Educational escape rooms (EERs) are increasingly used in education as learning innovations for non-digital and game-based learning (GBL) since EERs positively influence student motivation. They are common in educational fields where skills developments are vital such as STEM subjects and healthcare. However, EERs are marginally implemented in entrepreneurship education (EE) because there is a lack of evaluated design elements to guide the creation of EER in this context, which hampers their wider adoption. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated design elements for EERs in EE. We are particularly concerned with experiential EE since EERs are well suited for experiential learning. We used a research-through-design approach and created an EER based on 11 design elements derived from the literature on social cognitive theory, entrepreneurship competence, and gamification. We created and evaluated the EER in two cycles with two diverse groups of students at a university of applied sciences in the Netherlands. We contribute to the literature and practice of experiential EE by presenting evaluated design elements for EERs. We show which design elements work well and which do not. We also present a comprehensively designed EER that educational professionals can implement in their experiential EE programs.
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To successfully develop a system, a solid understanding of its architecture by stakeholders involved in the development of the system is key. This process is supported by System Architects, who have a profession that is often regarded as experience based. However, we argue that it is important to familiarize students with the concept of System Architecting, so that they are at least receptive of the nuances involved and potentially can continue a pathway of development towards such a role. In this paper we explore the potential use of A3 Architecture Overviews (A3AO) as an educational tool to support familiarization with Systems Engineering and Systems Architecting. The A3AO has been developed as a supportive tool to communicate a system’s architecture. It uses diagrams to model and visualize a system with different views and is intended to be printed on a physical A3 paper. It serves as a reference for, and facilitator of design discussions. Skills envisioned to be developed while using an A3AO include strict selection and visualization of information, two critical competencies to handle systems’ complexity. The A3AOs have been applied in a course on Systems Engineering at an applied University in The Netherlands and were part of the assessed deliverables. The relative free-form nature of the A3AO posed students with various dilemmas in their use, but also provided the opportunity for guided development on the envisioned competencies. We conclude that more research is required to further formalize this guided development, but we also experience that the A3AO has the potential to support systems engineering and systems architecting practices in education.
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Children with special educational needs included in Austrian mainstream schools are provided with special educational support, which aim to create learning environments, that meet the children’s needs on an individual level. Little is known about what adjustments children with special educational needs in mainstream school classes require to promote participation in school occupations. This is the first study in Austria exploring the student-environment-fit from self-perceived children’s perspective and comparing this to teachers’ perspective by using the School Setting Interview. In this cross-sectional matched pairs study twenty-five children (mean age 12.5 ± 1.4) with special educational needs and twenty-one teachers from six Austrian secondary schools were interviewed. Participants’ ratings were analyzed descriptively and statistically with Wilcoxon-Sign Rank Test. Reported adjustments from the child and teacher perspectives were analyzed with qualitative content analysis and presented using the occupational, social and physical environmental dimensions from the Model of Human Occupation. Results indicate perceived student-environment-fit differs between school activities as well as between children and teachers. Three out of 16 school activities showed a statistically significant difference between children and teacher matched-pair analysis. Children perceive more unmet needs then teachers. Most adjustments are reported in the social environment dimension and inform practitioners what adjustments are perceived to be useful for children with Special Educational Needs and their teachers. Both children’s and teacher’s perspectives provide valuable information. Significantly, children in this study were able to identify required needs and describe adjustments. To increase participation in school occupations, children can and need to be actively included in the decision-making process.
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