Richard Joiner

Savannah: mobile gaming and learning?

This paper reports a study that attempts to explore how using mobile technologies in direct physical interaction with space and with other players can be combined with principles of engagement and self-motivation to create a powerful and engaging learning experience. We developed a mobile gaming experience designed to encourage the development of childrens conceptual understanding of animal behaviour. Ten children (five boys and five girls) aged between 11 and 12 years played and explored the game. The findings from this study offer interesting insights into the extent to which mobile gaming might be employed as a tool for supporting learning. It also highlights a number of major challenges that this format raises for the organisation of learning within schools and the design of such resources.

Savannah: experiential learning through mobile gaming

This paper reports a study that attempts to explore how using mobile technologies in direct physical interaction with space and with other players can be combined with principles of engagement and self-motivation to create a powerful and engaging learning experience. We developed a mobile gaming experience designed to encourage the development of childrens conceptual understanding of animal behaviour. Ten children (five boys and five girls) aged between 11 and 12 years played and explored the game. The findings from this study offer interesting insights into the extent to which mobile gaming might be employed as a tool for supporting learning. It also highlights a number of major challenges that this format raises for the organisation of learning within schools and the design of such resources.

Social and communicative processes in computer-based problem solving

This paper overviews the results of four studies designed to investigate the effects of collaborative modes of computer use upon childrens performance and learning. All used the same type of problem solving task, couched within an adventure game format. The first of these studies provides a striking illustration of how children who work in pairs on a route planning task can show better learning outcomes than children who work on the same problem individually. The possible psychological processes mediating this effect are considered. The second study extends this consideration further and seeks to identify those aspects of verbal interaction that underpin productive paired interaction. The third study includes consideration of the efficacy of pairing as a function of the relative ability of pair members. The fourth study focuses upon the effects of working in the presence of others, even in the absence of interaction. Taken together, the results of the third and fourth studies highlight the importance of paying closer attention to the ways in which children construe the particular experimental conditions we create and their own position in relation to them.

The relationship between Internet identification, Internet anxiety and Internet use

This paper reports a study investigating the relationship between Internet identification, Internet anxiety and Internet use. The participants were 446 students (319 females and 127 males) from two universities in the UK and one university in Australia. Measures of Internet identification and Internet anxiety were developed. The majority of participants were NOT anxious about using the Internet, although there were approximately 8% who showed evidence of Internet anxiety. There was a significant and negative relationship between Internet anxiety and Internet use. Those who were more anxious about using the Internet used the Internet less, although the magnitude of effect was small. There was a positive and significant relationship between Internet use and Internet identification. Those who scored high on the measure of Internet identification used the Internet more than those who did not. There was also a significant and negative relationship between Internet anxiety and Internet identification. Finally, males had a significantly higher Internet identification score than females. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Designing educational experiences using ubiquitous technology

The aim of the study was to explore the design of situated educational and compelling experiences using SoundScape technology - which is a ubiquitous technology. Two experiences were designed: one that had a goal and the other that did not. Twenty six children then explored both experiences. The children found that the SoundScape with a goal was more interesting and were more likely to want to have another go than the non-goal version. They also made more positive comments concerning the goal version. Mentioning the presence of a goal as important factor in determining why they liked the game. More negative comments were made concerning the non-goal version and the children mentioned the lack of a goal as negative aspect of the non-goal version. One improvement they suggested for the non-goal version was to add a goal and to include more sensory stimulation. They overwhelmingly preferred the goal version compared to the non-goal version and when asked by far the most popular reason was the presence of a goal.

Gender, Internet Experience, Internet Identification, and Internet Anxiety: A Ten-Year Followup

In 2002, we found gender differences in the use of the Internet. Since then, however, the Internet has changed considerably. We therefore conducted a follow-up study in 2012. The study involved 501 students (389 females and 100 males, 12 participants unspecified gender) and we measured Internet use, Internet anxiety, and Internet identification. We found that males had a greater breadth of Internet use; they used the Internet more for games and entertainment than females. The differentiation between males and females in terms of Internet use is evident, and in some ways is even more distinct than 10 years ago. In our previous research we had found no gender differences in the use of the Internet for communication, whereas in the current study we have found that females use the Internet for communication than males and were using social network sites more than males. We also found, consistent with our previous study, that Internet identification and Internet anxiety were related to Internet use.

Gender and social comparison effects in computer-based problem solving

Gender differences in relation to school childrens learning with computers are frequently attributed to a tendency for boys to dominate computer resources in mixed sex settings. However, the evidence relating to childrens performance with computers in mixed sex groups is conflicting. This paper reports two experimental studies in which 11- to 12-year-olds worked on a computer-based problem solving task. In the first, 62 children worked in either same or mixed sex dyads, but each child had her or his own computer, and no verbal interaction was allowed. Boys out-performed girls overall, with sex differences becoming significantly more polarised in the mixed sex dyads. The second study involved 96 children, with individual pre- and post-tests, and compared co-action dyads (as in the first study) with interaction pairs, in which the pair members worked together at a single computer, with no restriction on interaction. The polarisation of sex differences in the mixed sex dyads was once again found in the co-action condition, but not in the interaction condition. Results are interpreted in terms of processes of social comparison, which appear to be more potent in this situation than any straightforward domination of resources.

Constantly connected - The effects of smart-devices on mental health

A number of studies have demonstrated the mental health implications of excessive Internet-browsing, gaming, texting, emailing, social networking, and phone calling. However, no study to date has investigated the impact of being able to conduct all of these activities on one device. A smart-device (i.e., smart-phone or tablet) allows these activities to be conducted anytime and anywhere, with unknown mental health repercussions. This study investigated the association between smart-device use, smart-device involvement and mental health. Two-hundred and seventy-four participants completed an online survey comprising demographic questions, questions concerning smart-device use, the Mobile Phone Involvement Questionnaire, the Internet Addiction Test and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales. Higher smart-device involvement was significantly associated with higher levels of depression and stress but not anxiety. However, smart-device use was not significantly associated with depression, anxiety or stress. These findings suggest that it is the nature of the relationship a person has with their smart-device that is predictive of depression and stress, rather than the extent of use.

The typical student as an in-group member : eliminating optimistic bias by reducing social distance

While demonstrations of optimistic bias are plentiful, successful attempts at eliminating the bias (debiasing) are rare. The current study attempted to debias by reducing the perceived social distance between the self and the typical own university student. Using self-categorisation theory, it was predicted that rating the out-group target (the typical student at another university) before the in-group one would reduce the perceived social distance between the self and the latter and lead to a reduction in optimistic bias. Both predictions were supported, with optimistic bias being eliminated for negative events and attenuated for positive events. In the standard optimistic bias condition (in-group first) optimistic bias was obtained for both negative and positive events. The findings provide support for perceived social distance in determining optimistic bias. The implications for recent arguments that comparisons with an abstract target automatically evoke an ‘I am better than average’ heuristic or necessarily entail the use of distributional judgmental frameworks are explored. Whilst the automatic linking of abstract targets with heuristic or distributional thinking is called into question, a case is made for integrating these ideas with the self-categorisation approach. Where practitioners aim to reduce optimistic bias, the findings suggest promoting the perception of the target as a fellow in-group member may help do so. Copyright

Gender, Task Scenarios and Children's Computer‐based Problem Solving

Abstract Gender differences in response to computers have been widely reported. This paper addresses the question of how far superficial aspects of the software in use can affect the performance of girls and boys on computer‐based problem‐solving tasks. A first study compared girls’ and boys’ performance on two versions of a route‐planning task which differed in terms of the scenario within which the task was framed. The participants were 52 11‐ and 12‐year‐olds. There was a significant gender by software interaction, the girls’ performance being markedly influenced by which version of the software they encountered. Following refinement of the software to tighten the comparison still further, a replication study was conducted with another 48 children of similar age, and the same result was obtained. The findings suggest that gender differences in childrens responses to computers are relatively labile and highly context sensitive. Implications and possible explanations for these findings are discussed.