Reality guides for life before death

The rise of the digital game industry has brought along a plethora of game design tools and frameworks. They are likely to be named specifically as design frameworks for games because their creators have been positioned themselves on the field of game research due to their personal interest in games or due to the fast rising game business. There appears often not to be a reason why these tools and frameworks could not be used in any other kind of interaction design too. Furthermore, even the definition of a game is elusive. In effort to be able to consider what is a game and what is not, the concept of Reality Guides was developed. A Reality Guide guides the user in their surrounding reality. By its definition it is not necessarily a game, and a game by its definition is not necessarily a Reality Guide, but it is possible for something to be both. Reality Guides can come in the form of paper booklets, human guides, digital applications, or something else. The focus in this thesis is in guides that are mixed reality digital applications. Looking at Reality Guides through several game design frameworks, a new theoretical model was constructed: The GEM Game Experience Model is a result of Grounded Theory based work to find a single underlaying model behind all the existing ones. Two non-game initiatives have been worked on with the guidance of Reality Guide thinking and GEM thinking: Life Before Death aims at producing services that will help people with premature end of life circumstances to make the best possible out of their remaining life. Reality Guides for the end-of-life. Also, in the initiative of creating a community around Digital Theology a project course was organized using gamer community originated Discord as a central Reality Guide for the course participated by students from four continents

History's Future in the North End

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110960/1/history_s_future_in_the_north_endred.pd

Becoming a historian: An informal guide

Writing history is an art and a craft. This handbook supports research students and independent scholars by showing how the historical profession works and how to participate in its vibrant community of scholars. It outlines techniques to help design large-scale research projects, demonstrates the difference between quantitative and qualitative research methodologies and provides advice on bringing projects to a positive conclusion. This friendly guide is frank about the pains and pleasures of sticking with a long-term project, and explains how to present original research to wider audiences, including the appropriate use of social media, the art of public lecturing and strategies for publication. Written by esteemed historians Penelope J. Corfield and Tim Hitchcock, Becoming a Historian debunks the myths and demystifies the systems that can make the world of research feel intimidating, and offers step-by-step advice on participating in the historical community

Socially Assistive Robots for Exercising Scenarios. Studies on group effects, feedback, embodiment and adaption

Schneider S. Socially Assistive Robots for Exercising Scenarios. Studies on group effects, feedback, embodiment and adaption. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld; 2019.Even though positive effects of being physically active are commonly known, only a few parts of the world population are sufficiently ac- tive. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that this problem affects 31% of the adult’s world population and 80% of the adolescent population. Appropriate levels of physical activity (PA) are essential to prevent obesity in childhood and to keep a Quality of Life (QOL) in old age but are also essential to prevent other Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs). Thus, physical inactivity is growing into a severe problem globally, and there is a growing need to motivate people to become more physically active during their lifetime. One primary cause that raises PA levels is having a peer or help from professionals. However, having assistance is not possible in every situation. It might be challenging to find and schedule with a partner or to commute to other places. Roboticist introduced Socially Assistive Robot (SAR) as an assistive tool for exercising, cognitive or rehabilitation tasks. This thesis explores SAR in the context of exercising along four features that have been partly targeted but not yet thoroughly investigated. These features are a) the social role of the robot, b) encouragement c) embodiment and d) adaptation. First, this thesis looks at the mo- tivational effects of exercising with SAR concerning features a) - c). Second, this thesis questions how a system can adapt to the user, and whether adaptivity or adaptability is enough to close the gap between user needs and system behavior. I conducted studies that test the dif- ferent features by assessing subjective ratings of the robot as well as measurable motivational variables (e.g., time spent exercising with the robot) in a bodyweight workout scenario. The results show that features a) - c) have a positive influence on user’s exercising time. Additionally, users perceive a robot compan- ion as more likable than a robot instructor or a human partner. Fur- thermore, an adaptive robot increases the associated competence and quality of relationship compared to an adaptable robot. However, the results also show that the robot does not always have to exercise along with the user. In situations where it is not possible, the robot could also only give encouraging feedback. This thesis backs up earlier find- ings of using SAR by replicating motivational group exercising ef- fects found in Human-Human Interaction (HHI). Thus, the evidence that SARs are a suitable tool for rehabilitative interventions increases which may convince health experts to consider SAR as a useful thera- peutic tool. Nevertheless, this thesis evaluated the effects only during short-term interactions. Thus, proving that the found effects are long- lasting is essential for future studies

Developing, implementing and evaluating an internet curriculum for Egyptian teachers.

This research aimed to develop, implement and evaluate an Internet curriculum for pre-service teachers in Egypt within a constructivist learning environment. Accordingly, this study included the development of the content and objectives of the Internet curriculum, the design of a web-based learning environment, the trialling with groups of pre-service teachers and the evaluation of the effectiveness of both the Internet curriculum and the Web-based learning environment.The methodology used in this study is considered to be a case study and it was also influenced by an action research methodology involving cycles of development, design, implementation and evaluation of the Internet curriculum. A number of methods were used in order to collect research data including questionnaires, observations, interviews and a learning styles inventory (Kolb, 1981). Furthermore, a content analysis was carried out of Internet users' guides and teachers' guides and a Web-based questionnaire was used in order to develop the objectives of the Internet curriculum. A Web-based learning environment namely 'Internet-Tutoring System' was designed in order to provide the students with cognitive tools, information resources and authentic activities.The implementation of the study took place in two phases. The first phase was conducted with a group of students' teachers in Sheffield and the second phase was conducted with another group in Egypt. These phases aimed to identify the issues that emerge from using a Web-based learning environment based on the students' feedback on both the learning environment and the Internet curriculum.This study led to significant results in relation to the content of the Internet curriculum, student learning within a Web-based learning environment, the roles of the teacher, the design of the web-based learning environment and the students' progress in the use of the Internet. The models of constructivist learning environments, particularly Jonassen's (1997a) model, influenced the development of the Internet curriculum and its structure. Accordingly, several content structures were developed in order to take into consideration the different needs and expectations of the students. These included well-structured content with teacher-centred learning, semi-structured content with teacher-student learning and ill-structured content with learner-centred learning. In addition, the Web-based learning environment was designed in order to provide the students with cognitive tools, information resources and authentic activities. As a consequence, a range of tools and resources were integrated in order to encourage the students to play an active role in knowledge construction. This integration is considered to be a key aspect of this study and it was developed in order to accommodate the preferred learning styles of the students. Moreover, a range of roles for the teacher were illuminated in this study such as those of mentor, facilitator and orchestrator. These roles developed due to the integration of a number of teaching methods alongside the use of the Web-based learning environment. They were also influenced by the different content structures of the Internet curriculum and the different types of control over the learning process.The study concludes with a discussion of major implications for both policy and practice in Egyptian education. Furthermore, it highlights key characteristics and key design phases that should be taken into account in the future development of Web-based learning environments. Finally, further research questions are highlighted for the future development of integrated learning and teaching environments

A professional agenda: An initial step toward enhancing the quality of teaching in University Malaysia Sarawak.

This paper was originally written as a proposal to the management of the Faculty of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) in the bid to enhance the quality of teaching on a university-wide basis. The recent quality assurance movement on teaching in UNIMAS is an important step to foster excellence in teaching and to eventually meet one of Malaysia’s visions of being a center for quality education by year 2020. Although teaching is one of the core businesses in institutions of higher learning, it is ironic that academics in many universities are not required to possess preparatory training in teaching, unlike schoolteachers. As a forwardlooking university, one of the initial mechanisms suggested in this paper is to conduct a workshop series to all UNIMAS academics. The workshop series comprise topics such as Introduction to University Teaching, How Humans Learn? Assessment, Instructional Design, Instructional Technology, and Learning from the Teaching Practice. The aims of the workshop series are to train the UNIMAS academics in teaching on a short-term basis, to initiate a long-term commitment toward excellence in teaching, and to develop a collaborative academic community that places special commitment to excellence in teaching. The required institutional commitment, the success factors, and the long-term plans for enhancing teaching at UNIMAS are also discussed in this paper