Eliciting and modelling expertise for serious games in project management

Without achieving a clear understanding of the learning domain, it is difficult to develop a successful serious game that enables users to achieve the desired learning outcomes. Thus, the first step in serious game design is to establish an understanding of the particular learning domain, usually through consultation with domain experts. Whilst game design is inherently a creative process, we believe the capturing of the knowledge domain can be systematised and we present a structured approach to knowledge elicitation and representation as a basis for serious game design. We have adapted and extended the applied cognitive task analysis (ACTA) method and have combined it with additional knowledge representation frameworks. We explain how the outputs of this approach can inform the game mechanic and the development of non-player characters, and apply it to the design of a serious game aimed at reducing time-to-competence in soft project management skills for professionals working in corporate environments. A total of 26 domain experts from five different countries were involved in a two-stage interview process. The interviews yielded more than 300 task elements, and information about the cognition underlying the more challenging tasks. This data was incorporated into several representation frameworks and used to indicate features to be implemented in the game and the game mechanics of the supported features. © 2011 International Federation for Information Processing

Water Infrastructures Facing Sustainable Development Challenges: Integrated Evaluation of Impacts of Dams on Regional Development in Morocco

During the past century, large hydraulic infrastructures have been considered as the most effective tools for increasing water supply and rationalise water management. According to this approach, large infrastructures are seen as catalysts for territorial development and economic progress. More recently, international surveys of results of water supply policies and performances of large dams, show that these structures need to be integrated in more comprehensive Integrated Water Resource Management strategies at catchments’ scale, to promote equitable and sustainable regional development. The aim of this communication is to present the role of large hydraulic infrastructures within the regional development dynamics with particular attention to the Sebou basin in Morocco, in order to assess some relevant impacts on local communities and their ecosystems. The Sebou region is one of the most important basins in Morocco, in the context of the national strategies and policies of management of water resources, established by the Water Law of 1995. The development of hydraulic infrastructures in the Sebou Basin begun in 1935, with construction of a complex of ten large dams and nine small dams, to provide water for agriculture, domestic and industrial use, and to generate hydropower and control floods, in line with the national water policies that, from the 1960s onwards, looked at large dams as core infrastructures for regional development. A critical view will be given about the coherence of this strategy with the sustainability principles.Water Policy, Morocco, Dams, Sustainable Development, Impacts

Information requirements for enterprise systems

In this paper, we discuss an approach to system requirements engineering, which is based on using models of the responsibilities assigned to agents in a multi-agency system of systems. The responsibility models serve as a basis for identifying the stakeholders that should be considered in establishing the requirements and provide a basis for a structured approach, described here, for information requirements elicitation. We illustrate this approach using a case study drawn from civil emergency management

Leading from the engine room

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. This paper explores relationships and challenges facing teams creating simulation-based learning environments. Drawing on our experience of governance within Australian Indigenous cultures and specific work incidents as case studies, we explore tensions, triumphs and insights occurring during collaborative ventures intended to produce online learning activities. Our view is ‘from the engine room’ - at that point where technology and design expertise reframe creative ‘story boards’ into ‘interactive learning experiences’ requiring productive harnessing of diversity. Creation of scenario-based learning environments requires an understanding of specific content, along with the array of available learning pathways. Appreciating pitfalls likely to hinder the design process is vital. Scenarios use specific, and specialized artefacts and technologies to create interactive learning environments; computer-based technologies make the process even more complex, requiring highly specialized skills to contribute particular elements. More and more people are involved, and a greater number of specializations contribute to the final product. We draw on Human Computer Interaction practices to explore designer - developer interfaces and explore what may be involved in developing aware, conscious leadership of this emergent complexity. Words penned by Harrison (1967) aptly encapsulate our theme - “We were talking about the space between us all”

Serious Play Approaches for Creating, Sharing, and Mobilizing Tacit Knowledge in Cross-disciplinary Settings

abstract: Serious play—the notion of bringing the benefits of play to bear on work-related tasks—is receiving more attention as a remedy to many challenges of the modern knowledge economy. Exploring and defining the role of serious play approaches to facilitate collaborative problem-solving and value creation, this dissertation consists of four related research papers. The first research paper (RP1) reconciles three different conceptualizations of knowledge into a new theory of knowledge. This pluralistic definition allows knowledge to change character across the span of the value creation process. The paper further introduces a model called the Wheel of Knowledge (WoK) for mobilizing knowledge throughout the different knowledge conversions of the value creation process. The second research paper (RP2) advocates that serious play can scaffold and accelerate these knowledge conversion processes, it disaggregates existing serious play approaches, and starts to operationalize the WoK by using it to match different types of serious play approaches to different types of knowledge conversion challenges. The third research paper (RP3) validates the WoK by sorting the serious play literature according to how it applies to the different knowledge conversion processes. The paper provides a framework for ascertaining the applicability of serious play methods to specific knowledge conversion challenges and identifies under-explored research areas of the serious play field. The fourth research paper (RP4) tests the recommendations of RP3 by applying the LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP) method to a knowledge conversion challenge focused on tacit knowledge sharing. It reports on a mixed-methods, multi-session case study in which LSP was used to facilitate cross-disciplinary dialogue and deliberation about a wicked problem. Results show that LSP is particularly useful in the beginning of a value creation process and that it facilitates socialization and tacit knowledge sharing. Taken together the papers demonstrate the necessity, potential, and application of serious play as a catalyst for the knowledge conversion processes presented in the WoK. It is now clear that different serious play approaches are suitable as respectively: an accelerator for trust-building and collective creativity, as a conduit for iterative innovation, and as a way of making rote tasks more engaging.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Design 201

Innovation in project management education - let’s get serious!

More educators use serious games (e.g., games where the primary objective is learning rather than enjoyment) to enhance learning due to benefits such as improved understanding and engagement. However, using serious games within project management education is not well understood. The aim of this research is to investigate project management serious games in higher education: i) determine the extent of gamification in PMI-accredited project management programs, and ii) survey university students about their experiences playing project management serious games. Two separate mixed-method studies reveal insights about serious games in higher education and where innovations may be leveraged. Traditional statistics were used to analyze quantitative data, and coding was used to analyze the qualitative data. The results from a global survey of ten PMI-accredited university programs suggest that serious games are embryonic but promising. A case study at one university reveals that students enjoy learning through games but caution against using games to formally assess students’ learning. The paper concludes with recommendations for further research and development