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1. Framing Gamification in Undergraduate Cybersecurity Education

   Harms, S. W. (July 2022, Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education (CISSE))

   Gamification presents potential benefits in courses that traditionally require the comprehension of complex concepts and a high level of technical and abstract thinking. Courses in Cyber Security Operations (CSO) undergraduate education meet these criterion. This research evaluates organizational constructs that have been applied to gamification applications (GAs) in CSO education. It utilizes framing theory and frame-reflective discourse analysis to outline frames based on engagement levels and analyzes the current distribution of GAs. The following organizational constructs for GAs in data structures and algorithms education apply to CSO education: Enhanced Examination (EE), Visualization of Abstract Ideas (VAI), Dynamic Gamification (DG), Social and Collaborative Engagement (SGE), and Collaborative Gamification Development (CGD). Three additional frames are identified: Missions and Quests (MQ), Simulations (Sim) and Aspirational Learning (AL). MQ GAs have process-driven quests, stories, and/or descriptive scenarios to augment engagement. Sim GAs use environmental immersion to demonstrate real world problem solving while allowing freedom of movement. AL GAs use goal-based designs like Capture The Flag (CTF) missions to enhance engagement. Twenty-seven existing CSO GAs fit within the MQ frame as CSO education lends itself well to these types of experiences. Seventeen CSO GAs fall within the AL GA frame, many of these manifesting as CTF missions. Seventeen CSO GAs fit in the EE Frame due to their optimization in the analysis of learning progress. Nine Sim GAs were successfully deployed in CSO education, followed by 4 VAI, 3 SGE, and 3 DG GAs. 

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2. Assessing User Experiences with ZORQ: A Gamification Framework forComputer Science Education

   Harms, S. W. (April 2023, Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), 2023)

   ZORQ is a gamification software framework designed to increase student engagement within undergraduate Computer Science (CS) education. ZORQ is an attractive learning method that (1) utilizes numerous gamification elements, (2) provides a collaborative, game-development based learning approach, (3) offers an opportunity for students to explore a complex, real-world software development implementation, and (4) provides students with a high level of engagement with the system and a high level of social engagement in its collaborative customization. The usage of ZORQ was assessed using quantitative, qualitative and sentiment analyses in a Data Structures and Algorithms course over five years. The overwhelmingly positive results show that students were satisfied with their user experience and ZORQ was beneficial to their educational experience. By triangulating results from multiple analyses, this study adds to a deeper understanding of how gamification can improve learning and retention and provides a novel, robust, holistic methodology for evaluating user experiences. 

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3. Thinking Big and Thinking Small: A Conceptual Framework for Best Practices in Community and Stakeholder Engagement in Food, Energy, and Water Systems

   https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042160  

   Kliskey, Andrew; Williams, Paula; Griffith, David L.; Dale, Virginia H.; Schelly, Chelsea; Marshall, Anna-Maria; Gagnon, Valoree S.; Eaton, Weston M.; Floress, Kristin (February 2021, Sustainability)

   null (Ed.)

   Community and stakeholder engagement is increasingly recognized as essential to science at the nexus of food, energy, and water systems (FEWS) to address complex issues surrounding food and energy production and water provision for society. Yet no comprehensive framework exists for supporting best practices in community and stakeholder engagement for FEWS. A review and meta-synthesis were undertaken of a broad range of existing models, frameworks, and toolkits for community and stakeholder engagement. A framework is proposed that comprises situational awareness of the FEWS place or problem, creation of a suitable culture for engagement, focus on power-sharing in the engagement process, co-ownership, co-generation of knowledge and outcomes, the technical process of integration, the monitoring processes of reflective and reflexive experiences, and formative evaluation. The framework is discussed as a scaffolding for supporting the development and application of best practices in community and stakeholder engagement in ways that are arguably essential for sound FEWS science and sustainable management. 

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4. Implications of Gamification in Learning Environments on Computer Sci-ence Students: A Comprehensive Study

   Zahedi, L. Ross (June 2019, 126th Annual Conference and Exposition of American Society for Engineering Education)

   Computers are used in almost all the fields in our daily life –they are used in various occupations and do the tasks with greater precision and as a result, made the life more comfortable. As such, more than 500,000 computing jobs remain unfulfilled in the US (Reported by app association), and many nations need more computer scientist. Therefore, this urge the need for engineering education community and researchers to focus more on underrepresentation of women in CS due to the fact that women currently comprise only 15.7% of computing degrees awarded ; Computer Science has one of the most considerable gender disparities in science, technology, and engineering and the number of female students choosing computer science as their major remains underrepresented regardless of recent improvements; and the reason behind this statistic is the challenges that lessen students’ motivation in CS majors; Programming courses have always had a negative image among students and usually need more practice. In order to increase the number of female students in CS and ensure the health of the community, there is a need to better understand and discover a mechanism that can improve women’s participation in computer science which leads to attracting more female students in computer science. Researchers have explored various engagements strategies in the fields of computer science. One of the strategies that have seen an increase and garnered attention in the last two decades is the use of video game elements or gamification in different fields such as education. Gamification -which usually refers to using video game mechanics in activities not related to video games - aims to increase participants’ engagement and enjoyment. This notion has been increasing popularity over time especially among especially education researchers because game elements -which provide challenges to the players and motivate them to set goals- can be used in learning environments appropriately to enhance the motivation of learners. While there is a strong body of literature around the implications of gamification on student learning, there are inconsistent results in the literature with regards to the interests or attitudes of women. This review aims to provide a critical evaluation of the use of gamification in the application in the existing literature in 1) education 2) computer science and 3) women in computer science to provide a basis for more targeted learning engagement strategies to motivate and retain more women in computing fields and build on the literature on gamification and gender. 

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5. Approaching Convergence from an Undergraduate Engineering Perspective

   https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE61694.2024.10893391  

   Thompson, Michael S; Applehans, Sarah; Cheville, Alan; Thomas, Rebecca; Thomas, Stewart J; Nickel, Robert; Asare, Philip (October 2024, IEEE)

   This research-to-practice full paper presents and approach to bringing convergence to the undergraduate engineering context. Convergence is the process of integrating a variety of ideas, skills, and methods to create new ideas, skills, and methods in order to address complex, socially relevant challenges like the UN Sustainable Development Goals [1] and the National Academy of Engineering's (NAE) Grand Challenges [2]. In the US, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has been a major driver of convergence related research and has focused on work primarily at the graduate level and beyond. To explore how convergence concepts translate to an undergraduate engineering context this research to practice paper describes a taxonomy that translates convergent knowledge, skills, and mindsets into the domain of undergraduate engineering education. While we do not believe it is reasonable to expect undergraduates to engage with convergence in the same way as graduate students or postdoctoral scholars, we believe that they can develop in areas that will allow them to engage in convergent work later in their careers. This paper first defines convergence and then examines the challenges and opportunities related to developing a student's ability to do convergent work in an undergraduate context. The developed taxonomy outlines the knowledge, skills, mindsets, and structures that support convergent work from the larger research literature, and adapts these to an undergraduate context. The taxonomy is then used to conduct a gap analysis of an undergraduate electrical and computer engineering degree program. This analysis is based on the syllabi. This work was conducted in the context of an electrical and computer engineering department situated in a medium-sized primarily undergraduate liberal arts institution in the mid-Atlantic region. As the challenges and opportunities are similar to but also unique to this institution this work forms a rich case study that can inform similar efforts in other institutions and contexts where a similar gap analysis may be beneficial. The goal of this work is to enable others to analyze an their existing student experience to see what aspects of convergence are currently included. 

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