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Pre-service teachers’ views about the use of digital educational games for collaborative learning

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Abstract

Digital educational games (DEGs) constitute an effective teaching approach, particularly when they are used in combination with collaborative learning scenarios. However, when changes are made in the teaching and learning process, teachers are responsible to apply and realize them in practice. Therefore, it is vital to understand their views and attitudes on the matter, regardless if they are pre- or in-service teachers. In this work, a questionnaire was used for gathering data from 263 undergraduate students from Departments of Education in Greece, regarding their views about the use of DEGs for collaborative learning. It was found that their attitude was between neutral and slightly positive. On the other hand, their intention to use DEGs for collaborative learning was positive. It was also found that whether they consider DEGs useful and their attitude toward DEGs, were significant determinants of their intention to use them. Gender and the frequency of playing games had an impact on how useful they consider DEGs to be, while age had an impact only on pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward the use of DEGs for collaborative learning.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Audiovisual Arts, Ionian University, 491 00, Kerkira, Greece

    Polyxeni Kaimara & Ioannis Deliyannis

  2. Department of Primary Education, University of the Aegean, 85132, Rhodes, Greece

    Emmanuel Fokides

  3. School of Pedagogical, and Technological Education (ASPETE), 141 21, Heraklion, Greece

    Andreas Oikonomou

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  1. Polyxeni Kaimara
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  2. Emmanuel Fokides
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  3. Andreas Oikonomou
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  4. Ioannis Deliyannis
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Correspondence to Polyxeni Kaimara.

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Pre-service teachers’ views about the use of digital educational games for collaborative learning

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Appendix

Appendix

1.1 The items in the questionnaire’s second section

Factor: Attitude toward collaborative DEGs

  1. 1.

    The use of digital games for collaborative learning activities is a waste of precious time.*

  2. 2.

    Teacher training on the use of digital games for collaborative learning is a waste of time.*

  3. 3.

    The use of digital games for collaborative learning is a distraction from, and an impediment to, completing the course syllabus.*

  4. 4.

    The use of digital games for collaborative activities is an inappropriate or ineffective teaching method.*

Factor: Usefulness of collaborative DEGs for students

  1. 5.

    The use of digital games for collaborative learning activities increases students’ self-esteem.

  2. 6.

    The use of digital games for collaborative learning discourages students from taking learning seriously.*

  3. 7.

    The use of digital games for collaborative activities increases students’ curiosity to learn more.

  4. 8.

    The use of digital games for collaborative activities increases students’ motivation and ability to “take the initiative.”

Factor: Intention to use collaborative DEGs

  1. 9.

    I would like to work in a school that supports the use of digital games for collaborative learning activities with students.

  2. 10.

    I would never use digital games for facilitating collaborative learning activities.*

  3. 11.

    If there were sufficient resources within my school, I would definitely use digital games to facilitate collaborative learning activities in the classroom.

  4. 12.

    I would refuse to use digital games for collaborative learning activities in the classroom, even if my students ask me to do so.*

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Kaimara, P., Fokides, E., Oikonomou, A. et al. Pre-service teachers’ views about the use of digital educational games for collaborative learning. Educ Inf Technol 27, 5397–5416 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10820-9

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