education and Information Technologies Vol. 19, No. 2 (June 2014) pp. 361–374

This paper describes how a short, repeated and structured opportunity to reflect was integrated in the storyline of a serious game in order to stimulate the development of a meta-cognitive skill: the ability to self-assess the degree of confidence...

Automated essay scoring in applied games: Reducing the teacher bandwidth problem in online training

Wim Westera; Mihai Dascalu; Hub Kurvers; Stefan Ruseti; Stefan Trausan-Matu

Computers & Education Vol. 123, No. 1 (August 2018) pp. 212–224

This paper presents a methodology for applying automated essay scoring in educational settings. The methodology was tested and validated on a dataset of 173 reports (in Dutch language) that students have created in an applied game on environmental...

Language: English

Students' attitudes toward playing games and using games in education: Comparing Scotland and the Netherlands

Thomas Hainey; Wim Westera; Thomas M. Connolly; Liz Boyle; Gavin Baxter; Richard B. Beeby; Mario Soflano

Computers & Education Vol. 69, No. 1 (November 2013) pp. 474–484

Games-based learning has captured the interest of educationalists and industrialists who seek to exploit the characteristics of computer games as they are perceived by some to be a potentially effective approach for teaching and learning. Despite...

Language: English