Podcasts are digital media with the potential to influence teaching and learning processes in the classroom. Students' creation of podcasts can establish new perceptions and interactions with educational content. This article presents a literature review of the literature on the use of podcasts as didactic activities in classrooms worldwide. To achieve this, 30 works available in scientific databases were analyzed, meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria established for this investigation. The reviewed texts demonstrate that, with technological advancements, media literacy, and the ease of development, experiences involving the use of podcasts as didactic activities are increasingly occurring worldwide. Authors report that students have improved their skills in writing, listening, researching, communicating, among others, through podcast creation. Developing podcasts reduces students' anxiety and helps them work collaboratively. The findings of this research may support the adoption of strategies for educational practices and policies involving student podcast creation as an additional didactic tool in the teaching and learning process.

Creating engaging opportunities for young people to know more about nature can act as a trigger for environmental awareness and internalization of the importance of preserving nature and the balance of ecosystems. As recent work in the field of educational research establishes a relationship between students’ involvement in the creation of games and an increase in the interest about the addressed themes, this paper introduces the Gamers4Nature+ project - an Erasmus+ project that aims to raise young student’s awareness on the importance of environmental and biodiversity preservation through the creation of digital games. The project articulates in three axes: teacher training, students’ involvement, and dissemination by students. 12 upper-secondary teachers and more than 120 students from four different countries were involved in the game-creation activities. Results indicate that the Gamers4Nature+ project’s approach can support the different educational stakeholders to develop digital games addressing environmental and sustainable issues, thus leading to a greater awareness of the importance of protecting nature and the environment

In a context where the involvement of youngers in the development of games is seen as an effective way to promote a deeper identification and engagement with the educational content, the Gamers4Nature project introduces a Toolkit designed to support youngsters in the creation of mobile digital games addressing environmental and biodiversity preservation. The Gamers4Nature Toolkit to Game Design includes a set of resources developed to support younger audiences in the creation of digital games: a Game Construction Cards Set, a Rapid Game Design Document and thematic cards, presented in a cardboard box. This paper reports on the methodological approach used for the design and evaluation of the Toolkit to Game Design. All resources were developed following a participatory design approach, with experts (n=18) and potential end-users (n=83) involved in the design and evaluation process. Preliminary results indicate that the Toolkit to Game Design is seen as an engaging and useful approach to game creation, able to be adopted in schools, Universities and environmental organizations activities.

Involving students in the creation of their own games about a theme may enhance the interest toward the addressed topic, a sense of ownership and a better understanding of the value of what is learned. This paper presents the application of a Toolkit to Game Design in two Game Creation sessions with upper-secondary students. The Toolkit was developed in the context of the Gamers4Nature project and includes resources and tools designed to enhance the active participation of the youngest audience in game creation activities, while promoting environmental preservation and biodiversity conservation. The Toolkit to Game Design was used in two Game Design sessions organized with upper-secondary students (n=28). By using the Toolkit, 10 functional prototypes of digital games were created. Students enhanced the Toolkit's ease of use, mentioned that it was an engaging approach to game creation and that its use promoted a more active way to addressed the educational content and the programming activity. Preliminary results indicate that the Toolkit can be seen as an engaging approach to game creation, able to be adopted in different upper-secondary and higher education disciplines and fields.

The growing use of second-screen devices stresses the importance of finding a balance between engagement, distraction, and disturbance of its users, while simultaneously watching television. In this framework, this article reports on a study designed to analyze the efficiency, impact, and interference of different notification strategies aiming to identify the best approach to be used when an alert is needed in second-screen scenarios.A prototype able to deliver synchronized information related with TV content, with intervals of 10, 30 and 60 s, followed by individual or combined notifications (e.g., audio, visual, and haptic—on the tablet and visual—on the TV) was developed. A laboratory adapted to replicate a living room was set up and a test that involved watching three segments of a 20-min clip while using the prototype was carried with 30 participants, under a cognitive walk-through protocol.Quantitative and qualitative results show that receiving notifications while watching TV is effective in alerting users about new information, despite its inherent cognitive disturbance for the TV viewing experience. It was also possible to highlight that in an HCI perspective, the most suitable strategy for integrating notifications (considering type and cadence) should be based on a combination of a visual notification (displayed only on the TV screen) along with a haptic notification (vibration on the tablet); spaced by an interval of at least 30 s.

This paper, reporting on research at an early stage, aims to analyse the impact of badges when used in conjunction with an introductory tutorial that aims to help users getting to know its most important areas and functionalities. With that in mind, a test session was designed, asking learners new to SAPO Campus platform (an institutionally supported social Web platform), to complete a tutorial, discovering the existence of badges and how they could be earned and associated with their profile page, visible to the community. Learners were also asked about the impact of badges on their desire to complete the tutorial, and their general attitude towards being rewarded for completing several actions inside and outside the platform. Preliminary data reveals that learners considered that badges had a significant positive contribute to make them feel more engaged and motivated to complete the tutorial.