Game Design Techniques for Software Engineering Management Education

A Engenharia de Software é uma área com elevada densidade de conteúdos, tendo sido por isso organizada numa base de conhecimento pelo IEEE, de forma a existir um entendimento consistente e comum a todo mundo sobre esta, e também esclarecer o seu âmbito ou todas as diversas áreas a que esta se encontra emparelhada. Tendo em conta tamanha diversidade de conteúdos, é lógico que para cada um deles existam técnicas de ensino de Engenharia de Software que se adequam melhor, tornando mais difícil o seu ensino. Uma das formas de melhorar a captura de conhecimentos é através de jogos, neste caso jogos sérios. Estes têm como objetivo principal a captura e ganho de conhecimento por parte do jogador, através da motivação e atenção deste aos aspetos do jogo que representam o conhecimento que se pretende adquirir. Estes métodos têm-se revelado vantajosos em relação aos métodos mais tradicionais. Visto isto, procura-se identificar os padrões e técnicas de design desses jogos que servem melhor o ensino dos conteúdos de Gestão de Engenharia de Software, tendo em conta as diferentes técnicas e objetivos de ensino referentes a cada um deles. Pretende-se propor uma metodologia de design de jogos sérios, usando padrões de desenho de jogos e relacionando-os com os objetivos de aprendizagem, reduzindo o esforço no design e desenvolvimento dos jogos. O interesse deste problema encontra-se na exploração de novos e melhores métodos de ensino de Gestão de Engenharia de Software, alterando a forma como futuras gerações adquirem todo este conhecimento e experiência. O objetivo deste trabalho de investigação é o desenvolvimento de um mapa semântico dos objetivos educacionais e pedagógicos de Gestão de Engenharia de Software para padrões de desenho de jogos.Software engineering is an area with a wide range of concepts and knowledge, and was therefore organized in a knowledge base by the IEEE, in order to exist a consistent and common understanding to everybody about it, and also to clarify its scope and all the areas to which it is paired. Taking into account such diversity of contents, it is logical that for each one of that concepts, there are teaching techniques that better suit each one, making its education tasks more complex.One way to improve the knowledge capture is through games, serious games in this case. These are mainly intended to improve the capture and gain knowledge by the player, through the motivation and attention to the game aspects that represent the knowledge that is sought. These methods have been proved advantageous compared to more traditional methods. Seen this, we seek to identify patterns and design techniques for these games that best serve the teaching of Software Engineering Management content, taking into account the different techniques and teaching objectives for each of them. We intend to propose a serious games design methodology, using game design patterns and linking them with the learning objectives, reducing the effort in the design and development of those games.The interest of this problem lies in exploring new and better teaching methods for Software Engineering Management, changing the way future generations acquire all this knowledge and experience. The purpose of this research is the development of a semantic map of Software Engineering Management pedagogical and educational goals onto game design patterns

(MU-CTL-01-12) Towards Model Driven Game Engineering in SimSYS: Requirements for the Agile Software Development Process Game

Software Engineering (SE) and Systems Engineering (Sys) are knowledge intensive, specialized, rapidly changing disciplines; their educational infrastructure faces significant challenges including the need to rapidly, widely, and cost effectively introduce new or revised course material; encourage the broad participation of students; address changing student motivations and attitudes; support undergraduate, graduate and lifelong learning; and incorporate the skills needed by industry. Games have a reputation for being fun and engaging; more importantly immersive, requiring deep thinking and complex problem solving. We believe educational games are essential in the next generation of e-learning tools. An extensible, freely available, engaging, problem-based game platform that provides students with an interactive simulated experience closely resembling the activities performed in a (real) industry development project would transform the SE/Sys education infrastructure. Our goal is to extend the state-of-the-art research in SE/Sys education by investigating a game development platform (GDP) from an interdisciplinary perspective (education, game research, and software/systems engineering). A meta-model has been proposed to provide a rigourous foundation that integrates the three disciplines. The GDP is intended to support the semi-automated development of collections of scripted games and their execution, where each game embodies a specific set of learning objectives. The games are scripted using a template based approach. The templates integrate three approaches: use cases; storyboards; and state machines (timed, concurrent, hierarchical state machines). The specification templates capture the structure of the game (Game, Acts, Scenes, Screens, Challenges), storyline, characters (player, non-player, external), graphics, music/sound effects, rules, and so on. The instantiated templates are (manually) transformed into XML game scripts that can be loaded into the SimSYS Game Play Engine. As a game is played, the game play events are logged; they are analyzed to automatically assess a player’s accomplishments and automatically adapt the game play script. Currently, we are manually defining a collection of games. The games are being used to ensure the GDP is flexible and reliable (i.e., the prototype can load and correctly run a variety of game scripts), the ontology is comprehensive, and the templates assist in defining well-organized, modular game scripts. In this report, we present the initial part of an Agile Software Development Process game (Act I, Scenes 1 and 2) that embodies learning objectives related to SE fundamentals (requirements, architecture, testing, process); planning with Gantt charts; working with budgets; and selecting a team for an agile development project. A student player is rewarded in the game by getting hired, scoring points, or getting promoted to lead a project. The game has a variety of settings including a classroom, job fair, and a work environment with meeting rooms, cubicles, and a water cooler station. The main non-player characters include a teacher, boss, and an evil peer. In the future, semi-automated support for creating new game scripts will be explored using a wizard interface. The templates will be formally defined, supporting automated transformation into XML game scripts that can be loaded into the SimSYS Game Engine. We also plan to explore transforming the requirements into a notation that can be imported into a commercial tool that supports Statechart simulation

Computer game development education at university

This paper articulates some of the challenges for computer game development courses at university level. A typical course development of this type is described. The need to include creative methods alongside more formal software development methodologies as core elements of computer game education is proposed and placed within the context of an industry specific framework. The evolutionary nature of the computer game industry requires that computer game development programmes at university should be equally evolutionary and adaptable to change

Reviews

Brian Clegg, Mining The Internet — Information Gathering and Research on the Net, Kogan Page: London, 1999. ISBN: 0–7494–3025–7. Paperback, 147 pages, £9.99

Game Based Learning for Safety and Security Education

Safety and security education are important part of technology related education, because of recent number of increase in safety and security related incidents. Game based learning is an emerging and rapidly advancing forms of computer-assisted instruction. Game based learning for safety and security education enables students to learn concepts and skills without the risk of physical injury and security breach. In this paper, a pedestal grinder safety game and physical security game have been developed using industrial standard modeling and game development software. The average score of the knowledge test of grinder safety game was 82%, which is higher than traditional lecture only instruction method. In addition, the survey of physical security game shows 84% average satisfaction ratio from high school students who played the game during the summer camp. The results of these studies indicated that game based learning method can enhance students' learning without potential harm to the students

Pros and cons gamification and gaming in classroom

The aim of the current work is to assess the challenges that gamification in education are facing nowadays. Benefits and disadvantages of using gamification in classroom are both discussed to offer a clearer view on the impact of using gamification within learning process. Exploratory study cases are provided to investigate the relation between motivation and engagement of the students and gamification in training. Following this idea, a survey was conducted to assess how students behavior and motivation is affected by introducing a single, specific gamification element during a semester learning process. To stimulate competition among students, a ranking type plugin was introduced within the university learning management system used for extramural education. The results prove that motivation decreases by comparison to the previous semester.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Training Competences in Industrial Risk Prevention with Lego® Serious Play®: A Case Study

This paper proposes the use of the Lego® Serious Play® (LSP) methodology as a facilitating tool for the introduction of competences for Industrial Risk Prevention by engineering students from the industrial branch (electrical, electronic, mechanical and technological engineering), presenting the results obtained in the Universities of Cadiz and Seville in the academic years 2017–2019. Current Spanish legislation does not reserve any special legal attribution, nor does it require specific competence in occupational risk prevention for the regulated profession of a technical industrial engineer (Order CIN 351:2009), and only does so in a generic way for that of an industrial engineer (Order CIN 311:2009). However, these universities consider the training in occupational health and safety for these future graduates as an essential objective in order to develop them for their careers in the industry. The approach is based on a series of challenges proposed (risk assessments, safety inspections, accident investigations and fire protection measures, among others), thanks to the use of “gamification” dynamics with Lego® Serious Play®. In order to carry the training out, a set of specific variables (industrial sector, legal and regulatory framework, business organization and production system), and transversal ones (leadership, teamwork, critical thinking and communication), are incorporated. Through group models, it is possible to identify dangerous situations, establish causes, share and discuss alternative proposals and analyze the economic, environmental and organizational impact of the technical solutions studied, as well as take the appropriate decisions, in a creative, stimulating, inclusive and innovative context. In this way, the theoretical knowledge which is acquired is applied to improve safety and health at work and foster the prevention of occupational risks, promoting the commitment, effort, motivation and proactive participation of the student teams.Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities / European Social Fund: Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC-2017-22222