Employee Qualification by Digital Learning Games

Global competition and individual customer requirements generate challenges for manufacturing companies. To cope with these challenges, companies require an increased level of flexibility. In the first place, this flexibility has to be provided by the employees, as they are one of the key success factors for mastering change. An essential prerequisite for this is a high level of employee qualification across all areas of the company. The learning factories approach has garnered particular attention in recent years as a playful and efficient way of learning the principles and methods of processes improvement. The drawbacks of this method include the limited, non-holistic perspective of each trainee as well as the non-recurring knowledge transfer. Moreover, this kind of qualification requires the trainees to be in the same place at the same time. These downsides can be successfully countered by supplementing learning factories with a digital learning component depicting the learning environment, as digital learning will enable individual learning routes for all trainees and is accessible at all times and all places. This paper serves to outline the idea of serious learning by using digital learning games along with the attendant benefits. Over and beyond this, it also presents a digital learning game for teaching specific lean production methods. © 2017 The Author

Simulation Game Concept For AI-Enhanced Teaching Of Advanced Value Stream Analysis and Design

Value stream analysis and design is employed globally by improvement teams within industrial settings to maximize value creation and eliminate waste. For ending methodical time-centricity, research expanded the methodology to incorporate diverse facets like material flow cost accounting, information logistics, and external influence factors. These enhancements, along with increasing data volumes, are prompting a re-evaluation of how professional improvement teams should think and operate. Consequently, a transformation of the pedagogical approach used for educating students and professionals necessitates novel solutions. Conventional teaching methods such as expository lectures are widely considered inadequate in promoting knowledge retention and engagement. So far, existing research has not yet resulted in a solution that can effectively impart the methodological complexity of advanced value stream analysis and design in a motivating and vivid fashion. To address this gap, this paper applies a tailored CRISP gamification framework to develop a simulation game concept. These concept enables AI-enhanced teaching of advanced value stream analysis and design focusing on identification of multi-stage resource-efficient optimization strategies. Through integration of game-based learning with AI a trained reinforcement learning agent can act either competitively or cooperatively, creating a unique form of teaching accounting the aspects personalization, adaptive feedback, content creation, and analysis and assessment

Serious video games in engineering education: a scoping review

Video games have become an important element of contemporary life. The need to use them in the field of education has given rise to the appearance of serious video games, which have been specially designed to achieve objectives at different educational levels and generate spaces for educational innovation. The purpose of this work is to investigate the use of serious video games in engineering education. A scoping review was carried out on serious video games that were used or designed for this purpose. The search was done in the Scopus and Web of Science databases between 2016 and 2021. The main results show that there is a strong inclination towards serious simulation video games, and they have a good degree of educational acceptance among engineering studentsPeer Reviewe

Cultural influences moderating learners’ adoption of serious 3D games for managerial learning

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether learners from different cultures adopt a serious 3D game to facilitate the learning of transferable managerial skills (ethics) and knowledge. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional, cross-country survey study (n=319) was conducted recruiting participants from one North American and two British universities. The survey data and the conceptual model have been analysed and tested using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Findings Participants displayed positive attitudes towards the 3D game and responded positively to theory presented as “real-life” scenarios; gamification techniques such as interactions and dialogue, and rewards and progression levels, which are part of the game, albeit the participants’ adoption was driven more by extrinsic motivations (rewards) than intrinsic ones (ease of use and entertainment). In addition, the empirical results suggest that when gender is taken into account, the perceptions and needs of cross-cultural learners in serious gaming environments vary and display characteristics that are similar to Rogers’ five adopter categories; thus, culture could significantly shape learners’ decisions to adopt a serious game as a managerial learning tool. Research limitations/implications For future researchers, this paper highlights various levels of training, support and promotional awareness that need to be considered to facilitate the adoption of serious games for managerial learning. Practical implications For academics and practitioners in work-based learning and managerial training environments, this paper highlights the salient factors that need to be inherent in a serious 3D game, and best practices for scaffolding existing instructional approaches or training interventions. Originality/value In light of Rogers’ five adopter categories, this cross-country study involving culturally diverse learners provides key insight into the potential application of serious games as a practice-based learning instrument in academia and industry

Using the markstrat business simulation to develop strategic management behaviours

It is well understood that experiential learning provides an incentive and impetus for accelerated learning, especially in humanities and business-focussed studies. ICT-based synthetic and virtual environments can provide a rich and varied context within which to achieve this. Specifically, this paper attempts to provide empirical, survey-based analysis of the application of a business simulation game, MarkStrat, on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in this vein. The paper subsequently posits the pedagogic benefit of using such business simulation games for the development of strategic management behaviours across student sample populations and derives subsequent results to highlight associated learning behaviours

A literature review of the use of gamification in accounting education

[EN] Gamification is a tool that is increasingly used in the field of teaching at all levels of education, from primary to university. Despite the fact that Business Management and Accounting have not remained on the sidelines in studies on the use of game-based learning, the scarcity of such work in this field provides us with only a limited vision of the research that is being carried out in the area. In order to fill this research gap, this paper analyses the academic literature in detail on the use of gamification in accounting education. To this end, an in-depth review of scientific documents retrieved from academic databases has been carried out with the aim of: a) identifying the methodologies used in the research, b) examining the types of games used by researchers, c) establishing the different educational stages where this research is being carried out, d) analysing the samples used, and e) analysing the results obtained in the studies. The results obtained from this review have made it possible to recognise some of the most recurrent work and other research areas in which further exploration can be undertaken within the field of gamification and accounting.Queiro-Ameijieras, CM.; Martí-Parreño, J.; Seguí-Mas, E.; Summerfield, L. (2019). A literature review of the use of gamification in accounting education. IATED. 7662-7667. https://doi.org/10.21125/iceri.2019.1822S7662766

Software development processes for games: a systematic literature review

This paper describes the methodology and results from a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of the software processes used in game development. A total of 404 papers were analyzed as part of the review and the various process models that are used in industry and academia/research are presented. Software Process Improvement (SPI) initiatives for game development are dis-cussed. The factors that promote or deter the adoption of process models, and implementing SPI in practice are highlighted. Our findings indicate that there is no single model that serves as a best practice process model for game development and it is a matter of deciding which model is best suited for a particular game. Agile models such as Scrum and XP are suited to the knowledge intensive domain of game development where innovation and speed to market are vital. Hybrid approaches such as reuse can also be suitable for game development where the risk of the upfront investment in terms of time and cost is mitigated with a game that has stable requirements and a longer lifespan

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