Curious about current issues, new tools and methods in IT education?
Join these open seminars for the teaching staff!

Centre for Excellent IT Education, Excited, aims at bringing Norway in the forefront of innovative IT education and making IT an increasingly more attractive study choice for young people. These webinars aim at creating arenas for discussions and reflection among the teaching staff. Each webinar includes a presentation and a Q&A session.

SFU Excited Open Webinar with Adam Palmquist on Fri. 13 June at 13:00 CET

“I am lvl 8048, Madafaka” – teacher and student technological frames of educational gamification
Date and time: Friday, 13 June, 13:00-14:00 CET
Language: English
Place: Teams (please fill inn the registration form to receive the meeting link)

About the speaker: Adam Palmquist, PhD is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Innovation, Design and Engineering in the Division of Information Design at the Mälardalen University, Sweden. Palmquist is Scandinavia’s thought-leader on gamification, the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts. He has a strong background in game-based learning and motivational design. Palmquist is the author of several scientific articles and books in the area, including Det spelifierade klassrummet and Det digitaliserade klassrummet, which explore the intersection of gamification, education, and digital transformation. His work focuses on enhancing engagement in education, corporate training, and lifelong learning through gamification.

Abstract: In this talk, Palmquist will present the paper “I am lvl 8048, Madafaka” – teacher and student technological frames of educational gamification". This case study investigates the implementation of gamification within a Scandinavian lower secondary education context, examining how teachers and students interpret and engage with a gamified learning management system designed to enhance student engagement and metacognitive skills. Utilising the Technological Frames analytical lens, the study examines the cognitive structures that influence stakeholder interactions with the gamified features. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 11 teachers and open-ended survey responses from 73 students, revealing key interpretive discrepancies between the two stakeholder groups. Teachers primarily viewed the gamified tool as motivating student learning. However, students’ responses varied widely, with some perceiving gamification as engaging, while others viewed it as irrelevant or counterproductive. The study identifies critical frames, including teachers’ "Operational Confusion" and students’ "Plaything" and "Killjoy" perspectives, which highlight a misalignment between cognitive frames. Findings suggest that successful implementation of gamification in education requires alignment of cognitive frames across stakeholders, supported by clear objectives, co-design, and culturally responsive design. The study concludes by offering recommendations for enhancing stakeholder engagement and optimizing gamified learning systems.
 

Title: Sustainability in computing education - experiences from 10+ years of integration and development
Date and time: Friday, 14 March, 13:00-14:00 CET
Place: Teams (all registered participants will receive a link prior to the seminar)
Target group: Teachers in computing in higher education
Language: English
Registration: please fill in the registration form

Abstract: In this presentation Elina Eriksson will present work on integrating sustainability in computing education, and more specifically in the Media Technology Engineering programme at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Elina and her colleagues have explored ways to expand education through games, systems thinking and lately through addressing emotions and bringing more of the whole human into the classroom. Elina will present an overview of what she and colleagues have been doing in the introductory course to Sustainability and Media Technology, as well as give some examples from the newly started master’s programme Sustainable Digitalisation.

About the speaker: Elina Eriksson is an Associate Professor in Human-Computer Interaction with a specialization in Sustainability at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, and a Docent in Regenerative Design. She is affiliated with the Climate Action Centre and Digital Futures at KTH and she is the co-leader of the research group Sustainable Futures Lab. Elina’s research is often action-oriented and with a focus on how to make the future more tangible and actionable. In this work futures imaginaries plays an important role. She teaches about sustainability and ICT and conducts research on how to integrate sustainability in computing education.  She is also an Art of Hosting practitioner and have extensive experience of both on site, online and hybrid dialogue formats.