D3.1 Instructional Designs for Real-time Feedback

The main objective of METALOGUE is to produce a multimodal dialogue system that is able to implement an interactive behaviour that seems natural to users and is flexible enough to exploit the full potential of multimodal interaction. The METALOGUE system will be arranged in the context of educational use-case scenarios, i.e. for training active citizens (Youth Parliament) and call centre employees. This deliverable describes the intended real-time feedback and reflection in-action support to support the training. Real-time feedback informs learners how they perform key skills and enables them to monitor their progress and thus reflect in-action. This deliverable examines the theoretical considerations of reflection in-action, what type of data is available and should be used, the timing and type of real-time feedback and, finally, concludes with an instructional design blueprint giving a global outline of a set of tasks with stepwise increasing complexity and the feedback proposed.The underlying research project is partly funded by the METALOGUE project. METALOGUE is a Seventh Framework Programme collaborative project funded by the European Commission, grant agreement number: 611073 (http://www.metalogue.eu)

Role-Playing Game and Learning for Young People About Sustainable Development Stakes: An Experiment in Transferring and Adapting Interdisciplinary Scientific Knowledge

The study refers to the interactions between socio-economic and natural dynamics in an island biosphere reserve by using companion modelling. This approach provides scientific results and involves interdisciplinarity. In the second phase of the study, we transferred knowledge by adapting the main research output, a role-playing game, to young people. Our goal was to introduce interactions between social and ecological systems, coastal dynamics and integrated management. Adapting the game required close collaboration between the scientists and educators in order to transform both its substance and form and to run it with an easy-to-handle ergonomic platform.Children Education, Multi-Agent Environment, Role-Playing Game

Observing, Coaching and Reflecting: A Multi-modal Natural Language-based Dialogue System in a Learning Context

The Metalogue project aims to develop a multi-modal, multi-party dialogue system with metacognitive abilities that will advance our understanding of natural conversational human-machine interaction and dialogue interfaces. This paper introduces the vision for the system and discusses its application in the context of debate skills training where it has the potential to provide learners with a rich, immersive experience. In particular, it considers a potentially powerful learning analytics tool in the form of a performance reflection dashboard

Balancing individualism and collectivism: user-centric policy design to enhance evolutionary development and to address complex needs

The paper discusses research on representation, accountability and sustainability based on testing out ideas with those who are to be affected by the decision-making process. The paper reflects on the relevance of participation for science, democracy and governance in policy development

Toward Artificial Argumentation

The field of computational models of argument is emerging as an important aspect of artificial intelligence research. The reason for this is based on the recognition that if we are to develop robust intelligent systems, then it is imperative that they can handle incomplete and inconsistent information in a way that somehow emulates the way humans tackle such a complex task. And one of the key ways that humans do this is to use argumentation - either internally, by evaluating arguments and counterarguments - or externally, by for instance entering into a discussion or debate where arguments are exchanged. As we report in this review, recent developments in the field are leading to technology for artificial argumentation, in the legal, medical, and e-government domains, and interesting tools for argument mining, for debating technologies, and for argumentation solvers are emerging

A co-creativity theoretical framework to foster and evaluate the presence of wise humanising creativity in virtual learning environments (VLEs)

PublishedThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.Wise humanising creativity (WHC) is creativity guided by ethical action, meaning it is mindful of its consequences and is empowering, offering far greater shared hope for the future than the competitive mentality that pervades most education systems. Understanding how virtual learning environments (VLEs) can foster WHC is becoming exceedingly important because it problematizes the marketisation of childhood and youth. It also offers new ways of considering educational futures including implications for the theoretical understanding of creativity within VLEs. We report on the theoretical development of the concept of WHC within C2Learn, a three-year project designing a digital gaming environment that provides children and young people with multiple opportunities to engage in co-creativity to foster their WHC. C2Learn is the first time WHC has actively been conceptualised in a digital context. We present our over-arching co-creativity conceptual framework which has been developed to frame the specific kind of co-creativity that is envisaged within C2Learn’s VLE. Drawing on that framework, we present a co-creativity assessment methodology specifically focused on evaluating the presence of WHC. We argue that leveraging WHC within VLEs broadens perspectives on the purposes of education, as this ethically framed creativity foregrounds the role of values in generating fundamental small-scale creative change through ‘journeys of becoming’ that have the potential to generate ‘quiet revolutions’ or small cumulative, incremental changes over time which are meaningful to a particular community.The C2Learn project has been supported by the European Commission through the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), under grant agreement no 318480 (November 2012–October 2015). The authors would also like to acknowledge the work of Andrew (Chin Chuan) Chong, who assisted in the design of the C2Learn Creativity Wheels. Finally we would like to remember Professor Anna Author 3 who sadly died during this project. It is because of Anna’s foresight and vision that our work on the C2Learn project was possible. Despite missing Anna, we are glad to have been able to see the project through to fruition so that children, young people and teachers across Europe can benefit from project outcomes inspired by Anna and her collaborative ideas and work on creativity in education

The potential of video games for exploring deconstructionist history

This thesis examines the potential of historical video games for exploring deconstructionist history. Historical video games have become one of the most popular and accessible forms of historical narratives in the 21st century, forming a key part of public engagement with history. This popularity has also placed these games under growing scrutiny, including calls for critically analysing their role in the construction and representation of historical narratives and epistemologies. For example, addressing topics like the emphasis on military history, the dominance of western perspectives and contexts, or teleological notions of progress. Such studies have become a central focus of historical video game studies, which has developed approaches for exploring how particular forms of historiographical representation and narrative arise and become embedded within historical video games. This thesis develops a unique contribution to these debates by focusing on a deconstructionist approach to history. Defined by historian Alun Munslow (2007), the deconstructionist approach presents history as a constructed narrative and aims to identify discourses behind the process of writing history. In video games, the control that players have over the narrative experience can be described as unintentionally embedding a deconstructionist perspective. Expanding on this argument, this research addressed how formal aspects of the medium exert pressure over epistemology and how historiographical ideas can consciously be shared with players. In contrast with previous approaches to the study of historical video games, this thesis goes beyond formal analysis of existing games, and includes design and reception perspectives. The arrangement of this study drew insights from several interdisciplinary fields, including the digital humanities, design and cultural studies. The result was a research through design methodology which engaged in the design, production, and evaluation of a historical video game prototype. Through the design process, the study set out to identify, implement, and test aspects of the medium that can emphasise a deconstructionist approach and allow players to reflect on their conceptualisation of history. This process involved multiple stages of data gathering and analysis. The results show that perceptions of historical video games are marked by tensions between what is seen as historical and what is seen as fictional or ludic. This thesis proposes a framework to navigate through these tensions, and uses it to develop a video game prototype, Time Historians. The evaluation of this prototype shows that players recognised the deconstructionist approach and openly discussed historiography. The findings indicate the feasibility of intentionally embedding a deconstructionist historiographical approach by relying on core aspects of the medium and navigating through the discourses surrounding it. The main contributions of the study include: a new approach for the analysis of historical video games; methodological reflections on the interdisciplinary combination of video game design and history; a set of epistemological guidelines for the design of historical video games; and new reflections on the role of video games as public history. Finally, this thesis expands on the discussions about historical video games and epistemology, offering a design-based perspective to approach this issue and unveiling further considerations on the potential of this medium