BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

Contribution: This article analyzes the learning and motivational impact of teacher-authored educational video games on computer science education and compares its effectiveness in both face-to-face and online (remote) formats. This work presents comparative data and findings obtained from 217 students who played the game in a face-to-face format (control group) and 104 students who played the game in an online format (experimental group). Background: Serious video games have been proven effective at computer science education, however, it is still unknown whether the effectiveness of these games is the same regardless of their format, face-to-face or online. Moreover, the usage of games created through authoring tools has barely been explored. Research Questions: Are teacher-authored educational video games effective in terms of learning and motivation for computer science students? Does the effectiveness of teacher-authored educational video games depend on whether they are used in a face-to-face or online format? Methodology: A quasi-experiment has been conducted by using three instruments (pre-test, post-test, and questionnaire) with the purpose of comparing the effectiveness of game-based learning in face-to-face and online formats. A total of 321 computer science students played a teacher-authored educational video game aimed to learn about software design. Findings: The results reveal that teacher-authored educational video games are highly effective in terms of knowledge acquisition and motivation both in face-to-face and online formats. The results also show that some students’ perceptions were more positive when a face-to-face format was used.

In software engineering, observability is the ability to determine the current state of a software system based on its external outputs or signals such as metrics, logs, or traces. Web engineers rely on the web browser console as the primary tool to monitor the client-side of web applications during end-to-end tests. However, this is a manual and time-consuming task due to the different browsers available. This paper presents BrowserWatcher, an open-source browser extension providing cross-browser capabilities to observe web applications and automatically gather browser console logs in different browsers (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, or Edge). We have leveraged this extension to conduct an empirical study analyzing the browser console of the top-50 public websites manually and automatically. The results show that BrowserWatcher gathers all the well-known log categories such as console or error traces. It also reveals that each web browser additionally includes other types of logs, which differ among browsers, thus providing distinct pieces of information for the same website.

Contribution: This article provides evidence on the effectiveness of game-based learning (GBL) for computer science education when using educational video games created by teachers using authoring tools. Background: Although teacher-oriented authoring tools for creating educational video games can help overcome the main barriers hampering the use and uptake of GBL, there is a lack of studies examining the effectiveness of educational video games authored by teachers using these authoring tools by means of rigorous scientific methods. Research Questions: Is GBL using teacher-authored games more effective than traditional teaching in terms of motivation for computer science students? Is GBL using teacher-authored games more effective than traditional teaching in terms of knowledge acquisition for computer science students? Methodology: Two randomized control trials with pretest, post-test, and one questionnaire were conducted to compare the effectiveness of traditional teaching and GBL in two computer science courses. The sample of the two experiments was composed by 75 and 49 students, respectively. Half of the students attended a traditional lecture, while the other half learned solely by playing teacher-authored educational video games. Findings: The results show that GBL using teacher-authored games was practically as effective as traditional teaching in terms of knowledge acquisition, but that it was emphatically successful in increasing student motivation. Students who learned by playing educational video games found the experience more motivating and fun than their counterparts, and a vast majority of them preferred the GBL approach over traditional teaching.

Contribution: This article compares the effectiveness for online software engineering education of video-based learning and game-based learning using teacher-authored educational video games created by using authoring tools. Background: Although substantial research has evaluated the impact of video-based and game-based learning versus traditional teaching approaches, little research has been done comparing the effectiveness of video-based learning and video game-based learning. Furthermore, the few studies that performed this comparison did not compare the effectiveness for online education or examined teacher-authored video games. Research Questions: Is game-based learning using teacher-authored video games more effective than video-based learning in terms of knowledge acquisition for software engineering students in online settings? Is game-based learning using teacher-authored video games more effective than video-based learning in terms of motivation for software engineering students in online settings? Methodology: A quasi-experimental design with control and experimental groups and pre- and post-tests was employed. A total of 180 software engineering students participated in this study, 81 of which belonged to the control group while the other 99 were part of the experimental group. The students in the control group took an online lesson in which they learned exclusively by watching videos, whereas the students in the experimental group took the same lesson but learned exclusively by playing an educational video game created by a teacher through an authoring tool. Findings: The results show that game-based learning using teacher-authored educational video games was more effective than video-based learning in terms of both knowledge acquisition and motivation.

This article analyzes the existing management systems to be used as repository of Open Educational Resources for acquiring practical competences. The resources to be managed are mainly virtual and remote labs used in several European projects focused on improving the competitiveness of European SMEs. These virtual and remote labs may be based on different technologies, such as web pages, mobile apps, web services, virtual machines, etc. This wide variety of educational resources makes difficult the selection of a common management system to be used as repository for storage and delivery. The result of the analysis shows that the ViSH platform fits all the defined requirements.

The dataset is stored in one spreadsheet file with two sheets. The sheet named "Teamwork" contains data regarding the measurement of the teamwork soft skill acquisition. The sheet named "Knowledge" contains data regarding the measurement of the knowledge acquisition about human-computer interaction.

-Columns of the sheet "Teamwork"-

Timestamp_PRE. Timestamp of the pretest.
CodGroup. Three possible values: Early childhood education degree (1), Primary education degree (2), and Computer science (3)
Gender. Two possible values: Male(M) and female (F).
Age. Age range: 18, 19-20, 21-22, 23-24, and 25-30
AcadYear. Academic year of the degree where the student is enrolled: First (1), second (2), second (3), and fourth (4)
WORK_PRE. Completing assigned tasks within the deadline as group member. Measured in the prestest. Being 1 the worst case and 5 the best case.
PARTI_PRE. Participating actively in team meetings, sharing information, knowledge, and experiences. Measured in the prestest. Being 1 the worst case and 5 the best case.
ORGA_PRE. Collaborating in defining, organizing, and distributing group tasks. Measured in the prestest. Being 1 the worst case and 5 the best case.
COHE_PRE. Focusing on and being committed to agreement and shared objectives. Measured in the prestest. Being 1 the worst case and 5 the best case.
SOCIAL_PRE. Social value of activity, taking into account the points of view of others and giving constructive feedback. Measured in the prestest. Being 1 the worst case and 5 the best case.
TEAMW_PRE. Aggregates the five previous columns. Being 1 the worst case and 5 the best case.
Timestamp_POS. Timestamp of the postest
WORK_POS. Completing assigned tasks within the deadline as group member. Measured in the postest. Being 1 the worst case and 5 the best case.
PARTI_POS. Participating actively in team meetings, sharing information, knowledge, and experiences. Being 1 the worst case and 5 the best case.Measured in the postest.
ORGA_POS. Collaborating in defining, organizing, and distributing group tasks. Measured in the postest. Being 1 the worst case and 5 the best case.
COHE_POS. Focusing on and being committed to agreement and shared objectives. Measured in the postest. Being 1 the worst case and 5 the best case.
SOCIAL_POS. Social value of activity, taking into account the points of view of others and giving constructive feedback. Measured in the postest. Being 1 the worst case and 5 the best case.
TEAMW_POS. Aggregates the five previous columns. Being 1 the worst case and 5 the best case.
KNOWLEDGE. Knowledge acquisition regarding human-computer interaction concepts

-Columns of the sheet "Knowledge"-

Group. Two possible values: Control group (0) and experimental group (1)
Know. Measurement of the knowledge acquisition as a numeric value in the range [0-10], being 0 the worst case and 10 the best case.