Using Game Learning Analytics for Validating the Design of a Learning Game for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities.

Serious Games, defined as a game in which education (in its various forms) is the primary goal rather than entertainment, have been proven as an effective educational tool for engaging and motivating students (Michael & Chen, 2006). However, more research is needed to sustain the suitability of these games to train users with cognitive impairments. This empirical study addresses the use of a Serious Game for training students with Intellectual Disabilities in traveling around the subway as a complement to traditional training. Fifty-one (51) adult people with Down Syndrome, mild cognitive disability or certain types of Autism Spectrum Disorder, all conditions classified as intellectual disabilities, played the learning game Downtown, A Subway Adventure which was designed ad-hoc considering their needs and cognitive skills. We used standards-based Game Learning Analytics techniques (i.e. Experience API –xAPI), to collect and analyze learning data both off-line and in near-real time while the users were playing the videogame. This article analyzes and assesses the evidence data collected using analytics during the game sessions, like time completing tasks, inactivity times or the number of correct/incorrect stations while traveling. Based on a multiple baseline design, the results validated both the game design and the tasks and activities proposed in Downtown as a supplementary tool to train skills in transportation. Differences between High-Functioning and Medium-Functioning users were found and explained in this paper, but the fact that almost all of the students completed at least one route without mistakes, the general improvement trough sessions and the low-mistake ratio are good indicators about the appropriateness of the game design.pre-print311 K

IMPACT OF E-MAINTENANCE AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS ON COSTS AND BENEFITS

In the current era, the market has extremely get developed, and the introduction of new technologies, and digitalization, AI… becomes a must. Indeed, only a few companies could be competitive nowadays in a digitized environment. This said, most companies today have introduced digitalization to all their strategic processes including maintenance as it’s considered as one of the development levers of many businesses since it has a direct impact on many key indicators i.e: costs, reliability, availability, safety, and productivity. Polemics about digitized maintenance have begun between the last decade of the previous century and the early 2000, it is commonly named “e-maintenance”. So far there is no standardized definition of the concept given by an official institution. Otherwise, as just a little attention was given to this subject in literature, this paper was written to give a global image of the impact of e-maintenance on costs and profit

Playful mapping in the digital age:The Playful Mapping Collective

From Mah-Jong, to the introduction of Prussian war-games, through to the emergence of location-based play: maps and play share a long and diverse history. This monograph shows how mapping and playing unfold in the digital age, when the relations between these apparently separate tropes are increasingly woven together. Fluid networks of interaction have encouraged a proliferation of hybrid forms of mapping and playing and a rich plethora of contemporary case-studies, ranging from fieldwork, golf, activism and automotive navigation, to pervasive and desktop-based games evidences this trend. Examining these cases shows how mapping and playing can form productive synergies, but also encourages new ways of being, knowing and shaping our everyday lives. The chapters in this book explore how play can be more than just an object or practice, and instead focus on its potential as a method for understanding maps and spatiality. They show how playing and mapping can be liberating, dangerous, subversive and performative

Evaluation methodology for visual analytics software

O desafio do Visual Analytics (VA) é produzir visualizações que ajudem os utilizadores a concentrarem-se no aspecto mais relevante ou mais interessante dos dados apresentados. A sociedade actual enfrenta uma quantidade de dados que aumenta rapidamente. Assim, os utilizadores de informação em todos os domínios acabam por ter mais informação do que aquela com que podem lidar. O software VA deve suportar interacções intuitivas para que os analistas possam concentrar-se na informação que estão a manipular, e não na técnica de manipulação em si. Os ambientes de VA devem procurar minimizar a carga de trabalho cognitivo global dos seus utilizadores, porque se tivermos de pensar menos nas interacções em si, teremos mais tempo para pensar na análise propriamente dita. Tendo em conta os benefícios que as aplicações VA podem trazer e a confusão que ainda existe ao identificar tais aplicações no mercado, propomos neste trabalho uma nova metodologia de avaliação baseada em heurísticas. A nossa metodologia destina-se a avaliar aplicações através de testes de usabilidade considerando as funcionalidades e características desejáveis em sistemas de VA. No entanto, devido à sua natureza quatitativa, pode ser naturalmente utilizada para outros fins, tais como comparação para decisão entre aplicações de VA do mesmo contexto. Além disso, seus critérios poderão servir como fonte de informação para designers e programadores fazerem escolhas apropriadas durante a concepção e desenvolvimento de sistemas de VA

Short papers of the 9th Conference on Cloud Computing, Big Data & Emerging Topics

Compilación de los short papers presentados en las 9nas Jornadas de Cloud Computing, Big Data & Emerging Topics (JCC-BD&ET2021), llevadas a cabo en modalidad virtual durante junio de 2021 y organizadas por el Instituto de Investigación en Informática LIDI (III-LIDI) y la Secretaría de Posgrado de la Facultad de Informática de la UNLP, en colaboración con universidades de Argentina y del exterior.Facultad de Informátic

An adaptive model for digital game based learning

Digital Game-based Learning (DGBL) has the potential to be a more effective means of instruction than traditional methods. However meta-analyses of studies on the effectiveness of DGBL have yielded mixed results. One of the challenges faced in the design and development of effective and motivating DGBL is the integration of learning and gameplay. A game that is effective at learning transfer, yet is no fun to play, is not going to engage learners for very long. This served as the motivation to devise a systematic approach to the design, development and evaluation of effective and engaging DGBL. A comprehensive literature review examined: how games can be made engaging and how the mechanics of learning can be mapped to the mechanics of gameplay; how learning can be designed to be universal to all; how learning analytics can empower learners and educators; and how an agile approach to the development of instructional materials leads to continuous improvement. These and other considerations led to the development of the Adaptive Model for Digital Game Based Learning (AMDGBL). To test how successful the model would be in developing effective, motivating and universal DGBL, a Virtual Reality (VR) game that teaches graph theory was designed, built and evaluated using the AMDGBL. An accompanying platform featuring an Application Programming Interface (API) for storing learner interaction data and a web-based learning analytics dashboard (LAD) were developed. A mixed methods approach was taken for a study of learners (N=20) who playtested the game and viewed visualizations in the dashboard. Observational and think aloud notes were recorded as they played and gameplay data was stored via the API. The participants also filled out a questionnaire. The notes taken were thematically analysed, and the gameplay data and questionnaire responses were statistically analysed. Triangulation of data improved confidence in findings and yielded new insights. The learner study became a case study for a second, qualitative study of DGBL practitioners (N=12). The VR game was demonstrated and a series of visualizations presented to the participants. They then completed a questionnaire featuring open questions about: the need for the model; the benefits of VR; and the embedding of learning analytics, universal design for learning, iteration with formative evaluation, and triangulation at the heart of the model. The responses were thematically analysed. The results of both studies supported the following assertions: that the AMDGBL would allow for iterative improvement of a DGBL prototype; that employing the AMDGBL would lead to an effective DGBL solution; that the inclusion of UDL would lead to a more universally-designed game; that the LAD would help learners with executive functions; and that VR would foster learner autonomy

Controversing Datafication through Media Architectures

In this chapter, we discuss a speculative and participatory “media architecture” installation that engages people with the potential impacts of data through speculative future images of the datafied city. The installation was originally conceived as a physical combination of digital media technologies and architectural form—a “media architecture”—that was to be situated in a particular urban setting. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, it was produced and tested for an online workshop. It is centered on “design frictions” (Forlano and Mathew, 2014) and processes of controversing (Baibarac-Duignan and de Lange, 2021). Instead of smoothing out tensions through “neutral” data visualizations, controversing centers on opening avenues for meaningful participation around frictions and controversies that arise from the datafication of urban life. The installation represents an instance of how processes of controversing may unfold through digital interfaces. Here, we explore its performative potential to “interface” abstract dimensions of datafication, “translate” them into collective issues of concern, and spark imagination around (un)desirable datafied urban futures