SLERD 2024: Keynotes

Élise Lavoué (Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University)

TAILORED GAMIFICATION FOR LEARNER ENGAGEMENT AND MOTIVATION

Abstract
Gamification is the use of game elements in non-game contexts to motivate and engage users in an activity. Used in many fields such as sport, health and education, this approach today shows its limits when it is not adapted to users and their context. The presentation will cover a new approach to tailoring game elements to learners’ needs and preferences, and the results of several studies carried out in different contexts. We will also introduce an approach to analyzing different types of engaged behaviors based on learners’ interactions with the gamified digital learning environment and their evolution over time. The presentation will conclude with suggestions for research avenues to answer the challenges in this emerging field.

Bio
Élise Lavoué is a Full Professor of computer Science at the iaelyon School of Management, Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University, in France and head of the Situated Interaction, Collaboration, Adaptation, and Learning (SICAL) research group within the LIRIS lab. In 2016, she was a visiting professor at McGill University (ATLAS lab) for 8 months, before defending her Habiliation (HDR) the same year. Her research interests include motivational techniques, adaptive gamification, user engagement and learning analytics, and span the fields of technology-enhanced learning and human-computer interaction. She has authored or co-authored over 110 publications and coordinated several national projects in these areas. Editor-in-Chief of the STICEF journal since January 2021, she is currently in charge of the Special Group of Interest (SIG) in the European Association of Technology-Enhanced Learning (EATEL) association. She has served as general co-chair (CSCL’19), organizing chair (EC-TEL’16), program committee co-chair (EC-TEL’17, IHM 2018), full paper Associate Chair (ACM CHI PLAY 2022, ACM CHI 2023) and program committee member for the EC-TEL, CSCL, EDM, AIED, LAK and L@S international conferences.

 

Carmel Cefai (University of Malta)

A SYSTEMIC, WHOLE-SCHOOL APPROACH TO WELL-BEING

Abstract
Twenty-first-century education needs to go beyond narrow sectoral goals such as academic achievement and contribute actively towards the health and wellbeing of children and young people, whose mental health needs are becoming more evident and demanding. The presentation starts with a research-informed framework on how well-being and mental health in schools may be promoted through a systemic, whole-school approach, with illustrations of how this may be implemented in the curriculum, the classroom context and the whole-school ecology. The presentation concludes with various recommendations on the effective implementation of the framework in schools.

Bio
Carmel Cefai PhD, FBPS, is the Director of the Centre for Resilience and Socio-Emotional Health, and Professor at the Department of Psychology, at the University of Malta. He is Honorary Chair of the European Network for Social and Emotional Competence, joint founding editor of the International Journal of Emotional Education, and member of the European Commission Network of Experts on Social Aspects of Education and Training. He has published extensively with numerous books, research reports, journal papers and book chapters and led various collaborative projects on the mental health, wellbeing and resilience of school children

 

Isabella Chiodi (ISF)

PROJECT ITac@ – IT ACADEMY FOR WOMEN 18-50 : challenges and preliminary results 

The project is aimed at helping unemployed women to  increase employment opportunities or working women, whose skills are becoming obsolete, to mitigate risks of being fired. A staged approach has been adopted to  supports beneficiaries to develop IT and soft competencies, in line with the market demand, to assess individual attitudes and preferences regarding job’s type (job orientation), to trigger a job search phase by engaging an enterprise’s network.
The project is financed by Fondo Repubblica Digitale Italiana*, and covers the entire cycle including IT and soft skills assessment, development by professional training, preparation to job interviews, enterprises engagement.
Presentation will focus on aspects managed during the design phase, key risks identification, teaching methods, and last but not least the challenges faced to work in partnerships profit and not-profit organizations.

*Digital Republic is the national strategic initiative coordinated by the Department for digital transformation of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Italy. It aims to reduce the digital divide and promote education on future technologies, supporting the country’s development process.

Bio
Isabella Chiodi (previously IBM global leader in the IT sector for the development of innovative solutions) is currently ISF (Informatics Without Frontiers Italian chapter) Education Manager. She is in charge of the coordination of digital training projects for vulnerable categories (migrants/prisoners/anti-violence centers/disabled/over-65/unemployed), and digital training activities in public schools for teachers and students. Between her recent projects we can cite in particular, the multiyear “Coding in schools” project, part of the Digital Republic manifesto; the project “Hating is not a Sport”, part of the Digital Republic Manifesto to contrast online hatred; ITac@ project 2023-’24 IT training and job placement for women aged 18-50, financed by the Digital Republic Fund.