A collaborative citizen science platform for real-time volunteer computing and games

Volunteer computing (VC) or distributed computing projects are common in the citizen cyberscience (CCS) community and present extensive opportunities for scientists to make use of computing power donated by volunteers to undertake large-scale scientific computing tasks. Volunteer computing is generally a non-interactive process for those contributing computing resources to a project whereas volunteer thinking (VT) or distributed thinking, which allows volunteers to participate interactively in citizen cyberscience projects to solve human computation tasks. In this paper we describe the integration of three tools, the Virtual Atom Smasher (VAS) game developed by CERN, LiveQ, a job distribution middleware, and CitizenGrid, an online platform for hosting and providing computation to CCS projects. This integration demonstrates the combining of volunteer computing and volunteer thinking to help address the scientific and educational goals of games like VAS. The paper introduces the three tools and provides details of the integration process along with further potential usage scenarios for the resulting platform.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure

Applications of Machine Learning in Content Generation for Educational Video Games

Over the past few years, students have become increasingly unmotivated to read their assigned textbooks as an accompaniment to classroom lectures and activities. Reading the textbook is known to improve comprehension and overall student performance in classrooms. If reading the textbook was reformatted into a more engaging experience, perhaps it would improve student motivation and knowledge retention. Teaching students the importance of learning while also motivating them to do well in class will help them gain the knowledge and grades needed to land competitive jobs after they graduate college. Game-Based Learning (GBL) is an emerging field of study that attempts to use video games to create interactive educational experiences. Game-Based Learning has been shown to have educational merit, being well-known for providing intrinsic motivation for students to learn (most often, as a supplement to traditional coursework). With GBL in mind, is it possible to generate interactive game content from textbooks using machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) that can replace or supplement the source material in terms of educational content in a traditional classroom setting? Our team proposes to lay the groundwork for future research in Game-Based Learning and Machine Learning at the LIVE Lab undergraduate research lab (Texas A&M University, College of Architecture, Dept. of Visualization) by attempting to reformat school textbooks into interactive chatbot AIs with the assistance of knowledge compilation & fact-retrieval systems designed for generating educational video game content

A Pedagogy for Original Synners

Part of the Volume on Digital Young, Innovation, and the UnexpectedThis essay begins by speculating about the learning environment of the class of 2020. It takes place entirely in a virtual world, populated by simulated avatars, managed through the pedagogy of gaming. Based on this projected version of a future-now-in-formation, the authors consider the implications of the current paradigm shift that is happening at the edges of institutions of higher education. From the development of programs in multimedia literacy to the focus on the creation of hybrid learning spaces (that combine the use of virtual worlds, social networking applications, and classroom activities), the scene of learning as well as the subjects of education are changing. The figure of the Original Synner is a projection of the student-of-the-future whose foundational literacy is grounded in their ability to synthesize information from multiple information streams

Evaluation of a Pervasive Game for Domestic Energy Engagement Among Teenagers

In this article, we present Power Agent—a pervasive game designed to encourage teenagers and their families to reduce energy consumption in the home. The ideas behind this mobile phonebased game are twofold; to transform the home environment and its devices into a learning arena for hands-on experience with electricity usage and to promote engagement via a team competition scheme. We report on the game’s evaluation with six teenagers and their families who played the game for ten days in two cities in Sweden. Data collection consisted of home energy measurements before, during, and after a game trial, in addition to interviews with participants at the end of the evaluation. The results suggest that the game concept was highly efficient in motivating and engaging the players and their families to change their daily energy-consumption patterns during the game trial. Although the evaluation does not permit any conclusions as to whether the game had any postgame effects on behavior, we can conclude that the pervasive persuasive game approach appears to be highly promising in regard to energy conservation and similar fields or issues