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a sandbox at the beach, oil painting style

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Perfect Beach Scene: 7 Hours of White Sand, Blue Water & Ocean Waves in 4K

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In my life I have been fortunate to have explored fascinating places around the world.  There is one particular city though, that keeps giving me new emotions every day. It is Roma (or Rome).
Its variety of architectures that stands clearly apart from other "megacities", Its unparalleled history legacy and Its intimate and quieter sides make Rome a city that does get into your bloodstream. 

Watch my other works:
Cuba: https://vimeo.com/224883799
Venezia: https://vimeo.com/181612110
Lanzarote: https://vimeo.com/192406523
Reverie of Vietnam: https://vimeo.com/126747807
Moments of Puglia: https://vimeo.com/165102515
Malta: https://vimeo.com/202709486

Rome has been documented in different ways and for different purposes but few videos make you appreciate this city through local's eyes. 

I have dedicated months filming everyday's moment to describe a day in Rome through a roman's eyes. This short film is the result. Let me indulge you for a few minutes.  

Awards:
OFFICIAL SELECTION - 2016 ICFF – Italian Contemporary Film Festival

Locations:
Many filmed locations are unknown to many. Click on the link to see film locations on map: https://goo.gl/AWgM6g

Based on an original idea and directed by Oliver Astrologo - FB: http://fb.com/oliver.astrologo
Additional footage: Nils Astrologo

Original Score: 
Max LL - http://maxll.ca

The original soundtrack of ROMA has been produced by talented composer Max LL. All music and sounds effects rights are reserved. 

SteadyCam (Gimbal) support
Aerea Visus - Uniclamp : http://goo.gl/KMDqbs

Thanks:
Marco Baroni di Fonderia, Simone Sampò, Alice Celia, Federico Chericoni and everyone who helped me create this video.

Appearances:
Maurizio & Satia Martinoli, Alessia Scognamiglio, Andrea di Curcio, Stefano Silvani, Valeria D’Ovidio, Tommaso Cassinis. The mask: Jacopo Sabar Giacchino.

Flickr album: https://flic.kr/s/aHskitMuGV

Geek Stuff
I have received so many messages asking for details on how I produce my videos. 
I put down this short piece: http://oliverastrologo.com/videotips this explains few techniques I have been using and includes a list of equipment. Don't hesitate to write to me if you need further details or have any recommendation.

Gear (Find a comprensive list of my equipment here: http://oliverastrologo.com/gear)
Sony A7ii @ 1080 50p PP7 (Exposed in S-Log2)
Sony A7s @ 1080 50p PP7 (Exposed in S-Log2)

Video Stabilization: Area Visus AV-ST-01

Lens used:
Zeiss 35mm 2.8
Zeiss 55mm 1.8
Canon 24-15mm 4.0 IS

Color Correction
ImpulZ LUTs with some tweaks. 

Riprese aeree (in italiano):
La questione delle riprese aeree effettuate con Droni è spesso soggetta a controversie, è importante ricordare che possono essere (e spesso sono) utilizzati in modo responsabile. Le riprese aeree di questo video sono state realizzate prima del 30 Aprile 2014 data antecedente alle nuove restrizioni sui voli, tutte le immagini sono state acquisite rispettando le seguenti modalità:

- Evitare le zone sensibili o qualsiasi cosa che può essere frainteso senza previa autorizzazione.
- Evitare i periodi più affollati, le ore di punta, eventi speciali, ecc.
- Evitare le folle. In caso di zone ove erano presenti delle persone con osservatori di terra e ricetrasmittenti.
- Rispettare le aree residenziali di tranquillità e diritto alla privacy.
- Eliminare qualsiasi materiale che rivela inavvertitamente persone o che possa compromettere la privacy.

Per domande riguardanti le riprese aeree, vi prego di contattarmi via e-mail.

** Important **
All video, music and sounds effects are rights reserved.
Please only use and share this embed code of the original video.
Third party downloads and distribution is not permitted.

If you are interested in buying footage or any inquiry please contact: info@oliverastrologo.com
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Instagram: https://instagram.com/oliverhl
Twitter https://twitter.com/oliverastrologo
Facebook https://fb.com/oliver.astrologo
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Setting challenging and achievable learning goals

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Setting challenging and achievable learning goals

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A note on terminology: The academy uses a number of possible terms for the concept of learning goals, including course goals, course outcomes, learning outcomes, learning objectives, and more, with fine distinctions among them.

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In this article we will look in detail at the topic of . We will explain what learning goals are, why they are important to the success of your learning process, and how to set and achieve them effectively.

Learning goals are statements of what you want to learn during your learning process. These goals can be set at different levels, including course content level, skill level, and knowledge level. Learning goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timed.

They are the common thread that will help you stay focused during your learning process and ensure that you achieve your goals.

They are also closely related to general goals. Learning goals are the outcomes you want to achieve at the end of your learning process. Learning goals can be set at different levels, including course content level, skill level, and knowledge level. The wording should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.

Learning goals are critical to the success of your learning process for several reasons. First, they help you stay focused and make sure you achieve your goals. Once you have clearly defined your learning goals, you can measure your progress and make sure you are on track.

Second, they can help keep you motivated. When you achieve your goals, you feel more motivated and confident, which can make your learning process even more successful.

Third, they can help you set your priorities. Once you have clearly defined your goals, you can focus your time and energy on learning the things that matter most to your success.

If you want to set and achieve your learning goals effectively, consider the following steps:

Define your learning goals clearly and precisely. Make sure they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timed.

Break down your learning goals into smaller steps. This way you can better track your progress and focus on individual steps.

Use a learning strategy that suits your needs. There are many different learning strategies, and it is important to choose one that best suits you.

Make sure you set aside enough time for your learning. Schedule regular times to focus on your learning goals.

Stay motivated. Set rewards for goals you achieve to motivate yourself, and seek support from others to stay on track.

By effectively implementing these steps, you can successfully achieve your learning goals and go through a successful learning process.

Learning goals are an important component of a successful learning process. By clearly defining your goals and effectively working towards them, you can measure your learning progress and ensure you are on track. With the right learning strategies and sufficient motivation, you can successfully achieve your goals and maximize your success in learning.

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Learning goals - why they are important for the learning process

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Successfully define and implement learning objectives. Learning to maximize the learning process with the right steps.

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Goals, goal setting, and personal development have been staples of professional life for years. With workplace engagement rates struggling, goal setting is more important than ever to build a roadmap for employees and management to work towards together. In order to beat the current 21% engagement rate, focused goal setting clarifies expectations and connects learners to their overall purpose at work.

Let's explore:

Some great learning goals that could level up your teams

How to develop great learning goals

The 'what' and 'why' of learning goals

The difference between learning goals and learning objectives

And because workplace development and training go hand-in-hand, we'll be sharing some key ways that an LMS like Continu supports this process!

1. Learners complete new training courses

Set a timeline goal for this (complete the first course by the end of Q2, for example). Evaluate your training workload and determine the right number of completed courses you should aim for. Using an LMS to track your progress will incentivize your teams to complete this goal.

This is an important goal because it helps establish a culture of learning and a baseline expectation that all learners will be actively engaged in ongoing development.

2. Increase training content engagement rates by

Learner engagement is a key predictor of L&D and overall organizational success. If your teams simply aren't engaging with your training content, your efforts to create the content are wasted! Determine the right percentage to aim for based on your current rates.

A supporting objective could be measuring important KPIs as a baseline, like average time to complete a course, course attendance rates, and average test scores.

3. Learn a new tool or software to increase competency

Support your learners' desire for upskilling by identifying programs or tools that will provide value for your whole organization and support individual careers. Set a goal to connect learners to courses for external professional qualifications. Once completed, each learner could create a summary module to benefit and share knowledge with their team.

Supporting objectives could include:

Design a course within 3 months to teach employees how to use a new CRM.

Send X# of learners on an external professional development or qualification course within 6 months.

4. Establish a cross-departmental mentoring program

Mentoring is a great way to upskill teams, increase ownership & engagement, and unify your teams. A workplace mentoring program also supports blended learning, bringing concepts from courses to life through practice and social interaction.

Targeted objectives will be necessary to accomplish this goal. These could include:

Conduct a survey within 1 month to identify areas of need and interested employees.

Develop a matching system to match 10 pairs of employees for an 8-week trial.

5. Incorporate a training course using a new learning style

Research shows that training to varied learning styles is more effective than a single method, like visual or auditory learning. There are also new methods, like virtual reality, which have been deployed for uses like safety training in healthcare and factory design in manufacturing.

Perhaps your organization just needs to start with a smaller step of incorporating a new learning style into your training content. For example, record tutorials to accompany written guides on process & procedure manuals.

How do I develop learning goals?

Learning goals set the high-level road map for your teams to follow, with a healthy dose of inspiration and vision-casting to motivate their progress! Here are a few tips to develop better learning goals for your organization.

Step 1: Conduct a skill gap analysis

A skill gap analysis identifies the skills missing from an employee's current skill set, compared to the skills they need to excel in their role. Sometimes we have blinders on to our own areas that need growth.

If you look at it positively, a skill gap analysis is a very pragmatic way to provide relevant workplace training. Upskilling is in high demand, and most employees are looking for practical support from their employer to build valuable skills for a lifelong career.

After a skill gap analysis, you'll know the broader areas where your teams need better training. Build your goals around those areas!

Step 2: Work through the goal-setting process (SMART)

Because learning goals are long-term and broad, learners sometimes struggle with the goals feeling vague. That's why a thoughtful approach to training goals is important and helps to refine them to give learners and L&D a clear target.

You're likely very familiar with the SMART acronym for setting goals and objectives. A SMART objective is:

Specific

Measurable (remember, not all larger learning goals will be technically measurable, but the smaller objectives will)

Achievable

Relevant

Time-bound

Consider this learning goal which matches the SMART criteria:
Increase customer satisfaction scores to 85% through improved product knowledge and communication by the end of this year.
Step 3: Define your smaller learning objectives

The next step is to break down your goals into smaller building blocks - learning objectives. The learning objectives will be more specific than the goal, and act as a rubric or checklist to be sure you have covered the relevant topics to achieve each goal.

If you use an LMS for employee training, categorize and label your training content according to the smaller objectives each module or course will complete. This will make it simple for your learners to find content related to their learning goals.

For example, the learning goal from step 2 above can be broken down into objectives like:

Enroll all customer support employees in one new course to improve product knowledge by Q2.

Gather and evaluate customer feedback from the last 2 quarters, and identify 3 key challenges for customer satisfaction.

Introduce video response and coaching tools. Use this assessment method once by the end of the quarter with your support department team.

Step 4: Align with the overarching organization goals

It's important to work through learning goals and be sure they connect well to overall organizational goals for your business. Learners need motivation and buy-in from their career path and interests being taken into account.

At the same time, your business has a mission and purpose to accomplish, so be sure that learning goals connect back to those and serve the dual purpose of supporting learners and the business.

Step 5: Share the resources your learners need

Practical support goes a long way in workplace learning. Make an effort to educate your employees about opportunities and resources available to help them accomplish their goals.

As managers review individual employee goals and have check-in meetings, be sure they are aware of all the available resources to support learner goals. These could include:

Grants or tuition reimbursement for continuing education

Connections to peers or industry leaders for networking and mentorship

Upcoming events, projects, or research opportunities to support their learning

Training materials or content related to their objectives or goals

Step 6: Track and celebrate progress

With specific learning objectives defined, you'll be able to track how learners are progressing towards the larger goal. Using an LMS gives you detailed insight into course completion and learner engagement and multiple assessment methods like quizzes, video responses, and graded assignments. Keeping learners on track becomes much easier with automated notifications through Google Calendar, Slack, and MS Teams.

Recognizing progress is the one of the best parts of workplace learning! Be sure to acknowledge when your learners have met a new milestone or completed objectives towards a larger goal. Psst - Continu Badges are a great way to celebrate progress!

Why Should I Use an LMS Like Continu?
Make goal-setting and achievement second-nature.
Development goals and training go hand in hand. That's why workplaces with engaged employees who achieve their goals usually have effective training programs supporting the success.

An LMS is the ideal partner to deliver workplace training and achieve learning objectives and goals. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Track performance effectively

An LMS is a great tool for performance reviews and helping managers and teams to accurately assess their performance and development.

Continu's My Reports dashboard gives the real-time data that L&D and management need to track performance and see where learners may be struggling. When it's time to see whether goals are being met, Continu reporting tools quickly give insight and help you evaluate training ROI with ease.

2. Create engaging content

A library of excellent training resources is invaluable to your learners. How much effort and time does it take to create a training course in your current LMS or workflow? Continu's course authoring tools make it simple to build an engaging module or learning track in minutes, not weeks!

With Continu you can:

Upload, embed, link, and record videos and media directly in the platform.

Import or reference documents and files from other tools right within Continu.

Manage ILT all in one place: mark attendance, create wait-lists and automatically share pre and post-workshop materials.

3. Provide the central source for training

Learning goals and objectives are tailored and customized to specific learners and departments. That's why having an LMS as a central platform for training is so valuable. No matter what the goal or objective, learners can find the information they need, including full learning tracks, webinar recordings, metrics, and more.

Goals are pointless if you fail to follow through and track progress, and an LMS provides the vital system to organize materials and make learning an enjoyable part of the work day!

FAQ

What are learning goals?

Learning goals are statements that establish the purpose and intended outcomes for learners working through a particular course. They are intended to enhance learners' professional characteristics, competencies, and skills.

Learning goals also deliver outcomes that benefit the wider organization's performance.

Learning goals vs objectives: what's the difference?

While some people define learning objectives and goals in the same way, many would say that there's an important difference.

Learning goals are long-term and broad. They lay out the general goal for the training or course, and they may not be technically measurable.

Learning objectives are a subset of goals. They describe what information, skills, and behaviors learners should be able to demonstrate after receiving training. Learning objectives should be relevant, specific, and meaningful to get the most out of the learning process.

Each learning objective should support your overarching learning goal. If it does, and you keep it specific, you'll have a meaningful objective that learners can understand and trainers can pursue.

With this distinction in mind, learning goals are the broader targets reached through achieving successive, smaller learning objectives.

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5 Important Learning Goals to Develop Your Teams - Continu

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Set clear targets for personal growth with these five effective learning goals. Maximize potential, enhance skills & achieve success for your entire company.

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School of Education and Languages, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong SAR, China

Extensive research has demonstrated that setting learning goals could benefit academic performance, learning motivation, and attendance rate. The current research further focused on the content of learning goals with the text mining approach. This research uncovered three main differences between high-achieving students and their counterparts. Specifically, high-achieving students exhibited a higher tendency to devise goals aligning with the course objectives. They were more driven by their desire for academic excellence and personal growth. Lastly, they expressed themselves with higher linguistic alignment with the context. This research enriched the understanding of the characteristics of learning goals and provided practical implications for educators to develop a more inclusive and supportive learning environment that address diverse student needs.

Introduction

Goal setting is fundamental to motivation and is crucial to achieving desired outcomes across various domains, including education ( Locke and Latham, 2002; Latham and Locke, 2007). Previous research has investigated goal setting's impact on various aspects such as academic performance, learning motivation, persistence in problem-solving, and attendance rates ( Pintrich, 2000; Elliot and McGregor, 2001; Hattie and Timperley, 2007; Latham and Locke, 2007; Zimmerman and Kitsantas, 2014). They converged to support the benefits of goal setting. Furthermore, researchers have also begun to focus on the content of learning goals and tried to identify what goals work best for learning. Specifically, some studies found that setting specific, challenging, and measurable goals is the most beneficial. Other studies highlighted that goal-framing or communication could be a possible way to enhance the effectiveness of goal setting ( Dweck, 2006; Yeager and Dweck, 2012). Compared to the mindset focusing on achieving a certain grade or score, their studies showed that learning goals highlighting the importance of learning and personal growth can foster a more positive approach to learning. However, previous studies on goal settings predominantly focused on the consequence of learning goals and fell short of considering the learning goals' content. In this research, we propose a text-mining approach to examine learning goals. Text mining enables us to examine large volumes of unstructured data and explore the intricate patterns and relationships within the data. Such an analysis could explore the uniqueness of students' expression of their own goals, including the content, usage, and characteristics of wordings. An earlier attempt using a text-mining approach to analyze learning goals discovered the similarities and differences in the learning goals of high-performing and struggling students ( Ng and Chan, 2023).

The current research further focuses on the differences between high-achieving students and their counterparts. Gaining a comprehensive understanding of learning goals could facilitate us to provide valuable insights into education and develop strategies to guide students to set goals that align with their individual needs. It is also facilitative to developing targeted interventions tailored to specific student populations (e.g., Zurlo et al., 2020; Williams et al., 2021). For example, if the learning goals of struggling students differ from those of high-performing students, training can be implemented to scaffold the goal-setting activities for these students. Additional support, guidance, and resources can be developed based on the high-performing students to help the struggling students to set goals. Understanding the differences between high-performing students and their counterparts can also shed light on the potential challenges different student groups face. By addressing these differences, educators can create a more inclusive and supportive learning environment that caters to diverse student needs by advancing the theoretical and practical implications.

The current study

This study aims to investigate how the content and structure of learning goals impact academic performance in order to identify strategies to assist low-achieving students in goal-setting. Text mining could delve into the complexities of learning goals and uncover patterns and relationships not apparent through traditional research methods. Analyzing written goal descriptions would offer a deeper understanding of goal-setting nuances, such as specificity, difficulty, and goal relevance ( Locke and Latham, 2002; Latham and Locke, 2007), compared to previous studies. In this study, we aim to address the following research questions:

1. What are the specific characteristics of learning goals among high-achieving students compared to their counterparts?

2. How do the learning goals of high-achieving students differ in relation to their course grades?

Method

A final dataset constituting 552 valid responses collected from 184 students was used. This data was collected from the first tutorial lesson of 192 students attending a course at a university in Hong Kong. They were asked an open-ended question: What are your learning goals in this course?. They were then invited to complete three sentence statements in their native language (i.e., Chinese) that begin with I want to. Their responses were submitted to an online platform such that they could receive an email about their goals. They could regularly check back on their goals. All the students provided informed consent before they completed the learning activity.

We analyzed the data using the Voyant Tool ( Sinclair and Rockwell, 2020). This free, open-source, web-based application supports the text-mining process of qualitative data, including text from interviews, books, and open-ended questions. The Voyant Tool allows us to focus on specific segments of the whole corpus and conduct text analytics to study term frequencies and distributions within individual documents and across a collection of documents. Moreover, Voyant Tool also supports multiple languages including Chinese characters, and hence fit the language used in the current research. Figure 1 displays a screenshot of the working environment in the Voyant Tool. There are five default functions, including cirrus, which enables users to create a word cloud to visualize the top frequency words, r eader that enables users to display the original text for reading, trends that enable users to develop line graphs to depict the distribution of the word throughout the text, summary that provides an overview of the text such as the most frequent words and the average number of words per sentence, and context that shows the surrounding text of each occurrence of a selected word ( Sinclair and Rockwell, 2020). These tools are useful in conducting basic analyses of the text.

Figure 1. Screenshot of the working environment in the voyant tool.

In order to preserve students' original expressions, we opted not to lemmatize or tokenize the wordings of the learning goals to group them together to account for different word forms. Initially, we conducted an analysis at the overall course level to obtain a comprehensive understanding of all the responses. Table 1 summarized the features of the data, such as the total number of words and average words per sentence. Subsequently, we divided the data into four quartiles by students' final course grade to investigate the inter-group differences and examine the unique features in each quartile. The first quartile consists of 46 highest-performing students obtaining grades A and B+ in the course. The second quartile comprised 45 students whose marks were below the first quartile and achieved grades ranging from B to B+. The third quartile included another 45 students whose marks were below the second quartile and obtained grades from B to B-, while the fourth quartile comprised the remaining 46 students who struggled in the course and with marks below the third quartile, receiving grades ranging from B- to F.

Table 1. Basic statistics of students' response.

Relations to course objectives

The cirrus function provided information about the most popular keywords. These keywords are related to the course name ( f = 203), followed by those about the academic discipline of the course ( f = 126) and those on "study" or "learning" ( f = 56). Additionally, a significant portion of the most frequent keywords were directly related to the course objectives, suggesting that students could align their learning goals with the course's objectives. Specifically, the course was an application-based course that focused on societal problems. It is notable that the most frequently used words in students' learning goals include keywords such as problems ( f = 32), theories ( f = 22), application ( f = 11), and society ( f = 97) (see Figure 2). Therefore, these three words (problems, theories & applications) were believed to best encapsulate the key aspects of the course content.

Figure 2. The alignment of learning goals with course objectives.

Moreover, the number of appearances of these keywords also correlated with students' final course grades. The highest-performing group (the first quartile) had the highest frequency of the keywords "problems" ( f = 10), "theories" (f = 9), and "application" ( f = 4). The second quartile with students who performed slightly lower had a slightly lower figure (problems: f = 9, theories: f = 6, application: f = 3). The third quartile (students with lower grades) had further lower frequency (problems: f = 7, theories: f = 4, application: f  = 2), and the fourth quartile had the lowest frequency of these keywords (problems: f = 6, theories: f = 3, application: f = 2). These findings suggest that students who performed well in the course had learning goals more closely aligned with the course objectives, demonstrating a better understanding of the course's intended learning outcomes than their counterparts. However, the implications of this finding suggested that students who are more familiar with the course objectives and can align their learning goals accordingly were associated with achieving higher grades.

Relations to performance

Another set of popular keywords is those related to the course results. First, we identified the Chinese and English words for "pass." Then, we used the "topic" tool in Voyant tools to identify a string of wordings on the same topic. The topic tool could randomly assign words to a specific number of topics and then refine the model by an algorithm to determine which terms were best suited to the topics based on co-occurrence. As the topics were randomly created, the analysis was repeated in order to extract the maximum number of words. After generating the list, we manually select the results that are the most relevant to performances. The number of goals related to performance provided by quartile one was 22, that for quartile two was 26, that for quartile three was 29, and that for quartile four was 25. The keyword "pass" was common in all four quartiles. Because both Traditional Chinese and English are the official languages in Hong Kong, some of the students used the traditional Chinese keyword "合格" (hégé), and some of them used the English keyword "pass." Students also used slang, dialects, and abbreviations such as "炒" (chǎo) or "爛" (làn), as well as terms related to the consequences of failing the course, such as "重讀" (zhòngdú; meaning retake). As this course was a core subject required for graduation, these terms were all associated with the theme of "pass." The frequency of words related to the theme of "pass" followed a right-skewed curve, with the fourth quartile having the highest frequency ( f = 16), followed by the third quartile ( f = 13), and the first and second quartiles having the lowest frequency ( f  = 9).

Other goals that did not contain the keyword "pass" were focused on students who have higher expectations of themselves and aimed to achieve better results than the class average. Among the first quartile, there were 13 goals with these keywords, while the second quartile had 17, the third quartile had 16, and the fourth quartile had 9. These goals typically fall within specific grade ranges but with different types of expression, such as a letter grade (e.g., A, B+) or the grade point averages (GPA) score (e.g., 3.0, 3.3). To facilitate the analysis, we converted the letter grades into GPA scores. Following the university's regulation, 2.0 is C, 3.0 is B, and 4.0 is A. The first quartile students all aimed at the range of 3.0 to 4.0, and the second quartile usually within the range of 2.0 to 4.0, quartile three within the range of 3.0 to 4.0, and quartile four is 3.0.

Apart from the goals explicitly mentioning exact course grades or GPA, some goals described the results more implicitly, such as "good results," "satisfactory results," or "high marks." The highest number of students who wrote this type of goal was in the second quartile ( f = 11), followed by the first and third quartiles (fs = 8), and the lowest frequency was in the fourth quartile ( f  = 6).

Relations to expression

The expression of learning goals also offered interesting insights. Hong Kong is a multilingual environment, and Hong Kong Chinese are accustomed to using Cantonese, English, and Putonghua together in their daily lives ( Evans, 2011; Wang and Kirkpatrick, 2015; Bauer, 2018). However, in formal writing and academic settings, Hong Kong Chinese usually use standardized Chinese, while in conversational settings, they speak Cantonese, which includes dialectic expressions that differ from written Chinese ( Bauer, 2018). Moreover, Hong Kong Chinese are trained to avoid mixing English and Chinese in the same document and to refrain from using informal English abbreviations, especially in formal situations, such as school examinations, academic assignments, and other official documents ( Wang and Kirkpatrick, 2015; Bauer, 2018). Although informal language is gaining popularity, it is inappropriate in formal contexts.

To identify the slang, dialects, and English abbreviations used in the students' learning goals, we first use the textual arc tool in the Voyant Tools to quickly skim through the whole corpus and identify outliers. This tool would visualize a circle of words with the more frequently appeared words at the center and the least frequently appeared words at the peripheral. This tool helped us obtain a list of uncommon expressions that were potentially slang, dialects, and English abbreviations. Finally, a panel discussion involving two native Cantonese-speaking individuals holding master's degrees discussed every item on the list. Examples of slang include 攞 (luó, f = 4) or 拎 (līn, f = 4), which carry the meaning of getting something, and English abbreviations include "asm" for "assignments" and "gpmate" for groupmates." The analysis revealed that quartile three had the highest frequency of learning goals containing such informal elements ( f = 10), followed by quartile four ( f = 9), while quartiles one and two had equal numbers ( f  = 7).

Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that the goal-setting activity took place in a formal academic setting, and thus, students were expected to use formal writing rather than slang, dialects, or English abbreviations when writing learning goals. These findings highlighted the interplay between language use, formality, and students' commitment to their learning. The languages that students used to express their goals could reflect the extent of effort they were willing to invest in this course.

The language patterns of first quartile students, which contained the least slang and bilingual expressions, indicated a higher level of language proficiency and the ability to adjust language use in appropriate contexts. It demonstrated their awareness of the classroom's formal requirements and commitment to the course, which may contribute to their academic success.

General discussion

Our study aims to advance the understanding of learning goals by employing text mining, a comparatively new research approach. Text mining enabled us to delve into rich textual data and extract meaningful information more objectively and systematically. Specifically, we uncovered some specific characteristics of students' learning goals and compared the differences between the high-achieving students and their counterparts. Our findings on students' use of language and its relationship to academic performance could bring valuable implications to students, practitioners, and policymakers.

Findings on the goals related to course objectives

Our findings demonstrated that high-achieving students exhibited a higher tendency to devise goals aligning with the course objectives. Students in the first and second quartiles more often used keywords related to course objectives, suggesting that they had a clear understanding of the course even at the very beginning. A possible explanation would be that high-achieving students have stronger self-regulated learning skills. It means that they could more effectively grasp the important information of the course, which, in turn, helped them to understand the course's intended learning outcomes. As a result, they could better align their learning goals with the course objectives and achieve better grades. In contrast, students at the bottom may have a weaker understanding of the course and learning outcome at the very beginning, making it more difficult for those students to align their goals to the course's objectives. Thus, they use comparatively fewer keywords aligning with the course objectives.

The findings also shed light on effective instructional practices. Our results suggested a potential correlation between students' understanding of the course objectives and their course grades. On the other hand, Stehle and Spinath (2014) also discovered that students' perceived achievement of intended course objectives was positively associated with teaching effectiveness as measured by students' evaluation. These benefits indicated that explicitly explaining and reinforcing the course objectives in the classroom would be an effective instructional practice.

Findings on the goals related to performance

Our findings also revealed an interesting trend among struggling students. Previous studies on goal orientations suggested that, compared with mastery goals, those setting performance-oriented goals tended to perform poorer (e.g., Fenollar et al., 2007; Bruno et al., 2019). Consistent with this, our findings showed that low-achieving students tend to prioritize performance-related goals. Besides, we also found that the keywords related to passing the course than reaching academic excellence were more common among groups of students from the third and fourth quartiles, suggesting that they prioritize getting (just) a pass for this course as their primary aim. Our findings indicated that their goal statements are under the influence of their needs to fulfill immediate academic requirements and avoid negative outcomes and poor performance. It may be because of the compulsory nature of this course, in which students need to pass this subject for graduation. Therefore, students, especially those low-achieving and struggling to pass, may have a sense of urgency to meet this academic requirement. Struggling students may be more aware of the potential consequences and may feel compelled to focus their goals on achieving only the minimum requirement. Hence, the goal of passing the course and the need to fulfill academic obligations to progress academically had become their central focus, potentially overshadowing other broader or long-term academic aspirations. Alternatively, high-achieving students in quartiles one and two set more ambitious goals beyond mere course completion. Their goals reflected a higher confidence level and a desire to excel academically. These students may have a stronger belief in their abilities and seek to challenge themselves academically by aiming for higher grades or engaging in additional learning opportunities for personal growth. Thus, low-achieving and high-achieving students employed different strategies when setting their learning goals. Such a distinction in goal orientation highlights the importance of considering individual differences and the relationship between achievement and goal setting.

While low-achieving students prioritized performance-related goals as a strategy to meet basic academic requirements, high-achieving students were driven by their desire for academic excellence and personal growth. Such a distinction could help teachers identify potential struggling students at an earlier stage by their learning goals, thus could provide remedial support in a timely manner ( Alshanqiti and Namoun, 2020; Gillam et al., 2023). Besides, teachers could also develop different interventions based on their specific learning needs ( Ainscough et al., 2018). For example, the low performance-oriented goals set by the struggling students may demonstrate their pressure and fear of failing the course. Teachers should then develop a supportive environment to encourage these struggling students to seek academic help and design appropriate interventions to help them fulfill the basic course requirement. For high-achieving students, teachers could also cultivate them with a growth mindset and design challenging tasks to nurture their ambition. Teachers could also keep motivating these students toward academic excellence. Such a differentiated instructional approach could tailor instructional strategies appropriate to students' learning styles and needs, thus increasing students' engagement and outcomes ( Lam et al., 2021).

Findings on the goals findings on the goals related to expression

Our analysis has brought to light an interesting observation regarding the diversity of language used in expressing goals among students with different learning achievements. Comparing the four quartiles, we found that students in the middle ranking (the second and the third quartiles) expressed themselves with higher linguistic diversity. They used a broader range of expressions, including slang, dialects, and English abbreviations, when setting their learning goals. Such a choice of diverse language use could be attributed to various factors. A possible explanation is the multilingual environment in Hong Kong. In everyday communication, Hong Kong Chinese often use a mixture of all three languages ( Wang and Kirkpatrick, 2015). While high-achieving students in the first quartile may be more proficient in using formal languages in the academic setting, other students may draw language elements from their everyday communication and use them in class. Besides, the use of language could also be influenced by social factors and peer dynamics. Students may adopt the language used by their peers or their family in order to conform to social norms and establish a sense of belonging. Hence, their environment could shape their language in expressing their goals ( Higgins, 2003; Lee and Chen, 2018).

The diversity in the language used can be observed among the second and third-quartile students, suggesting that they were willing to use informal language as a means of expressing their goals, showcasing their personal identities, and reflecting social dynamics ( Scharinger and Erfurth, 2022). In contrast, students in the fourth quartile gave the least responses in terms of words (see Table 1). Such a contrast hinted that students' willingness to respond and truly express themselves may correlate to their motivation and sense of belonging in class.

Practical implications

Apart from the theoretical advancement, our study provided practical implications. By acknowledging the differences in goal setting between high-achieving students and their counterparts, students can gain insights into the goal-setting strategies that can enhance their academic performance effectively. Students should remember to aim high and achieve higher. Students, especially those who want to achieve academic excellence, should draw inspiration to set more ambitious goals and specifically extend beyond mere course completion. This knowledge empowers students to take ownership of their learning journey and make informed decisions regarding their learning goals.

By recognizing the importance of course objectives in students' learning goals, teachers should consider providing guidance on the course objectives and fostering a clear understanding of course expectations. Teachers should also help students align goals with course objectives and emphasize the importance for students to understand the intended learning outcomes.

Understanding the characteristics and language used in learning goals could help teachers address students' special needs. Teachers should incorporate language-focused interventions into their teaching practices, emphasizing the appropriate use of formal language. They should facilitate students to develop a broader range of language expressions and tailor their instructional practices to support students better.

Our adoption of text mining into educational research could also provide policymakers with valuable insights for shaping policies and practices that promote student success. Our study demonstrated the importance of language proficiency and communication skills. Policymakers can consider highlighting language proficiency and communication skills as essential curriculum components. By recognizing the importance of language adaptation and effective communication in different contexts, policymakers can ensure that language development receives adequate attention across various subjects and grade levels. Additionally, policies can be implemented to foster a positive and inclusive learning environment that values individual expression while promoting clear and precise communication.

Limitations and future directions

There are a few caveats. First, this course is compulsory. Students must pass to graduate. Therefore, students have an urgency to get a pass. Although we have purposely asked students to list three goals to reduce such impact, the results may not be applicable to non-compulsory courses or courses with less severe consequences for failing. Moreover, conducting statistical tests is important in research. The small sample size posed challenges in conducting certain analysis, such as the chi-square test. Thus, future research could consider adopting a text-mining approach to other populations, such as other age groups, educational levels, or geographic regions. Besides, all the themes extracted are correlations in nature. The causal link between the impact of learning goals and course performance awaits future studies.

Conclusion

Application-wise, our findings have broad implications for educators, policymakers, and researchers. By comprehending the influence of learning goals on academic outcomes, we can develop more effective goal-setting strategies, empowering students to take control of their learning and reach their full potential ( Bandura, 1986; Elliot and Church, 1997; Pintrich, 2000). This knowledge contributes to a more equitable educational system that supports all students in achieving their goals and realizing their aspirations.

The insights from this study hold the potential to benefit students with lower academic performance by identifying effective goal-setting practices that can be adopted and adapted to their individual needs. By understanding the characteristics of successful goal-setting, educators can tailor interventions and strategies to support underachieving students, fostering their motivation, self-regulation, and academic success. Our research undertakes to add a novel perspective to the field of educational psychology, informing future studies, interventions, and educational practices aimed at promoting academic achievement and supporting students from all levels of achievement in reaching their goals. With this knowledge, it is hoped to push forward a more equitable educational system that supports all students in achieving their goals and realizing their aspirations.

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics statement

The studies have been approved by Hong Kong Metropolitan University Research Ethics Committee. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutions.

Author contributions

HN: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing.

Funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Conflict of interest

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

References

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Frontiers | How do students' learning goals differ? A text mining approach to reveal the individual differences

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Extensive research has demonstrated that setting learning goals could benefit academic performance, learning motivation, and attendance rate. The current res...

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: the marketplace or public place of an ancient Roman city forming the center of judicial and public business

: a public meeting place for open discussion

The club provides a forum for people interested in local history.

: a medium (such as a newspaper or online service) of open discussion or expression of ideas

: a public meeting or lecture involving audience discussion

The town has scheduled a public forum to discuss the proposal.

: a program (as on radio or television) involving discussion of a problem usually by several authorities

Synonyms

Examples of forum in a Sentence

The town has scheduled a public The club provides a Forums were held to determine how to handle the situation. forum to discuss the proposal. forum for people who share an interest in local history.

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'forum.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Latin; akin to Latin foris outside, fores door - more at door

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

The first known use of forum was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near forum

Cite this Entry

"Forum." Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forum. Accessed 9 Apr. 2024.

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Merriam-Webster unabridged

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the marketplace or public place of an ancient Roman city forming the center of judicial and public business; a public meeting place for open discussion; a medium (such as a newspaper or online service) of open discussion or expression of ideas... See the full definition

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Kinesthetic learning (American English), kinaesthetic learning (British English), or tactile learning is a learning style in which learning takes place by the students carrying out physical activities, rather than listening to a lecture or watching demonstrations. As cited by Favre (2009), Dunn and…

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What type of learner has the ability to think logically and is able to explore patterns? Logical learners succeed by using order, steps, and logic. These learners can make connections and recognize patterns with ease, and work well with numbers. They have a very systematic approach to learning and are excellent at keeping organized. Text-heavy lessons may not be ideal for logical learners; they prefer cutting to the chase and focusing on facts.

On this page you'll learn more about the logical learning style, tips to help them achieve their learning goals and more.

What Are the Logical Learning Style Characteristics?

In order to explain the logical learning style, we need to understand some of the characteristics these learners portray, these students:

Like to keep detailed planners and organizers

Enjoy playing strategy-based games

Are highly investigative and curious

Prefer visuals over words

Are highly goal oriented

Seek out rules and procedures

May struggle writing creatively

May have difficulty seeing big-picture

Study Tips for Logical Learners

We know that logical-mathematical learners are usually methodical and think in linear order. Being interested, motivated and actively making and designing their own visuals helps these learners retain important information, and creates an easy reference point for future studying.

So in order to cater to them, we've put together some study tips for logical learners to help boost their performance.

Students with a logical-mathematical learning style learn best using visual materials, laptops, and hands-on projects.

Make sure to provide a structure with a set of rules, goals and procedures for them as these learners can sometimes struggle with ambiguity.

Goals can be short-term, but make sure to encourage your child to think big-picture and come up with long-term goals for the month, or even the school year. You may want to invest in a planner where they can plan out days, weeks and/or months to track progress.

Work with your child to see what order they would like to work on their subjects in, and create a calendar that they can easily reference and follow.

Highlighters can be very helpful to logical learners to identify the most important parts while they are reading.

For classes such as history, that are text-heavy, timelines that list out the facts are a great way to keep your logical learner engaged. The clean structure and sequential organization allows them to easily absorb the information.

Encourage your student to pick out common themes and patterns in history; allow them to use this pattern recognition creatively and have them try to predict the future!

Try to encourage learning as problem-solving and solution-finding. If your student appears stuck, ask them questions to prompt learning or encourage them to find the answer amongst 'evidence'.

Wherever possible try to use categorization or classifications to help logical learners achieve their learning goals. For example, for geography you can use languages, ethnicities, and regional categorizations to teach this subject to your students.

Have your child break down large chunks of information into charts and graphs. Logical-mathematical learners love making and looking at maps, charts, outlines, and graphs.

For students who are struggling to write, have them create an outline for themselves. This will help them pan out the smaller details into big-picture ideas.

Math and science are typically subjects that logical-mathematical learners excel at due to the detailed, procedure-based nature of these subjects. Still, logical learners may struggle in these subjects when given word-heavy problems. Make sure to break down large paragraphs into smaller sections that are easy for students to break down.

You can also view the study tips we put together for kinesthetic learners, as logical and kinesthetic learners both thrive off of hands-on activities.

How Time4Learning Works for Logical Learners

Once you know how your student learns best, you can help boost their learning in so many areas. Traditional homeschool curricula are often designed much like classroom curricula, and simply do not cater to the needs of logical/mathematical learners.

Time4Learning's computer-based curriculum provides an ideal environment where logical learners can learn new things, practice and explore. Every subject is presented in a multimedia format that is highly interactive and engaging. The Time4Learning curriculum:

Offers step-by-step instructions in an organized, sequential order.

Includes plenty of interactive activities and worksheets that break down learning into smaller chunks of information.

Includes a fantastic tracking system that organizes and lists assignments that logical/mathematical learners will love!

Offers the ability to set goals and track progress, which gives students a simple run-down of what assignments need to be completed and when.

Has supplementary instruction to our members, such as unit-studies, that teach children about interesting concepts using timelines and bullet points.

Sign up for Time4Learning and gain access to a variety of educational material, which will engage and challenge your child to succeed. Make Time4Learning a part of your educational resource toolbox for teaching your unique logical learner.

Additional Information on Learning Styles

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What type of learner has the ability to think logically and is able to explore patterns? Logical learners succeed by using order, steps, and logic. These learners can make connections and recognize patterns with ease, and work well with numbers. They have a very systematic approach to learning and are excellent at keeping organized.

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The auditory learning style means a person learns best by listening. Music, video clips and conversations are their ideal way of learning. Auditory learners tend to do well in a traditional school environment listening to lectures, and also contributing to discussions. Multimedia curriculum is also great for improving on their auditory learning skills.

On this page you will find characteristics of an auditory learner, which type of curriculum works best, tips on how to maximize their learning potential and more!

What Are the Auditory Learner's Characteristics?

People who are auditory-aural learners usually share these characteristics:

Talk frequently, to self and to others

Prefers spoken directions

Have difficulty concentrating in noisy environments

Enjoy lectures and discussions

Remember names, not faces

Express emotion by tone and volume of voice

Musically minded

Study Tips for Auditory/Aural Learners

Thinking out loud is the key to removing roadblocks on an auditory learner's educational journey; parents and educators can best assist these students by offering a listening ear and offering prompts to help them think through the information. When your student is struggling to understand a new concept, encourage him or her to talk through the concept or problem. Use terms such as "explain," "describe," or "discuss" to promote understanding.

Improve your child's educational experience by taking advantage of their auditory learning skills with the following study tips for auditory learners:

Repetition - Since speaking is a key component of the auditory learning style, having your student repeat an idea in their own words will greatly enhance their learning experience.

Q&A sessions - These type of sessions are great for keeping aural learners engaged and help them easily absorb important information about specific topics.

Debates - Auditory learners are often social butterflies, and because they need to listen, speak and interact to learn best, debates are usually a fun way to transform and elevate conversations on a specific subject.

Music - Songs are an excellent way to engage your child and a great way to start learning concepts. For younger students, starting out with the alphabet song helps them learn and remember the order of the alphabet, which is key when learning to read. Older children can learn about science from songs that teach about the digestive, skeletal, and respiratory systems, just to name a few. In addition, students can learn about sound waves through music as well as other concepts.

Read alouds - Reading out loud to your student also helps them learn, especially if you have your child repeat after you. As they advance in their reading skills, auditory learners should sound out words and break down the syllables of each word. Repetition is key!

Book clubs - Having your child explain concepts to others verbally gives them the opportunity to talk through situations and information, not to mention fully absorb it.

Self-recordings - When students hear themselves explaining definitions out loud, it helps them grasp concepts and expand on them. Most smartphones offer an audio recorder which can be played back at anytime.

Group projects/study buddies - Teaming up with another student and verbally reinforcing the information will help auditory learners retain facts and details.

Podcasts - These are incredibly useful for auditory learners, and can take the place of music on long car rides or even while exercising!

Show & Tell - Pick a day of the week to have show & tell. Your student can pick an object and tell a story about it. To make it a little more challenging, have them use some adjectives or vocabulary words they are learning!

Verbal Games - It's no secret that learning through play is effective. For aural learners games like "Just a Minute" and "Fact or Fiction" are a perfect way to test or increase knowledge on certain topics. "This or That" is another great game that benefits auditory learners. If the topic is "sharks", warm or hot water? Bones or cartilage? Five or Six senses? Scales or no scales? And so on.

Reciting - Reciting information out loud helps auditory learners retain what is being taught to them.

How Time4Learning Works for Auditory/Aural Learners

We know that auditory learners learn best by actively listening, whether it be to an instructor, stories, or video clips. However, most traditional homeschool programs available are often designed much like the curriculum you find in the classroom, which doesn't support students who thrive off an auditory learning style.

Our online curriculum works especially well for a person who learns by hearing. Younger students enjoy the colorful design, interesting lessons, interactive platform, and the multimedia format of Time4Learning. The material for older students feature video lessons with instructors explaining information step-by-step, thus allowing students to think out loud and understand the material better.

Our online curriculum is designed to engage and challenge your child to succeed. Here are just a few reasons why parents of auditory learners love Time4Learning's online homeschool program:

One of the most common forms of media that Time4Learning utilizes is sound and music. Our lessons have videos with engaging sounds, different voices, and often music to ensure our auditory/aural learners are engaged and having fun.

For younger learners who have just begun reading, our lessons read the information out loud, and then allow students to repeat afterwards.

Our educational games for the lower level grades incorporate sing-a-longs which engages the auditory senses for our students.

Lessons can be repeated, thereby allowing students to learn at their own pace without peer pressure or fear of making mistakes so they can embrace being themselves.

The self-driven lessons encourage students to become active learners through exploration and discovery. This highly stimulates auditory learners' curiosity.

Sign up for Time4Learning and gain access to a variety of educational material, which will engage and challenge your child to succeed. Make Time4Learning a part of your educational resource toolbox for teaching your unique learner.

Additional Information on Learning Styles

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Auditory Learning Style and Characteristics

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Auditory learners learn best through sound and music. The auditory learning style involves communicating through speaking ideas rather than writing. For auditory learners, encouraging them to read with whispering lip movements can be very useful.

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Este documento discute la percepción visual desde una perspectiva funcional y psicológica para el deporte. Explica que aunque los análisis oftalmológicos y ópticos son importantes, la percepción es también un proceso psicológico que depende de factores individuales. Propone entrenar la atención visual mediante técnicas psicológicas y la gestión del estrés para mejorar el rendimiento deportivo de una manera integrada que combine diferentes enfoques.

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What is visual perception?

Visual perception refers to the brain's ability to make sense of what the eyes see. This is not the same as visual acuity which refers to how clearly a person sees (for example "20/20 vision"). A person can have 20/20 vision and still have problems with visual perceptual processing.

Why is visual perception important?

Good visual perceptual skills are important for many every day skills such as reading, writing, completing puzzles, cutting, drawing, completing math problems, dressing, finding your sock on the bedroom floor as well as many other skills. Without the ability to complete these every day tasks, a child's self esteem can suffer and their academic and play performance is compromised.

What are the building blocks necessary to develop visual perception?

How can I tell if my child has problems with visual perception?

If a child has difficulties with visual perception they might have difficulty:

Completing puzzles or dot to dots.

Planning actions in relation to objects around them.

With spatial concepts such as "in, out, on, under, next to, up, down, in front of."

Differentiating between "b, d, p, q"

Reversing numbers or letters when writing.

Losing place on a page when reading or writing.

Remembering left and right.

Forgetting where to start reading.

Sequencing letters or numbers in words or math problems.

Remembering the alphabet in sequence,

Coping from one place to another (e.g. from board, from book, from one side of the paper to the other).

Dressing (i.e. matching shoes or socks).

Discriminating between size of letters and objects.

Remembering sight words.

Completing partially drawn pictures or stencils.

Attending to a word on a printed page due to his/her inability to block out other words around it.

Filtering out visual distractions such as colorful bulletin boards or movement in the room in order to attend to the task at hand.

Sorting and organizing personal belongings (e.g. may appear disorganised or careless in work).

With hidden picture activities or finding a specific item in a cluttered desk.

What other problems can occur when a child has difficulties with visual perception?

When a child has visual perception difficulties, they might also have difficulties with:

What can be done to improve visual perceptual skills?

What activities can help improve visual perception?

Why should I seek therapy if I notice difficulties with visual perception in my child?

Therapeutic intervention to help a child with visual perception difficulties is important to:

Improve ability in and persistence with visual tasks.

Ensure the child is able to engage in/complete academic tasks.

Help the child to complete self care tasks, such as putting shoes on the right feet.

Avoid the child becoming disengaged in an academic environment due to difficulties completing visual activities (e.g. writing, cutting, drawing).

Avoid frustrations experienced by parents, teachers and children when a child is struggling to remain engaged in academic activities.

Help maintain and develop a positive sense of well being.

Ensure that the child doesn't fall behind their peers in development of skills such as handwriting, spelling and maths.

If left untreated what can difficulties with visual perception lead to?

When children have difficulties with visual perception, they might also have difficulties with:

Anxiety and stress in a variety of situations leading to difficulty reaching their academic potential.

Difficulties completing busy work sheets or following visual instructions.

Difficulties accessing the curriculum because unable to attend to the appropriate visual information.

Difficulties dressing independently and managing other self care tasks independently.

Difficulties completing exams due to difficulty blocking out unimportant visual information.

Poor self esteem when a child compares their abilities with their peers.

Poor handwriting skills.

What type of therapy is recommended for visual perception difficulties?

If your child has difficulties with visual perception, it is recommended they consult an Occupational Therapist.

If there are multiple areas of concern (i.e. beyond just visual perception) both Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy may well be recommended to address the functional areas of concern. This is the benefit of choosing Kid Sense which provides both Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology.

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Visual Perception - Kid Sense Child Development

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Visual perception refers to the brain's ability to make sense of what the eyes see. This is not the same as visual acuity, which refers to how clearly a person sees (for example "20/20 vision"). A person can have 20/20 vision and still have problems with visual perceptual processing.

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Gamification In Learning And Why It Is Important

Gamification is the process of using game elements in a non-game context. It has many advantages over traditional learning approaches, including:

Increasing learner motivation levels

Improving knowledge retention

Better learner engagement through social mechanisms like badges, points, or leaderboards

In our modern world, technology is naturally a driving force behind learning and the development of curricula. To achieve better results from learners, today's educators are increasingly utilizing cutting-edge digital tools and strategies in their teaching methods. Gamification for learning is one of these strategies used increasingly by teachers around the world. Using gamified elements can positively impact student engagement and collaboration, allowing them to learn more efficiently as a result.

Gamification is about applying gaming strategies to improve learning and make it more engaging for individuals. Gamification for learning can be beneficial because games instill lifelong skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, social awareness, cooperation, and collaboration. Games also motivate individuals, increase interest in certain subjects, reduce the rate of attrition among learners, improve grades, and enhance their cognitive abilities.

Did you know? The global gamification market's estimated CAGR growth is 30%, around $31 billion, between 2020 and 2025 compared to 2019.

In this article, you'll learn all about gamification, including practical strategies and examples. By the end, you should know everything you need to get up and running with this contemporary eLearning strategy.

Neuroscience Of Gamification

Gamification psychology is a field that studies the behavior of users in gamified systems. In other words, it focuses on how to understand and influence people's behaviors through gaming methods. Studies have shown that the brain works in harmony with gamification and that it triggers the release of dopamine, which gives players an increased feeling of motivation and enjoyment. But how exactly do they work together?

1. Gamification Connects People On An Emotional Level

Emotions can be a powerful tool for learning. They help facilitate encoding and retrieval of information more effectively, making the learning process much more efficient. Gamification creates an emotional connection between the content and students. It strongly influences the individuals' attention, which makes them more receptive to learning.

2. Recall Is Controlled By The Hippocampus

The hippocampus is the part of the brain that controls the amount of information we recall or remember. It's no surprise, then, that gamification helps students retain better what they've learned during class. Gamification stimulates the hippocampal memory, which helps promote the storage of new information into long-term memory. Moreover, dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked with learning and memory, is also released from the hippocampus, which helps maintain focus on a task.

3. Stories Are Easier For The Brain To Process Than Facts

The brain processes stories more effectively than it does a string of facts. For this reason, storytelling is a fantastic way of delivering new information to students. Gamification greatly benefits from using this strategy, as games often include story-telling elements such as background, characters, plot twists, and more.

4. Game Playing Improves Endorphin Release

Endorphins are natural painkillers that improve relaxation, calm, and focus. They're naturally produced by the body while playing games and performing other engaging activities. Gamification strategies improve endorphin release, helping to create an environment ideal for focused learning.

5. Playing Games Keeps Your Brain Healthy

Games encourage neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to respond to different stimuli and develop new connections. This kind of training can strengthen neural pathways, increase cognitive skills such as memory and attention, enhance creativity and problem-solving skills, and help prevent age-related cognitive decline.

Gamification Vs. Games

Game-based learning makes games a part of the learning process. It is an instructional method where students learn specific skills or knowledge from playing an actual game. This type of learning takes educational content and transforms it into a game that students can play. On the other hand, gamification only makes use of game elements in a non-game context to enhance content comprehension and promote better retention of information. The main goal is still to improve student engagement, but gamification does not necessarily aim to teach them something new.

Strategies In Gamification For Learning

There are a variety of gamification strategies that you can incorporate into your learning environment. The most popular ones are:

1. Point systems
Assigning points for completing different tasks can encourage individuals to work hard. It also provides an accurate representation of their effort level to show how much they have progressed throughout the course or lesson.

2. Badges
Badges are a fantastic way to acknowledge and reward people for their efforts. A badge is an award given in the form of a virtual object or a pinned image on your profile. It is a fantastic way to show that you value the hard work and effort put into the task.

3. Leaderboards
Leaderboards are great for creating competition among students, as they will want to see their name on top and work harder as a result. You can even create separate leaderboards based on different teams, dividing the individuals into smaller groups for better competition.

4. Challenges
A challenge is a task that requires an individual to complete something using their time and effort, but it does not have any negative impact if failed or done incorrectly. Challenges can incorporate learning strategies such as problem-solving where individuals need to think outside the box to develop a solution.

Other gamification techniques or strategies could include the element of surprise to keep it exciting and allow users to "unlock" certain features or content in the game by completing a task.

Fun fact: Gamified healthcare apps are one way to distract children from the fact that they are undergoing medical treatment.

Examples Of Gamification In Learning

Gamification helps improve the learning experience in many ways, whether it's through academic, industrial, or business contexts. In this section, we'll take a look at a few of the most practical ways you can gamify learning.

Gamification In Education

There are several great examples of gamification in education that can help you form your own gamified teaching strategy. However, before diving into different examples, let's first look at game elements you should consider in the school setting:

Narrative

Immediate feedback

Fun

"Scaffolded learning" with challenges that increase

Progress indicators (e.g., points, badges, leaderboards)

Social connection

Player control

Now that you know the different elements you can use, let's look at some of the best examples:

1. Giving points for meeting academic objectives
Giving points for meeting objectives can be an excellent way to motivate students. It can also help track progress and increase engagement.

2. Giving points for accomplishing non-academic objectives
Teachers can also reward non-academic objectives, like tidying up the classroom, with points. This helps motivate learners to meet both academic and non-academic goals, which encourages their overall success.

3. Reflect on personalized performance
Reflecting on personalized performance helps students identify and track their progress. It is a good way for learners to self-assess what they've learned, predict the outcomes of future behavior, and see how far they need to go to succeed.

4. Using different methods of "progression"
Opting to use levels and checkpoints can help learners feel like they are progressing through the game. This makes them want to find out what happens next, which keeps their attention focused on learning.

5. Provide the option to give badges rather than points
Badges also work well when it comes to motivating and encouraging students. An effective alternative to points, badges are a great way to implement an element of competition into the classroom. They can also help create a sense of community and increase engagement in the classroom, which is fantastic for learning success.

6. Use different platforms or applications
Using different platforms or applications is a great way to keep students engaged. Teachers can achieve student engagement through tablets, smartphones, and more to allow learners to access their learning resources anytime and anywhere.

Using technology in this manner helps increase student engagement and motivation, which are both essential for supporting effective learning. Some examples could be the following:

Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a Next-Generation education non-profit that provides completely free online learning to its students. It routinely employs gamification practices to assist in the measurement of progress and achievements, as well as allow students to compete through badges, leaderboards, and more.

Quizlet
Quizlet is a recently popularized tool that utilizes gamification to produce simple, effective quizzes on study material. Students using Quizlet often learn more effectively and with more engagement than those that use traditional flash-card-based approaches.

Duolingo
Duolingo is an education platform that has applied gamification. It is a platform where users learn languages through practice and play. Learners can acquire points, level up, and compete with others to stay motivated in the learning process.

Kahoot!
Kahoot! is an educational game-based learning platform that teachers can use in the classroom, but it uses many game mechanics that follow the gamification methodology. It has a "ghost mode" wherein students can challenge themselves to beat their scores, and it has leaderboards to compete with one another. Users create their games and quizzes which they then share with other teachers, students, or users who may want to play them online at any time of day.

Google Read-Along app
The Google Read-Along app is a great example of gamification in education. It uses gamified features such as points and badges to help improve the reading experience for young learners who are just beginning their journey with books. This can be used in both primary and secondary schools, especially when motivating students toward literacy goals and improving their overall reading skills.

Gamification In Business

Businesses are also increasingly utilizing gamification to improve employee results by making the tedium of daily work into a fun and productive exercise.

Here are a few examples of gamification in business:

1. Interactive Leaderboards

Leaderboards are a great way of encouraging employees to keep improving. By making them aware that the rest of the team can see their progress, leaderboards help motivate employees to perform better and aim higher. They also help create competition within teams, which can lead to improved teamwork and collaboration among fellow employees who are working toward a common goal.

2. Spin-To-Wins

Spin-to-wins are a great way to motivate employees toward better performance. It is similar to the "spin" feature on slot machines in that it encourages users to keep playing; the allure of winning big time or gaining something valuable to improve their User Experience encourages them to perform better.

3. Goal Tracking Progress Bar

Goal tracking progress bars are a great way to motivate employees toward achieving set goals. The bar makes them aware of their performance and compares it with the company's overall goal, thus making them more determined than ever to do better. These can be applied in both small businesses and large corporations where employees work together to achieve better results for the company.

4. Point-Based Travel Opportunities

Point-based travel opportunities are a new and effective way companies are motivating their employees. Improved work results lead to acquiring points, which later reward employees through allowing them to partake in events, travel opportunities, and more.

5. Employee Points Reward Programs

Employee points reward programs are another gamification example used in the business world. These allow employees to receive points for improved performance, enhanced customer satisfaction levels, and better attendance at work. The points can then be redeemed for great prizes or rewards, such as restaurant gift cards or movie tickets.

Did you know? Employees who participate in gamification are 50% more productive and 60% more engaged.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS)

Is gamification relevant only to learning?
No. Gamification can be applied to any activity or goal that needs encouragement and motivation toward better performance, thus resulting in improved results for the individual and their team.

Who invented gamification, and when did it start?
Nick Pelling, computer programmer and investigative writer, coined the term "gamification" in 2002.

Do games really help you learn?
The answer depends on how well-designed the educational game is. In some cases, studies have shown that games may help students learn better and faster compared to traditional teaching methods.

How does gamification help in learning techniques?
Gamification for learning is not just for entertainment. It can also be applied to learn new techniques by using various incentives to encourage people to explore new ways of doing things.

How do I design my learning game effectively?
Generally speaking, a learning game includes three things: a defined goal, a set of rules, and a way to earn points. Ideally, it would also involve some sort of engagement from the user, and be easy to comprehend while staying relevant to your end topic.

Conclusion

Gamification is a great way to help individuals in the learning process and motivate them to perform better. Leaders can incorporate gamification into various activities and goals that need encouragement for better results.

To learn more about eLearning and training, visit our blog at eWyse.
Sources:

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Gamification For Learning: Strategies And Examples

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Gamification for learning uses game mechanics to enhance learning. This article discusses strategies of how it's done effectively.

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