Creativity support in games for motivated learning

A natural extension of play for creative thinking can innovatively drive technology-led changes to the facilitation of creative problem solving, and generate a new genre in serious gaming. Whilst the use of serious games has grown considerably in recent years, support for players to think creatively is often implicit in the game, and does not exploit the wide range of creativity techniques and software tools available. The work reported in this thesis is the first to explicitly integrate creativity support into serious games. The results show that creative serious games can systematically support acquisition of creativity skills, generation of creative learning outcomes, and induction of motivational and learning benefits amongst the players. Therefore, this thesis introduces the concept of explicit creativity support in serious games, with a focus on games for motivated learning in adult professional setting, and reports formative and summative evaluations of new prototype games for this setting, in order to instantiate, refine and validate the concept. The creative learning objective of the prototype games was to train carers in creativity techniques to deliver more person-centred care to people with dementia. The findings are delivered in the form of a new framework, which proposes recommendations for the design and understanding of creative serious games. Four formative evaluations of three prototypes of creative serious games with carers provided results that led to refinements of the framework and the design of more usable and effective games. A subsequent summative evaluation partially validated the framework, delivering both a framework and prototype creative serious game that demonstrated the potential to improve person-centred dementia care training. The thesis provides a proof-of-concept of the value of creative serious games, and shows the potential for the framework to be applied and have impact on other application domains

Case studies in therapeutic SenseCam use aimed at identity maintenance in early stage dementia

In the absence of a medical cure for memory loss new technologies specialised in pervasive imaging are being incorporated into interventions for dementia. The practice of lifelogging is a digital capture of life experiences typically through mobile devices such as SenseCam. The lightweight wearable digital camera passively captures about 3,000 images a day. Lifelogging results in personal, recent prompts, potentially encouraging sharing of personal memories. This research investigated the incorporation of lifelogging technology into a therapeutic approach aimed to support people with dementia by using the Case Study method, an exploratory and descriptive approach. The case study is a method of empirical inquiry that enables investigation of phenomenon within its real life context. SenseCam therapy aimed to stimulate the cognition of a person with dementia, with support of their personal identity as its primary goal. SenseCam images were used as cues to meaningful discussions about the person’s recent memories. The images enabled a construction of a particular version of the participants’ identities mainly based in their recent past. On the contrary participants seemed to valorise their identity of their distant past. The SenseCam identity also contained uncensored details from participants’ lives as revealed by review of SenseCam images. The exposing nature of SenseCam images posed risks to the users’ privacy and showed the potential ethical risks of using lifelogging technology with people with dementia. There is limited literature on the practical recommendations on how to use lifelogging devices and how they affect people with dementia. The results from this research indicate that a number of factors should be considered when using lifelogging technology with people with dementia. Firstly the contextual factors of people with dementia including the level of cognitive impairment, existing coping mechanisms and the interaction patterns with the carer need to be considered. Secondly the technology should be used within a therapeutic framework and tailored to suit the individual needs of both people with dementia and their carers. Lastly intimate and unexpected details from the participant’s life should be discussed in an ethical and sensitive manner. Implications of not working within these boundaries show clear potential for undermining the human rights and potentially the wellbeing of people with dementia