Innovating Pedagogy 2017: Exploring new forms of teaching, learning and assessment, to guide educators and policy makers. Open University Innovation Report 6

This series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. This sixth report proposes ten innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education. To produce it, a group of academics at the Institute of Educational Technology in The Open University collaborated with researchers from the Learning In a NetworKed Society (LINKS) Israeli Center of Research Excellence (I-CORE). Themes: • Big-data inquiry: thinking with data • Learners making science • Navigating post-truth societies • Immersive learning • Learning with internal values • Student-led analytics • Intergroup empathy • Humanistic knowledge-building communities • Open Textbooks • Spaced Learnin

Second Life: Implications for Counselor Education

Virtual world technology is becoming an invaluable tool. Increasingly, institutions of higher learning are using virtual world technology to facilitate education and communication. Second Life (SL) is a three dimension virtual world which demonstrated usefulness for the counseling profession. This article seeks to elucidate the potential of SL for programs that facilitate counselor education, training and preparation. Implications for counselor education and future research are discussed

Process Drama in the Virtual World - A Survey

Process drama is a form of improvisational drama where the focus is on the process rather than the product. This form of improvisational activities has been used extensively in many domains. Role play, for example, has been used in health therapy as well as for training health personnel. Creative drama is a form of process drama that focuses on the use of story dramatization techniques; it has been extensively used to promote language and literature skills as well as creative and critical thinking. In these domains process drama exhibit itself in physical space. Recently, there have been many advances in technology that allows process drama to be exhibited in virtual space. In this article, we look at the form and structure of process drama. We specifically discuss process drama, especially Creative Drama. We outline several key factors of process drama that affect its effectiveness as a learning vehicle, including involvement and reflection. Through this lens, we survey several cases of virtual process drama both as a single person experience as well as a multiuser internet-based virtual experience

The Virtual University and Avatar Technology: E-learning Through Future Technology

E-learning gains increasingly importance in academic education. Beyond present distance learning technologies a new opportunity emerges by the use of advanced avatar technology. Virtual robots acting in an environment of a virtual campus offer opportunities of advanced learning experiences. Human Machine Interaction (HMI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can bridge time zones and ease professional constraints of mature students. Undergraduate students may use such technology to build up topics of their studies beyond taught lectures. Objectives of the paper are to research the options, extent and limitations of avatar technology for academic studies in under- and postgraduate courses and to discuss students' potential acceptance or rejection of interaction with AI. The research method is a case study based on Sir Tony Dyson's avatar technology iBot2000. Sir Tony is a worldwide acknowledged robot specialist, creator of Star Wars' R2D2, who developed in recent years the iBot2000 technology, intelligent avatars adaptable to different environments with the availability to speak up to eight different languages and capable to provide logic answers to questions asked. This technology underwent many prototypes with the latest specific goal to offer blended E-learning entering the field of the virtual 3-D university extending Web2.0 to Web3.0 (Dyson. 2009). Sir Tony included his vast experiences gained in his personal (teaching) work with children for which he received his knighthood. The data was mainly collected through interviews with Sir Tony Dyson, which helps discover the inventor’s view on why such technology is of advantage for academic studies. Based on interviews with Sir Tony, this research critically analyses the options, richness and restrictions, which avatar (iBot2000) technology may add to academic studies. The conclusion will discuss the opportunities, which avatar technology may be able to bring to learning and teaching activities, and the foreseeable limitations – the amount of resources required and the complexity to build a fully integrated virtual 3-D campus. Key Words: virtual learning, avatar technology, iBot2000, virtual universit

Designing player agency experiences for environmental awareness gameplay

This study applies the creation of a survival-themed video game called Little Farm Island. The goal of the game is to provide players with an immersive and challenging survival experience that tests their problem-solving skills and decision-making abilities. The game Little Farm Island is set in a low poly environment with limited resources and features character customization to enhance player immersion. The objective of this project is to design and implement gameplay mechanics that can effectively increase player engagement and enjoyment, evaluating the effectiveness of these mechanics through playtesting and analysis based on survey data gathered by players. Through the development process, various mechanics were enforced and tested, including growing crops and open-world exploration. The results of the playtesting showed the potential of this game for promoting environmental awareness and problem-solving skills through engaging gameplay. In addition, the game was found to provide players with knowledge and skills that can be applied in real life, and the importance of caring strategies for increasing player satisfaction and happiness through meaningful gameplay experiences. This project demonstrates that is possible to create an engaging and immersive survival game through the use of well-implemented mechanics and character customization.O jogo Little Farm Island é ambientado em um ambiente low poly com recursos limitados e conta com personalização de personagem para aumentar an imersão do jogador. O objetivo deste projeto é implementar mecânicas de jogo que aumentem efetivamente o seu engajamento e a felicidade dos jogadores durante a jogabilidade, avaliando a eficácia dessas mecânicas por meio de testes provenientes da sessão de jogo e a análise com base em um questionário realizado para os jogadores do mesmo. Durante o processo de desenvolvimento, várias mecânicas foram implementadas e testadas, incluindo o cultivo de plantas e a exploração do mundo aberto disponível no jogo. Os resultados dos testes mostraram o potencial deste jogo para promover a conscientização ambiental e habilidades de resolução de problemas por meio de jogabilidade cativante. O jogo fornece aos jogadores conhecimentos e habilidades que podem ser aplicados na vida real em meio de consciencialização ambiental, criando estratégias úteis para futuros desenvolvedores de jogos usarem mecânicas e experiências significativas construidas neste estudo. Demonstrando que é possível criar um jogo de sobrevivência imersivo através do uso de mecânicas bem estruturadas, exemplificando que a personalização do personagem implementado para Little Farm Island cria um sentido de imersão entre jogador e jogo positivamente

Proceedings of the CUNY Games Conference 6.0

The CUNY Games Network is an organization dedicated to encouraging research, scholarship and teaching in the developing field of games-based learning. We connect educators from every campus and discipline at CUNY and beyond who are interested in digital and non-digital games, simulations, and other forms of interactive teaching and inquiry-based learning. These proceedings summarize the CUNY Games Conference 6.0, where scholars shared research findings at a three-day event to promote and discuss game-based pedagogy in higher education. Presenters could share findings in oral presentations, posters, demos, or play testing sessions. The conference also included workshops on how to modify existing games for the classroom, how to incorporate elements of play into simulations and critical thinking activities, math games, and how to create computer games

A review of virtual reality technologies in the field of communication disability: implications for practice and research.

BACKGROUND: Technology devices and applications including virtual reality (VR) are increasingly used in healthcare research and practice as tools to promote health and wellbeing. However, there is limited research examining the potential for VR to enable improved communication for people with communication disability. AIMS: To review: (a) current research using VR in speech-language pathology; and (b) the ethical and safety considerations of VR research, to inform an agenda for future research applying VR in the field of speech-language pathology. MAIN CONTRIBUTION: This review reveals that there is an emergent body of literature applying VR to improve or develop physical, psychological and communication interventions. Use of non-immersive virtual environments to provide speech-language pathology assessment or intervention for people with communication disability has demonstrated positive outcomes, with emerging evidence of the transfer of functional communication skills from virtual to real-world environments. However, the use of VR technology and immersive virtual environments in communication disability practice and research introduces safety and ethical issues that must be carefully considered. CONCLUSIONS: Research employing VR is in its infancy in the field of speech-language pathology. Early evidence from other healthcare disciplines suggests that VR is an engaging means of delivering immersive and interactive training to build functional skills that can be generalized to the real world. While the introduction of new technology requires careful consideration of research ethics and patient safety, future VR communication research could proceed safely with adequate engagement of interdisciplinary teams and technology specialists. Implications for rehabilitation Immersive virtual reality may be used in rehabilitation to simulate natural environments to practice and develop communication skills. The sense of immersion that can be achieved using virtual reality may promote the generalization of skills learnt during clinical rehabilitation to real-world situations. Ethical and safety considerations, including cybersecurity and cybersickness, must be carefully monitored during all virtual reality research