The use of the mechanics and elements of games in non-ludic environments (Gamification) has increased in non-ludic contexts in various areas including education. This study focused on the perception that students have of the different elements of gamification. Three experiences developed, after which students were asked to answer a survey about the gamified elements of the course in which they participated. In the three experiences, Feedback, levels, points and missions stand out as the best valued. Although badges were also been well valued by students in the longest experiences, in the shortest experience, it was one of the worst rated elements. The elements that students liked the least of all those analyzed, were the leaderboard and the blocked content.

The rapid integration of generative artificial intelligence (AI) into creative workflows is transforming design from a human-driven activity into a synergistic process between humans and AI systems. Yet, most current tools still operate as linear “executors” of user commands, which fundamentally clashes with the non-linear, iterative, and ambiguous nature of human creativity. Addressing this gap, this article introduces a conceptual framework of five irreducible paradoxes—ambiguity vs. precision, control vs. serendipity, speed vs. reflection, individual vs. collective, and originality vs. remix—as core design tensions that shape human–AI co-creative systems. Rather than treating these tensions as problems to solve, we argue they should be understood as design drivers that can guide the creation of next-generation co-creative environments. Through a critical synthesis of existing literature, we show how current executor-based AI tools (e.g., Microsoft 365 Copilot, Midjourney) fail to support non-linear exploration, refinement, and human creative agency. This study contributes a novel theoretical lens for critically analyzing existing systems and a generative framework for designing human–AI collaboration environments that augment, rather than replace, human creative agency.

Throughout the world, Computer Science Education (CSE) has ex- panded exponentially over the past decade, focused on teaching primary and secondary students computing ideas and tools. To teach all these students computer science (CS), models for teacher preparation range from one and done professional learning work- shops to full certificate and licensure programs. This report provides a landscape of how CS teachers are prepared academically in var- ious countries and makes evidence-based recommendations for how teachers should be educated to develop knowledge and skill to teach computer science. It also discusses how to develop these knowledge systems while promoting instruction that is equitable and centers students in the classroom. We brought together a group of international computer science education scholars who have been engaged in teacher preparation. In addition to what knowl- edge teachers need to teach CS, we also focused on how the field is preparing teachers and the role of computer science in the design of technology tools to achieve goals while mitigating potential societal harms.

Teaching programming to pre-university students has attracted a great deal of attention in the last years. The benefits of teaching programming before University have been investigated by taking several approaches to improve the students’ learning scores, motivation and satisfaction levels. Serious Games (SGs) are also gaining an increasing research interest for education. SGs can be defined as games designed for a primary goal other for than pure entertainment. In the case of this paper, the DFD-C serious game has been created to investigate whether High School students will improve their learning of programming fundamentals and, if there are gender differences in the improvement. Moreover, it is explored the perception of the gameful experience by the students when using a serious game such as DFD-C, and if this perception is different in the case of boys or girls. An experiment with 38 K-10 High School students has been carried out during the 2019–2020 academic year. All students took a pre-test at the beginning of the experiment. After that, they were randomly split into a control group (no use of DFD-C) and a test group (use of DFD-C). Finally, all of them took the same test (post-test) to measure their learning gains. The test group also completed the Gamefulquest questionnaire to evaluate their perception of the gameful experience. A significant improvement in the scores of the test students was registered, with no gender differences. Moreover, the answers to the Gamefulquest reveal that students had a positive gameful experience, being the ratings of the girls slightly higher than boys. It is concluded that using SGs to teach learning programming fundamentals to High School students increased their learning scores and students perceived the sense of playfulness, guidance and social experience of the SG without having significant differences between girls and boys.

COVID-19 has impacted the teaching and learning processes, underlying academic and emotional difficulties. The objective of the study is to analyze whether during emergency remote teaching and learning there have been significant changes in the mood and the digital competence of 89 teachers and 488 students of the Degrees of Early Childhood and Primary Education, and the Master's Degree in teacher training at Rey Juan Carlos University (Madrid), analyzed from their self-perception. Using a quantitative methodology and an ad hoc questionnaire, its internal and content validity has been measured by experts, analyzing aspects such as mood and stress before and during confinement, registering a significant increase in the average values. In both profiles, the sources of stress, anxiety, and workload have increased significantly, at the same time that some cognitive abilities have diminished. The attitude and motivation towards the online moda-lity have decreased in both cases, especially in students, although the digital competence of both has increased. The study's main conclusion is the importance of knowing the impact of academic and non-academic factors in the online teaching and learning process. Therefore, the study can be valuable to face the possible changes towards online modality in these times of uncertainty, considering the factors analyzed. In addition, it is necessary to offer the educational community pedagogical-digital training together with training in emotion management and positive coping strategies for responding to these changes.