19,347 research outputs found

    CGAMES'2009

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    An application to improve emotional skills in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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    Dissertação de Mestrado Integrado em Engenharia de EletrĂłnica Industrial e ComputadoresThis dissertation presents a project developed with the aim of promoting emotional skills in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The project involves a serious game and a playware object, which is a physical component that acts as the game controller and allows the user to interactively play the serious game. The playware object has six pressure buttons, each one showing an emoji with a specific facial expression and communicates wirelessly via Bluetooth with the serious game app installed in an Android device. The facial expressions used are: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and neutral/normal. They were applied to the three game activities (imitation, recognition and storytelling). The chain of tests started with an online questionnaire to validate the avatars created to represent the previously mentioned facial expressions in the game (with 114 answers and a mean success rate of 96.2%), which was followed by a usability test of the application (serious game and playware object) with six typically developing children (with 94.4% answer accuracy). Finally, the three game activities were tested with six children with ASD in three/four sessions. Due to the small group test and the short number of sessions, the goal was to test the acceptance of the game rather than the usersÂŽ improvement in the activity. It is worth referring that both the serious game and the playware object had a high level of approval from the children and they expressed their interest during the activities. With this project it was intended to contribute to the development of pedagogical resources to be used by professionals and families in the support of children with ASD.Esta dissertação apresenta um projeto desenvolvido com o objetivo de promover capacidades emocionais em crianças com Perturbação do Espectro do Autismo. Este projeto envolve um jogo sĂ©rio e um objeto playware, que Ă© um componente fĂ­sico que funciona como controlador de jogo e permite que o utilizador jogue o jogo sĂ©rio de uma forma interativa. O objeto playware tem seis botĂ”es de pressĂŁo, cada um com um emoji com uma expressĂŁo facial especĂ­fica, e comunica sem fios por Bluetooth com a aplicação do jogo sĂ©rio instalada no dispositivo Android. As expressĂ”es faciais usadas sĂŁo: felicidade, tristeza, medo, raiva, surpresa e neutro/normal. Estas foram aplicadas Ă s trĂȘs diferentes atividades de jogo (imitar, reconhecer e contar histĂłrias). A cadeia de testes começou com um questionĂĄrio online para validar os avatares criados para representar as expressĂ”es faciais previamente mencionadas no jogo (com 114 submissĂ”es e uma taxa mĂ©dia de sucesso de 96,2%), seguido de um teste de usabilidade da aplicação (jogo sĂ©rio e objeto playware) com seis crianças tipicamente desenvolvidas (com 94,4% de respostas corretas). Por fim, as trĂȘs atividades de jogo foram testadas com seis crianças com Perturbação do Espectro do Autismo durante 3 a 4 sessĂ”es. Devido Ă  pequena dimensĂŁo do grupo de teste e ao baixo nĂșmero de sessĂ”es, o objetivo foi testar a aceitação do jogo em vez da evolução das capacidades dos utilizadores na atividade. É importante referir que tanto o jogo sĂ©rio como o objeto playware tiveram um alto nĂ­vel de aprovação por parte das crianças que expressaram o seu interesse durante as atividades. Este projeto pretende contribuir para o desenvolvimento de recursos pedagĂłgicos a serem usados por profissionais e famĂ­lias no apoio a crianças com Perturbação do Espectro do Autismo

    How can exploratory learning with games and simulations within the curriculum be most effectively evaluated?

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    There have been few attempts to introduce frameworks that can help support tutors evaluate educational games and simulations that can be most effective in their particular learning context and subject area. The lack of a dedicated framework has produced a significant impediment for uptake of games and simulations particularly in formal learning contexts. This paper aims to address this shortcoming by introducing a four-dimensional framework for helping tutors to evaluate the potential of using games- and simulation- based learning in their practice, and to support more critical approaches to this form of games and simulations. The four-dimensional framework is applied to two examples from practice to test its efficacy and structure critical reflection upon practice

    Their memory:exploring veterans’ voices, virtual reality and collective memory

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    This paper focuses on the virtual reality (VR) project Their Memory and details the development and evaluation of virtual reality environments and experiences with respect to its impact on young people (14-35 demographic) with the narratives of veterans in Scotland. As part of the AHRC Immersive Experiences program, Their Memory was created to explore how game design techniques and immersive technology could be used to enhance existing historical research and enrich narratives to bring expansive experiences to hard-to-reach audiences. The project worked directly with the veterans’ charity, Poppyscotland, to create an environment and experience that would resonate with new audiences, and explore documentary and storytelling techniques for the commemoration of war and conflict. The design of the project evolved through co-design sessions with veterans and young people and culminated in the creation of a short, thought-provoking, narrative-driven experience. The VR experience enabled players to connect with the memories of veterans in Scotland and exploring the different conflicts or situations they experienced and how they make sense of them. The project brought together cross-sector expertise to research how immersive experiences can help memory-based organizations in engaging with wider audiences, raise awareness, and diversify current learning outputs. The paper details the design and development of the Virtual Reality project, through co-design, and how this engaged the audience and evolved the experience created. The paper includes a summative evaluation of events conducted with schoolchildren to assess the project and concludes with how the project evidences impact upon audiences and the potential for both technology and the experience

    10 simple rules to create a serious game, illustrated with examples from structural biology

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    Serious scientific games are games whose purpose is not only fun. In the field of science, the serious goals include crucial activities for scientists: outreach, teaching and research. The number of serious games is increasing rapidly, in particular citizen science games, games that allow people to produce and/or analyze scientific data. Interestingly, it is possible to build a set of rules providing a guideline to create or improve serious games. We present arguments gathered from our own experience ( Phylo , DocMolecules , HiRE-RNA contest and Pangu) as well as examples from the growing literature on scientific serious games

    Augmented Reality Mobile App for Children Learning on Colour

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    This document describes the process developing an Augmented Reality (AR) of mobile application on colour by using storybook. By using camera on the smartphone or tablet, the user or the child could view the superimposed virtual three dimensional (3D) objects and images in a fun and interactive manner using the marker-less physical colour book as the interaction tool. Learning colour since young age helps children to distinguish colours and they can choose their favourite colours. In addition, it helps them to express themselves, build the confident and more easy-going by choosing the desired colours. Otherwise, they will be tend to have difficulties in making choices in their future life. Many researchers and journalists have done their research on the topic and emphasized on the importance colour for children in the early age is beneficial for their successful in future

    Mobile heritage practices. Implications for scholarly research, user experience design, and evaluation methods using mobile apps.

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    Mobile heritage apps have become one of the most popular means for audience engagement and curation of museum collections and heritage contexts. This raises practical and ethical questions for both researchers and practitioners, such as: what kind of audience engagement can be built using mobile apps? what are the current approaches? how can audience engagement with these experience be evaluated? how can those experiences be made more resilient, and in turn sustainable? In this thesis I explore experience design scholarships together with personal professional insights to analyse digital heritage practices with a view to accelerating thinking about and critique of mobile apps in particular. As a result, the chapters that follow here look at the evolution of digital heritage practices, examining the cultural, societal, and technological contexts in which mobile heritage apps are developed by the creative media industry, the academic institutions, and how these forces are shaping the user experience design methods. Drawing from studies in digital (critical) heritage, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and design thinking, this thesis provides a critical analysis of the development and use of mobile practices for the heritage. Furthermore, through an empirical and embedded approach to research, the thesis also presents auto-ethnographic case studies in order to show evidence that mobile experiences conceptualised by more organic design approaches, can result in more resilient and sustainable heritage practices. By doing so, this thesis encourages a renewed understanding of the pivotal role of these practices in the broader sociocultural, political and environmental changes.AHRC REAC
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