In this paper, we explore students' motivation to use digital technologies before and after a course aimed at contributing to students' digital empowerment and critical perspective on digitalization. Based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT), we designed a questionnaire to observe changes in students' perceived competence, autonomy and relatedness. In addition to students' motivation, we investigated students' technology use continuance intention following Information Systems Continuance Theory. The surveys took place in the winter terms of 2020/21 and 2021/22 in a pretest-postest format. The course was open to students of all disciplines. As the questionnaire of this study was also distributed in a similar course in the teacher education program, we compared the responses of the students from all disciplines with the responses of prospective teachers. Due to the timing of the questionnaires, we also contextualized our findings regarding distance learning regulations during the early years of the pandemic. We validated and evaluated the questionnaire using exploratory factor and exploratory correlation analysis and found that students' perceived competence and perceived relatedness increased after course participation in both years. In line with SDT, these findings are also consistent with students reporting an increase in intrinsic motivation in both years. Students' perceived autonomy became more diverse in both years. In this regard, our findings support research suggesting that COVID-19 and distance learning regulations had a negative impact on students' perceptions of digital media autonomy. The comparison of results between the all-discipline cohort and the teacher education cohort showed that students benefited differently from the course depending on their field of study, which will be taken into account in future course iterations.

This full paper in the Innovative Practice Category presents an approach to anchor Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) contents in higher education. We are particularly interested in how a MOOC can be included in a course design that supports critical discourse in a transformative, significant learning framework. In a regular university course on digital transformations in society, an integration online event was organized halfway through a MOOC phase. The MOOC replaced lectures for 5 weeks, with the event happening in the middle of this phase. The event drew on the flipped classroom concept, but focused more on reflection rather than problem solving. More than 170 students participated in the online event to discuss critical questions based on MOOC topics and their experience while learning with the MOOC. In both cases, participants first discussed in smaller groups of three, before they met in six large groups moderated by researchers. The individual discussion contributions were documented simultaneously in a collaborative online tool by representatives from each group. Additionally, moderators took notes of the discussion processes. In the discussion round on learning, groups shared significant events in learning with the MOOC, aspects that facilitated their learning and areas of improvement regarding the MOOC platform. We further asked students about digital competencies they needed to navigate the MOOC as well as competencies they gained in learning with it. We evaluated student contributions on learning with the MOOC in a qualitative content analysis. Our evaluation hints at the interpersonal atmosphere in the discussion groups and at didactic caveats. A tentative research gap may be inferred from students' difficulty in exploring significant events: The MOOC enabled self-paced learning, but in itself may not thoroughly facilitate transformative learning and communicative competency. Concerning digital competencies, the majority of student responses refer to technical competency as essential for working with the MOOC. Many student responses point to critical thinking as the primary promoted competency. These responses correspond to the reflective depth of essays students wrote after the MOOC phase. In the final feedback on the online event, students particularly valued the interactive approach taken, the interesting discussions and the mix of didactic methods in the online event.

This Full Paper in the Innovative Practice track describes a new approach towards online agile teamwork in a higher education context. The presented learning format is based on the agile epic bedtime story game and the concept of self-organized learning. It focuses on time-constrained teamwork, with the aim to achieve a shared result from the work of several loosely connected teams through iterative learning and feedback loops within and across teams. We previously successfully applied and evaluated this team collaboration format in onsite learning. In this online adaptation, the efficiency of this approach is complemented with team-building exercises, to somewhat compensate for the lack of social interaction that is inherent to online communication. This approach combines the idea of agile gamification in education with previous concepts of self-organized learning (S-O-L) and the container-differences-exchange (CDE) model to organize self-organization. The infrastructure prerequisites for this format are moderate: a tool for video conferencing, a digital whiteboard and a digital collaborative writing tool. The online learning format was implemented and evaluated in an undergraduate University course on Informatics and Society in autumn 2020 with 36 participating students. We conducted a summative qualitative content analysis of student reports to examine the effect this format has both on the learning experience as well as the social interaction between participants. Self-organized teamwork appeared viable for learning: Students rated the question how well it enabled them to learn the content of the course with a median of 8 on a scale from 1 (worst) to 10 (best) and a standard deviation of 1.5. Students considered iterative work in the same team productive, while communication across teams was perceived challenging. Teams established continuity in their communication, also between sessions, through freely available communication tools. The single most important factor to help social interaction mentioned by students was the use of breakout rooms.

This Full Paper in the research to practice category explores pupils' motivation to learn programming by game development in the game development environment (GDE) UnityTM. After getting to know block-based programming through controlling robots, 66 students with minimal computer literacy between 14 and 16 years of age got in touch with Unity in six Informatics courses with group sizes between 8 and 14 students each for approximately 40 course hours. In particular, we are interested in experiential factors that underlie students' perceived competence in coding in high school computer science. We conducted an evaluative qualitative content analysis of 21 semi-structured interviews among students in six high school Informatics courses. Self-determination theory (SDT) identifies competence, autonomy and relatedness as basic needs that underpin motivation. We evaluated in how far students expressed these needs in their reciprocal interviews. Further, we explored student statements to find out about factors influencing their perceived competence. We were specifically interested in students' future expectancy to get in contact with coding - which we attributed to the need for autonomy. According to our findings, most students were rather motivated to code in Unity. Yet, many did not express a future interest in (game) development. The majority of students expressed perceived competence in the programming tasks. A few students also explicitly mentioned relatedness as important learning factor. In line with SDT, relatedness appears to be important for students' ability to deal with frustration along the journey of learning to code. It is open to consideration in how far students' social environment - including student peers awareness of technology use in their current personal surroundings and possible future opportunities for getting in contact with coding in their lives - is deeply relevant to students' perceived competence in programming apart from coding tools, such as Scratch or Unity, and incentives, such as programming games.

Learning how to code by creating video games promises high motivation, engagement and fun for the students. In this study, the Unity Game Development Environment, a widely spread tool for professional game developers, was employed for teaching secondary school students to develop their own video games. The research design for the game development activities followed a Design-Based Research approach. The learning design was based on situated learning accompanied by a mix of tutorials, teacher explanations and support & collaboration amongst the students. The results of the first iteration of Design-Based Research confirmed the hypotheses that video game development was fascinating and engaging for the majority of young learners. Using a professional tool with an embedded physics engine provided additional attraction for teenagers. From the first cycle of game development we learned that dealing with the complexity of the development environment in a systematic way, time management, advanced teachers' competencies in handling the environment, and providing well balanced learning materials are crucial to successfully employ a professional tool like Unity in secondary education. Besides improved materials and a stepwise process of adding complexity e.g. by starting with developing mini-games, the most important change for the second cycle is to significantly extend the time allocated for game development. This seems justified due to the vast spectrum of skills and competences students tend to acquire when collaborating on complex and exciting issues like developing games.

Despite their proven importance, team- and leadership competences tend to be highly underrepresented in Computer Science curricula. In order to support improving team performance in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) project teams, the rhea.framework of team leadership interaction has been developed by one of the authors. In this Research-to-Practice Full paper, the framework is briefly introduced and the students' experience with the rhea.framework in a student-centered Computer Science course at Master level is studied. We focus on the process of introducing the rhea.framework as an open educational resource and on students' experience of applying the framework for reflecting upon their team leadership interactions. Moreover, students were asked to evaluate the rhea.framework in light of their initial experience with it. While students suggested improvements on the rhea.framework, they appreciated the class on team leadership interaction. Consequently, the framework and scenario described in this paper is intended to encourage educators to include experiential learning into their courses and to research the effects. This can be done, for example, by reusing the rhea.framework and joining the authors in their endeavor to provide sustainable, significant learning on handling challenging interpersonal issues in ICT projects.