Multiplayer mechanism design for soil tillage serious game

The primary goal of Serious Games is not only for fun but also for lesson. In learning the first stage of soil tillage which using the mouldboard plow, a proper understanding is needed so that the soil tillage process will follow the needs of plant growth. The use of serious games as a study instrument for soil tillage is under the concept of digital game-based learning (DGBL). The problem of players when playing serious games is less motivated to play because the serious game system and scenario are less challenging. That challenges accelerate the shape of knowledge and experience when playing the games (user experience). By referring to the Learning Mechanics Gaming Mechanics (LM-GM) model, which is based on multiplayer in serious games, hopefully the learning process of land management using the mouldboard plow can be optimized. This process can increase learning motivation and elevate the user experience. This research results a design concept of a learning mechanism and a game mechanism for a serious multiplayer game of soil tillage with a mouldboard plow. There are three types of learning mechanisms in conceptual and concrete components, also six types of game mechanisms that can be used as a reference for the formation of multiplayer serious games and the increase player motivation

Climate Change Games as Boundary Objects: Fostering Dialogic Communication within Stakeholder Engagement

Rising waters and the increasing devastation of flood events make coastal resilience a significant issue in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, particularly in the city of Norfolk. Enhancing resilience requires ongoing stakeholder engagement designed to invite dialogue while encouraging cross-jurisdictional collaboration and comprehensive problem-solving. Climate change games have been employed to support these endeavors. This dissertation provides a response to the following research questions: 1) What is the origin of the climate change game genre? 2) Why are key stakeholders in coastal resilience using climate change games? And 3) how do these games operate for these key stakeholders? To answer these questions, I focused on two games used in resilience-related stakeholder engagement workshops in 2018 in Coastal Virginia: the Multi-hazard Tournament (MHT) and the Game of Floods. I conducted semistructured observational field notes and survey research, including interview and questionnaires, followed by thematic analysis according to notions of Susan Leigh Star and James Griesemer’s (1989) boundary objects. Designed for a wide range of contexts, including public outreach, education, training, and stakeholder engagement, I found that the CC game genre emerges from (and is a manifestation of) a number of related traditions: technical communication, urban planning, modeling and simulation, and game studies—fields that are, themselves, intertwined with a broad array of disciplines. These games are complex and idiosyncratic; while no one disciplinary tradition can adequately explain their work, the notion of boundary objects can. These games are boundary objects (a manifestation of a range of disciplinary traditions), and they operate as boundary objects for these key stakeholders (encouraging dialogic communication among diverse audiences). I merge multidisciplinary scholarship with data from survey research to generate a rhetorical boundary work heuristic that articulates the goals of these games: foster boundary work for varied audiences within intense design periods using charrette and game design strategies. I analyze the MHT and the Game of Floods according to this heuristic, demonstrating that, while both games work toward these goals, more could be done to enhance their boundary work, and I close with key takeaways for practitioners to use as they continue developing and employing CC games

Games for a new climate: experiencing the complexity of future risks

This repository item contains a single issue of the Pardee Center Task Force Reports, a publication series that began publishing in 2009 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future.This report is a product of the Pardee Center Task Force on Games for a New Climate, which met at Pardee House at Boston University in March 2012. The 12-member Task Force was convened on behalf of the Pardee Center by Visiting Research Fellow Pablo Suarez in collaboration with the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre to “explore the potential of participatory, game-based processes for accelerating learning, fostering dialogue, and promoting action through real-world decisions affecting the longer-range future, with an emphasis on humanitarian and development work, particularly involving climate risk management.” Compiled and edited by Janot Mendler de Suarez, Pablo Suarez and Carina Bachofen, the report includes contributions from all of the Task Force members and provides a detailed exploration of the current and potential ways in which games can be used to help a variety of stakeholders – including subsistence farmers, humanitarian workers, scientists, policymakers, and donors – to both understand and experience the difficulty and risks involved related to decision-making in a complex and uncertain future. The dozen Task Force experts who contributed to the report represent academic institutions, humanitarian organization, other non-governmental organizations, and game design firms with backgrounds ranging from climate modeling and anthropology to community-level disaster management and national and global policymaking as well as game design.Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centr

An analysis of social interaction between novice older adults when learning gesture-based skills through simple digital games

This paper reports three exploratory empirical studies with older adults that had little or no prior experience with interactive technologies. The participants were introduced to interactive technology by playing games on touchscreens, playing in pairs with the assistance of a mentor. We focus on two principle aspects, the peer-to-peer interaction during these sessions, and the role of the mentor in progressing the sessions. In the case of peer-to-peer interaction we looked for ways in which players supported each other during interaction to assess the role of peer interaction in this context. In the case of mentoring, we examined the efficacy of a minimalist approach where verbal encouragement, suggestions or (in the last resort) intervention are used to provide support to learners. The sessions showed that learners typically could play and learn basic manipulations independently after initial help and guidance from mentors. We also found that peer interaction, both in verbal and non-verbal communication and cooperative action was broadly a positive influence within sessions, suggesting that there is significant value in building confidence as well as in learning

UNLOCKing creative & innovative teaching in higher education extended abstracts

No abstract available.publishe

A Phenomenological Examination of Virtual Game Developers\u27 Experiences Using Jacob\u27s Ladder Pre-Production Design Tactic

Edutainment refers to curriculum and instruction designed with a clear educational purpose, including multi-faceted virtual learning game design. Tools such as the Jacob\u27s Ladder pre-production design tactic have been developed to ensure that voices of both engineers and educators are heard. However, it is unclear how development team members experience and perceive their collaborative work while designing a virtual game using such tactics. This phenomenological study examined the experiences of agile software team members using Jacob\u27s Ladder pre-production design as an interdisciplinary collaboration tool while designing a virtual learning game. Seven design team members (3 educators and 4 engineers) participated in semi-structured interviews and transcripts were analyzed via an inductive coding process that led to the development of key themes. Findings indicated that using Jacob\u27s Ladder design tactic influenced the experience of the team by keeping the team focused on common goals and learner needs, organizing the team work, supporting interdisciplinary collaboration, and promoting shared understandings of the software platform limitations. Individuals played various roles, appreciated diverse views, recognized prior experience and idea sharing, and felt the design tactic supported flexibility for interdisciplinary collaboration. By linking integration strategies to interdisciplinary collaboration, findings from this study may be used by organizational leaders to consider best practices in team building for virtual learning game design, which will further support the development of effective games and growth of the edutainment industry

Digital games: motivation, engagement and informal learning

This thesis investigates the relationships between motivation, engagement and informal learning, with respect to digital games and adult players. Following the reconceptualisation of motivation and engagement (as forms of micro and macro level involvement respectively) three linked studies were conducted. In the first study, 30 players were interviewed via email about their gaming experiences. The resulting set of learning categories and themes drew attention to learning on a game, skill and personal level, which arose from micro-level gameplay and macro-level interaction with wider communities and resources. The second investigation consisted of eight case studies that examined how involvement and learning come together in practice. Participants were observed in the lab during two gameplay sessions and kept gaming diaries over a three week period. A method for categorising game-play breakdowns and breakthroughs (relating to action, understanding and involvement) was developed in order to analyse several hours of gameplay footage. The previous categories and themes were also applied to the data. The findings suggested a relationship between macro-involvement and player identity, which was further investigated by a third survey study (with 232 respondents). The survey helped to establish a link between identity, involvement, and learning; the more strongly someone identifies as a gamer, the more likely they are to learn from their involvement in gaming practice. Four main contributions are presented: (1) an empirical account of how informal learning occurs as a result of micro and macro-involvement within a gaming context, (2) an in-depth understanding of how breakdowns and breakthroughs relate to each other during play, (3) a set of categories that represent the range of learning experienced by players, and (4) a consideration of the role player identity serves with respect to learning and involvement

Exploring the Impact of the Khan Academy Digital Platform on Elementary Students\u27 Anxiety and Problem-Solving Skills During the post Covid-19 Pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic forced significant educational process changes, shifting the emphasis from traditional in-person instruction to online learning. This study analyzes the impact of the Khan Academy Kids learning application on elementary students\u27 anxiety and problem-solving skills in the aftermath of the pandemic. The study explores the efficacy of digital games, essential crisis-related knowledge and skills, as well as the usefulness of various digital learning strategies for elementary school students. A mixed-method research approach was used to answer the research questions. The Constructivist Learning Theory and Scaffolding Theory of Learning were used as conceptual frameworks in the research. The study found the Khan Academy Kid app enhances students\u27 engagement, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities. Results imply that adaptability, problem-solving skills, resilience, and emotional stability are vital in a crisis. Although the platform may reduce anxiety and positively impact student engagement, it struggles to address complex forms of anxiety, underscoring a need for enhanced anxiety management solutions

Virtual Interactions With Real-agents For Sustainable Natural Resource Management

Common pool resource management systems are complex to manage due to the absence of a clear understanding of the effects of users’ behavioral characteristics. Non-cooperative decision making based on individual rationality (as opposed to group rationality) and a tendency to free ride due to lack of trust and information about other users’ behavior creates externalities and can lead to tragedy of the commons without intervention by a regulator. Nevertheless, even regulatory institutions often fail to sustain natural common pool resources in the absence of clear understanding of the responses of multiple heterogeneous decision makers to different regulation schemes. While modeling can help with our understanding of complex coupled human-natural systems, past research has not been able to realistically simulate these systems for two major limitations: 1) lack of computational capacity and proper mathematical models for solving distributed systems with self-optimizing agents; and 2) lack of enough information about users’ characteristics in common pool resource systems due to absence of reliable monitoring information. Recently, different studies have tried to address the first limitation by developing agent-based models, which can be appropriately handled with today’s computational capacity. While these models are more realistic than the social planner’s models which have been traditionally used in the field, they normally rely on different heuristics for characterizing users’ behavior and incorporating heterogeneity. This work is a step-forward in addressing the second limitation, suggesting an efficient method for collecting information on diverse behavioral characteristics of real agents for incorporation in distributed agent-based models. Gaming in interactive virtual environments is suggested as a reliable method for understanding different variables that promote sustainable resource use through observation of decision making and iii behavior of the resource system beneficiaries under various institutional frameworks and policies. A review of educational or serious games for environmental management was undertaken to determine an appropriate game for collecting information on real-agents and also to investigate the state of environmental management games and their potential as an educational tool. A web-based groundwater sharing simulation game—Irrigania—was selected to analyze the behavior of real agents under different common pool resource management institutions. Participants included graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Central Florida and Lund University. Information was collected on participants’ resource use, behavior and mindset under different institutional settings through observation and discussion with participants. Preliminary use of water resources gaming suggests communication, cooperation, information disclosure, trust, credibility and social learning between beneficiaries as factors promoting a shift towards sustainable resource use. Additionally, Irrigania was determined to be an effective tool for complementing traditional lecture-based teaching of complex concepts related to sustainable natural resource management. The different behavioral groups identified in the study can be used for improved simulation of multi-agent groundwater management systems