ABSTRACT
Understanding a concept that people cannot observe directly in real life is always challenging in education. It could be even more difficult for public health education topics such as viruses or bacteria. However, public health education is critical for understanding the knowledge of the virus in the age of COVID-19. Thus, this paper proposes a distributed mixed reality environment to enhance public health education in the internet of things (IoT) context. We introduce the design methodology based on the mixed reality interaction characteristics, the implementation, and the initial evaluation. © 2023 Author(s).
ABSTRACT
Increasing numbers of people have turned to playing boardgames with physically distant friends and family via technological tools, particularly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, commercial hybrid digital boardgames (HDBs) are designed for co-located, rather than distanced, play and there is a need for more specific tools to support hybrid game design. This paper introduces the SMeFT Decks, a set of card decks to aid in the design of HDBs for distanced play, which support Story, Mechanism, Function and Technology. We describe the use of these cards for design ideation and demonstrate four game concepts for distanced play stemming from the use of these decks in participatory workshops. We report evaluative feedback from a pilot study and from 46 participants who used these cards across nine design workshops and reflect on what we learned from observing this process. Results suggest that the SMeFT Decks are a productive ideation tool for aiding in the design of HDBs for distanced play in collaborative workshop settings. © 2022 ACM.
ABSTRACT
The complexity of social interactions has been pointed out as challenges in studies on social development, education, cultural diversity, behavior change, and innovation. The COVID-19 pandemics highlighted important issues of our modern society, especially regarding emotional and psychological issues: humans as artificial beings disconnected from the planet, anxious for socialization, mainly through virtual worlds. Stress, anxiety, hopelessness and depression are sources of concern, while pleasure - a fundamental aspect for human life - loses space. We argue that our society needs to recover the pleasure which relies on the learning aspects of life situations as well as to rebuild the way we interact for social or work purposes. In this chapter, we propose as a challenge for the games research community, to face the sophistication that encompasses how to conceptualize, model, design, evaluate, and play games which can turn our actions in the world more playful. We primarily approach games as enablers and agents for work relations, social change and innovation in organizations, with a special look to the Brazilian context. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Spatial skills are critical for understanding the relations among objects and people, playing an important role in how we interact with the world. Spatial relationships are built through interactions with physical objects;however, in computational/online environments, these change to bi-dimensional media and computer-assisted design comprised of 3D representations viewable through a flat screen. Due to spatial immersion and interaction limitations, a traditional 2D and 3D approach presents challenges to partially sighted, blind, and sighted individuals. This paper presents the prototyping of a co-design Augmented Reality (AR) authoring tool by recruiting inclusive emerging affordances of consumer-level AR technologies within the context of current e-learning provisions in subject matters, including inclusive design, engineering design, game hardware design, and health sciences. This work has been inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic that has shown the need to level the field in inclusive design for teaching a subject typically oriented to the sighted. Our prototype allows users to create e-learning content for visualization, interaction, collaboration, and inclusive learning. Future work will investigate our tool's impact on skills development and content creation. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
This research had the objective to study the design factors of board games for game-based learning by being classified into two parts: 1) Studying the design factors for board games for learning through a systematic review. 2) Studying the design factors for board games of the customers' needs from the quality function deployment technique based on the data gathered from structured questionnaires. The population group comprised 100 board game customers, and the results found that there were two significant factors in designing the board game for promoting learning with the customers' needs that were related to the playing patterns or the mechanisms. Thus, both factors enabled the players to gain the motivation for participation in learning through the board games, including the design factors of the board games for promoting learning until they could respond to customer satisfaction at the same level as existing board games that are appropriately sold in the markets. © 2023, North American Business Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The complexity of social interactions has been pointed out as challenges in studies on social development, education, cultural diversity, behavior change, and innovation. The COVID-19 pandemics highlighted important issues of our modern society, especially regarding emotional and psychological issues: humans as artificial beings disconnected from the planet, anxious for socialization, mainly through virtual worlds. Stress, anxiety, hopelessness and depression are sources of concern, while pleasure - a fundamental aspect for human life - loses space. We argue that our society needs to recover the pleasure which relies on the learning aspects of life situations as well as to rebuild the way we interact for social or work purposes. In this chapter, we propose as a challenge for the games research community, to face the sophistication that encompasses how to conceptualize, model, design, evaluate, and play games which can turn our actions in the world more playful. We primarily approach games as enablers and agents for work relations, social change and innovation in organizations, with a special look to the Brazilian context. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Proponents of game-based learning see potential for the inclusion of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) in higher education. Research has shown that an ARG can support the induction and socialisation of students but engagement in educational ARGs has been disappointing. We explored whether students could learn via an ARG embedded in curriculum: if they would engage in play, and how the ARG contributed to learning. Using a theoretical framework of situated learning, this ethnographic case study examined a first-year university course with an embedded ARG. Interviews, observations, and documents were analysed for a priori codes using NVivo, finding that engagement in the game was positive until it was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Evidence showed that the ARG could help students to learn. The ARG provided a context for students to engage with one another and their instructor;encouraged students to research relevant topics and use evidence to support their arguments;engaged participants in the theoretical content that they were learning;and gave the instructor options to customise student feedback. The ARG most effectively supported learning by initiating social connections and engaging students with the theoretical content of their course. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a paradigm shift from traditional on-campus presence learning to online learning. While the transition to digital education and online learning has been embraced worldwide, the biggest challenge remains the lack of motivation and engagement of the online student. Gamification is the use of game design elements in non-game contexts and in an online learning context;it is an innovative strategy to encourage motivation and engagement. This study shows the findings of qualitative research that aims to examine students' experience in an online gamified course. The gamified online course, Music and Movement, was offered to Bachelor in Education (Honours) Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) students at the Open University of Mauritius in the semester August to December 2021. The course was redesigned using a gamification theoretical framework called D6. Out of 46 ECEC students, 15 volunteered to further contribute through semi-structured interviews. The collected data was transcribed and analysed using open coding. The findings reveal that the perception and experience of students about the gamified online course can be categorised into five main themes, namely gamified course elements, general feelings and experience of students, personality of the tutor, traits of the students and collaborative work © Copyright the author(s);published under a Creative Commons NonCommercial 4.0 License
ABSTRACT
Proponents of game-based learning see potential for the inclusion of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) in higher education. Research has shown that an ARG can support the induction and socialisation of students but engagement in educational ARGs has been disappointing. We explored whether students could learn via an ARG embedded in curriculum: if they would engage in play, and how the ARG contributed to learning. Using a theoretical framework of situated learning, this ethnographic case study examined a first-year university course with an embedded ARG. Interviews, observations, and documents were analysed for a priori codes using NVivo, finding that engagement in the game was positive until it was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Evidence showed that the ARG could help students to learn. The ARG provided a context for students to engage with one another and their instructor;encouraged students to research relevant topics and use evidence to support their arguments;engaged participants in the theoretical content that they were learning;and gave the instructor options to customise student feedback. The ARG most effectively supported learning by initiating social connections and engaging students with the theoretical content of their course. [ FROM AUTHOR]
ABSTRACT
To comply with health protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic, studies were conducted online. This has had a significant impact on students' motivation to learn, particularly among elementary school children. This study aims to produce an educational game with the theme of science-based augmented reality on Android devices to aid elementary-level students in their studies. By using the Augmented Reality system, students will be able to engage and interact with a 3D model of the material to be explained. The data collection and game design research method was used by implementing Scrum in the development process. This study used Scrum roles such as Product Owner, Scrum Master, Project Manager, and Development team. This study resulted in the development of an interactive augmented reality app that has successfully increased user's enthusiasm for learning. Students' interest in learning science subjects has also increased as a result of the application. This research concludes with the successful development of an augmented reality-based application on Android devices that includes quiz components and augmented reality. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Taking into account the profound impact of technology on modern education, especially during the covid19 pandemic, increasing academic interest has focused towards the design and application of such tools on different learning contexts. A specific area of Human-Computer Interaction, called affordance theory, focuses on the perception, design and use of different technologies by educators and learners in learning contexts. This paper explores the impact of affordances in the process of creative problem in the context of playful educational robotics, with an intension of informing the design of future educational experiences around the field. The study capitalizes upon previous affordance propositions and frameworks in order to establish an affordance-based framework in the scope of playful educational robotics contexts, through the adoption of a qualitative research methodology, which was considered more appropriate as an exploratory tool. As part of the qualitative analysis, the study is mapping different types of affordances, related to such technologies, as well as an iterative creative problem-solving process that stems from learners' interactions with robotic artifacts, like the CreaCube playful robotics activity, which is presented in this study.
ABSTRACT
Developing games is time-consuming and costly. Overly clinical therapy games run the risk of being boring, which defeats the purpose of using games to motivate healing in the first place [10, 23]. In this work, we adapt and repurpose an existing immersive virtual reality (iVR) game, Spellcasters, originally designed purely for entertainment for use as a stroke rehabilitation game-which is particularly relevant in the wake of COVID-19, where telehealth solutions are increasingly needed [4]. In preparation for participatory design sessions with stroke survivors, we collaborate with 14 medical professionals to ensure Spellcasters is safe and therapeutically valid for clinical adoption. We present our novel VR sandbox implementation that allows medical professionals to customize appropriate gestures and interactions for each patient's unique needs. Additionally, we share a co-designed companion app prototype based on clinicians' preferred data reporting mechanisms for telehealth. We discuss insights about adapting and repurposing entertainment games as serious games for health, features that clinicians value, and the potential broader impacts of applications like Spellcasters for stroke management.
ABSTRACT
Leisure or entertainment, like other everyday needs, are fundamental activities for human well-being. The creation of activities that lead to moments of satisfaction and relaxation are also a focus of attention and one of the areas of intervention where design can contribute solutions. This project challenged a group of students on a degree course in product design to develop modern, alternative board games, centred on users and on situations and environments of use, in order to exercise the practice of product design and seek to present innovative solutions. The challenge came through a local Cultural Association, with a tradition in promoting this type of game. The project followed a design project methodology that led students through a first phase of immersion in the theme, mechanics and strategies of games and their variety, going through the generation of ideas, models, evaluation tests, to the production of prototypes. The project was subject to the constraints of the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced students and teachers to work at home. To improve teaching and learning experiences, the project involved specialists and professionals who shared their knowledge and experience in developing this type of product. This gave rise to a great diversity of solutions, resulting from the use of an adequate methodology, making it possible to design new board games in which the mechanics, when articulated with a theme of interest to the target audience, can result in a proposal for an appealing and unique game. © Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education: Disrupt, Innovate, Regenerate and Transform, E and PDE 2022. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Serious game has been a very potential tool for learning, especially for online learning in the Covid 19 pandemic era. Using interactivity and experience as the main advantage, serious games offer a fun way to learn that can enhance the understanding of the learning material. However, the design of the serious game is difficult due to the different nature between learning and gaming. Game activity is one of the game elements that is difficult to develop. Appreciative serious game is the type of serious game that is using Appreciative Learning concept to design the activity. Appreciative serious game has four main stages, namely Discovery, Dream, Design and Destiny. Design stage is one of the most difficult stages, because it has the most activities compared to other stage, thus it should maintain the balance between boredom and frustration. Item often only viewed as a gimmick, even though it has potential to support the balance. This research is using fuzzy logic to produce adaptive item behavior, called fuzzy adaptive items. The fuzzy adaptive item takes life point and the number of errors, which resulted in the dynamic frequency of appearing relevant items. The results shows that items appear dynamically according to player performance. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Digital games have over the past few years have become increasingly important, particularly during Covid-19 lockdowns, not just as a way to spend free time but also in many more serious fields. One such area is healthcare, where applied games are increasingly utilized to educate individuals and encourage compliance with health measures, such as vaccination. This paper analyses several techniques for developing persuasive games that help change people’s attitudes and therefore their behaviours, in this case focussed on Covid-19 vaccination. These techniques are based on a covert approach to persuasion to avoid triggering individuals’ reactance and hence reaching a wider audience. Evaluation of the designed game shows promising results in terms of the impact of emotional engagement on attitudes toward vaccine uptake. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
During the past two years, several announcements that are possibly perceived as scary were made about the COVID-19 pandemic and the safety regulations people should follow. Those announcements affected everyone, especially children with Autism Spectrum Disorder since they find difficulties coping with the changes caused by the pandemic. Helping them to adapt during those extraordinary circumstances is even more demanding for their families and caregivers. Hence, as a solution, we designed, developed, and evaluated a serious game that promotes healthy behaviors that are most important during the pandemic for them. The game design follows the guidelines in literature for designing a User Interface suitable for children with ASD. Our preliminary experimental study shows that the presented game is engaging for children with ASD. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
We have been running children’s play and learning camps since 2011, but we are withholding physical gathering after 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem with online videoconference camps is that it is difficult to design activities that encourage children to move spontaneously and engage with the world around them. Starting in 2021, we have launched a series of VR (virtual reality) camps with each camp aiming for the construction of a VR world. We believe that by having the children actively involved in the creation of the 3D objects that make up the worlds and in game design, we are fostering a sense of efficacy that allows them to actively work on the world surrounding them and change it. In this paper, we summarize our attempts, especially our experience of constructing a VR world with children in which the immune system of the human body is turned into a serious game. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The recent COVID pandemic has demonstrated that distance learning is no longer a function of broadcasting conventional classroom content to a decentralized audience. Rather than perpetuate disengaged dissemination of content commonplace in in-person teaching environments, educators have aspired to elicit engagement with diverse and rich content available on the internet. This is merely a harbinger of increased demand by students and educators alike for more robust and interactive content. To meet this ambition, an initiative to create a virtual simulation for architecture students to immerse themselves in a historic Canadian First Nations settlement from centuries in the past to better understand the parallels between indigenous approaches to architecture and contemporary praxis. Drawing upon video game infrastructure, the downloadable content fostered accurate and detailed depictions of various building systems as reconstructed as a collaboration between architecture, archaeology, and game design faculty. Rather than simply presented with authoritative facts, within this highly detailed open world, students were able to engage and explore content on their own in understanding the commonalities with contemporary design strategies that provided a greater experiential learning capacity. © 2022 ACM.
ABSTRACT
As part of a Dutch Science Foundation project called T-TRIPP, the authors developed the serious game Cards for Biosafety. The aim of Cards for Biosafety is to let young biotechnology researchers learn more about biosafety. Analyses of workshops with researchers from the biotechnology domain as well as results of interviews with several biosafety officers clearly indicated the need for such a serious game with a focus on educational learning. Cards for Biosafety is a physical (also playable online on Tabletopia) round-based card game and playable with up to eight players. The game itself consists of scenario, risk and measure cards, and the task of the players is to choose risk and measure cards that fit the scenario explained by the facilitator at the beginning of each round. To test the efficiency of Cards for Biosafety as a learning tool, the authors conducted two online-workshops with twelve participants. The results of these sessions have not only shown that Cards for Biosafety is a well-designed game, but also a successful game to achieve the intended learning goal. In addition, the authors recognized that ‘fun’ is an important element in the game which leads to ‘learning’ in a very effective way. Future research should focus on the role of such positive states in serious games and their influence on learning outcomes. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Being an executive function, cognitive flexibility is one of the skills that allows a person to accomplish tasks, specifically the ability to change mental states. Proper executive function is essential in a society centered on work and productivity, especially with the increased demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to design and develop a point-and-click adventure video game that teaches players about the role and nature of cognitive flexibility, and to measure its effectiveness. Most people don’t understand that one’s surroundings and mental state can affect productivity and executive functioning, and instead it is stigmatized. By understanding the role that cognitive flexibility plays in everyday life, people can better understand their own capabilities and limits. The game is designed first by analyzing how cognitive flexibility is trained in childhood and adolescence, then enforced in adulthood. Certain concepts of cognitive flexibility are directly mapped to mechanics in the game, and puzzles are used to lead players to understand the applications of cognitive flexibility. The game will be playtested to measure whether participants gained any new insights after playing. They will also be given the option to be interviewed two weeks after to measure whether the techniques had any impact on their lives after the initial playtest. To illustrate points of interest, a player’s mouse click activity while playing will be tracked. This highlights which puzzles the players struggled with and how they approached them, and can identify what aspects of the game’s design were effective in relaying information. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.