Avatars in education : age differences in avatar customization

The use of new technologies in education has become increasingly popular in recent years. One element that increases engagement in activity undertaken on electronic devices is the avatar - a virtual representation of the player. For online education to bring the expected results, it is important for users to choose the right avatar. The purpose of the article is to present existing data on the creation of avatars by people of different ages. Additionally, issues which deserve future consideration are suggested

"A step into the abyss" Transmedia in the UK Games and Television Industries

This article uses a media industries studies perspective to investigate the current state of transmedia production in the UK. Analysing the discursive statements of a range of industry participants from both UK television and games industries, the article reveals a series of contradictions and misunderstandings that may be limiting the effectiveness of multi-platform projects. By comparing overlapping discursive patterns around attitudes to risk, measures of success, authorship between the two industries, and repeated concerns over the balance of creative and commercial imperatives, the article argues that existing hierarchies of power between media industries threaten to derail future convergence

Gamification of research methods: an exploratory case

This work investigates the benefits of gamification in the taught research methods unit within the Business Management course. It utilises an exploratory design where the team attempted to use a gamified approach to teaching research methods. Two consecutive cohorts were chosen; both cohorts were studying research methods and had the same assessment, in the same format, and were taught and marked by the same teaching team. The first cohort studied the subject without any attempts in gamifying delivery, the second cohort engaged with a gamified curriculum. The latter cohort exhibited stronger final results and a higher level of engagement thus suggesting that a gamified approach to curriculum delivery enhanced the grade results. This first pilot then led to the development of a bespoke software that is imbued with the philosophical streaks from educational pedagogy and the learning literature to support a gamified approach to education

Simulation-Based Safety Training for Plant Maintenance in Virtual Reality

This paper presents a 3-D simulation model for safety training in an interactive and fully immersive virtual environment (IVE). The training comprises application of serious games (SGs) designed for filter replacements on a gas-powered plant (GPP) engine model by participants based on plant maintenance health and safety environment (HSE) regulations. Although maintenance work on GPP constitutes significantly in the share of hazards in the industry, there is however, scanty research related to simulation-based training for safety. Research nonetheless indicates the success of this technology in other industrial fields. For this reason, this study explored the possibility for training in safe work practices during maintenance in a gamified virtual environment. The Unreal real-time 3D game engine software was employed for creating virtual objects in the simulation. In total, 38 participants individually undertook the training in the virtual realm and provided feedback on a 5-point Likert scale. Questions pursuant to the assessment included the efficacy of acquired safety knowledge and skills, proximity of the simulation-based training to reality, and the interests and preference of SGs-IVE towards safety training. Results demonstrates participant’s perception of the prospects and learning outcome of SGs-IVE towards safety training: A factor that promotes greater cognitive learning for mindful safety practices.© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Advances in Simulation and Digital Human Modeling: Proceedings of the AHFE 2020 Virtual Conferences on Human Factors and Simulation, and Digital Human Modeling and Applied Optimization, July 16-20, 2020, USA. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51064-0_22fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Infecção relacionada a cateter venoso central: comparação entre duas técnicas de fixação

Estudo realizado com objetivo de avaliar diferença na taxa de infecção relacionada a cateter venoso central (IRCVC) entre os dois métodos de fixação com sutura mais comuns. Foram avaliados 40 indivíduos (20 do grupo ALETA e 20 do grupo BAILARINA) internados em enfermarias ou unidades de terapia intensiva do Hospital Universitários Walter Cantídio, unidade terciária localizada em Fortaleza/Ce. Não foram considerados na pesquisa pacientes em uso de antibióticos, portadores de traqueostomia, com sítio de punção em veia femoral ou cuja indicação seja troca por suspeita de IRCVC prévia. Os dados foram analisados por meio do programa Jamovi®.  Foi considerada como infecção associada ao cateter, hiperemia regional, saída de secreção purulenta pelo óstio de punção ou infecção de corrente sanguínea sem fonte determinada. O tempo médio de permanência foi de 13,7 dias para o grupo ALETA e 12,8 dias para o grupo BAILARINA. A taxa de IRCVC foi de 27,5%, não havendo diferença estatisticamente significativa entre os grupos estudados

The Impact of Vocabulary Learning Methods on Students’ Vocabulary Application Skills

This research paper investigates the impact of vocabulary learning methods on students’ vocabulary application skills in English language acquisition. I examine traditional methods like rote memorization and flashcards, as well as modern approaches such as contextual learning, technology-assisted methods, and multimodal strategies. Through a mixed-methods research design, including surveys, interviews, and classroom observations, I uncover valuable insights into how these methods influence vocabulary application. My findings reveal that traditional methods, while effective for vocabulary retention, often fall short in facilitating practical vocabulary usage. Contextual learning emerges as a potent strategy, promoting active vocabulary application by immersing learners in real-life language contexts. Technology-assisted methods enhance pronunciation and offer immersive experiences, contributing to improved vocabulary application. Multimodal approaches that integrate various methods provide a holistic solution, fostering both recognition and active use of vocabulary. The implications for language teaching emphasize the need for a balanced approach that combines traditional and modern methods. Incorporating technology and real-life contexts into language education enhances students’ ability to apply vocabulary effectively, bridging the gap between knowledge and application

Towards Believable Resource Gathering Behaviours in Real-time Strategy Games with a Memetic Ant Colony System

AbstractIn this paper, the resource gathering problem in real-time strategy (RTS) games, is modeled as a path-finding problem where game agents responsible for gathering resources, also known as harvesters, are only equipped with the knowledge of its immediate sur- roundings and must gather knowledge about the dynamics of the navigation graph that it resides on by sharing information and cooperating with other agents in the game environment. This paper proposed the conceptual modeling of a memetic ant colony system (MACS) for believable resource gathering in RTS games. In the proposed MACS, the harvester's path-finding and resource gathering knowledge captured are extracted and represented as memes, which are internally encoded as state transition rules (mem- otype), and externally expressed as ant pheromone on the graph edge (sociotype). Through the inter-play between the memetic evolution and ant colony, harvesters as memetic automatons spawned from an ant colony are able to acquire increasing level of capability in exploring complex dynamic game environment and gathering resources in an adaptive manner, producing consistent and impressive resource gathering behaviors

Self-transformation through game design

This paper presents the results of a pioneering, experimental study that tracked certain psychological and behavioural changes in a group of game designers during the development of their serious games. The study was conducted with the help of the Behavioural Science Institute of Radboud University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands) and focused on implicit attitudes: psychological assessments that take place without one’s conscious awareness. With the goal of validating the idea of game design as a self-fashioning activity, we observed the implicit attitude towards sugary and fatty foods of a group of master’s students in game design at the University of Malta. As part of their coursework, and mentored by a researcher in behavioural psychology, the students were asked to conceptualize, design, and develop small videogames that aimed at changing the implicit psychological assessment of unhealthy food of their players over a five-month period. Taking overweight European teenagers who are regularly followed by a dietician as their target audience, the principal task of the designers was that of translating behavioural psychology methods to change people’s implicit attitudes concerning sugary and fatty food into game design decisions on the basis of the existing literature in the field. The designers’ own weight, their dietary habits, and their implicit attitude towards food were measured before being briefed about their design task and were eventually measured again, five months later, upon the delivery of their finished, serious game. Although changes in the students’ weight did not show large variations on average, their implicit attitude towards sugary and fatty foods (the psychological evaluation the games they designed aimed to correct) changed in the direction of a healthier dietary approach. These transformations are suggestive of a trend that could confirm our hypothesis: game design might indeed be a transformative experience that changes the designers through cognitive elaboration and self-persuasion in ways that are analogous to the changes that they intended to cause in the players.peer-reviewe

Diagnosing collaboration in practice-based learning: Equality and intra-individual variability of physical interactivity

Collaborative problem solving (CPS), as a teaching and learning approach, is considered to have the potential to improve some of the most important skills to prepare students for their future. CPS often differs in its nature, practice, and learning outcomes from other kinds of peer learning approaches, including peer tutoring and cooperation; and it is important to establish what identifies collaboration in problem-solving situations. The identification of indicators of collaboration is a challenging task. However, students physical interactivity can hold clues of such indicators. In this paper, we investigate two non-verbal indexes of student physical interactivity to interpret collaboration in practice-based learning environments: equality and intra-individual variability. Our data was generated from twelve groups of three Engineering students working on open-ended tasks using a learning analytics system. The results show that high collaboration groups have member students who present high and equal amounts of physical interactivity and low and equal amounts of intra-individual variability