Solving Cooperative Reliability Games

Cooperative games model the allocation of profit from joint actions, following considerations such as stability and fairness. We propose the reliability extension of such games, where agents may fail to participate in the game. In the reliability extension, each agent only "survives" with a certain probability, and a coalition's value is the probability that its surviving members would be a winning coalition in the base game. We study prominent solution concepts in such games, showing how to approximate the Shapley value and how to compute the core in games with few agent types. We also show that applying the reliability extension may stabilize the game, making the core non-empty even when the base game has an empty core

Effects of the Jigsaw and Teams Game Tournament (TGT) Cooperative Learning on the Learning Motivation and Mathematical Skills of Junior High School Students

This study aims to: 1) describe the effectiveness of the jigsaw and TGT cooperative learning in the learning motivation and mathematical skills of junior high school (JHS) students, and 2) investigate the significant difference in the learning motivation and mathematical skills between the JHS students learning through the jigsaw cooperative learning and those learning through the TGT cooperative learning. This study was a quasi-experimental study using the non-equivalent pretest and posttest group design. This study involved two experimental classes. The research population comprised Year VII students of SMP Pembangunan Piyungan and the research sample consisted of two classes selected from all Year VII groups, with Year VII.A receiving a treatment of the jigsaw cooperative learning and Year VII.B receiving a treatment of the TGT cooperative learning. The instruments consisted of a test, i.e. a mathematical skill test, and a non-test, i.e. a questionnaire of mathematics learning motivation. To investigate the effectiveness of the jigsaw and TGT cooperative learning in the learning motivation and mathematical skills of JHS students, the data were analyzed using the one sample test. To investigate the significant difference in the learning motivation and mathematical skills between the students learning through the jigsaw cooperative learning and those learning through the TGT cooperative learning, the data were analyzed using the T2 Hotelling. To compare the effectiveness of the jigsaw and TGT cooperative learning in the learning motivation and mathematical skills of the students, the data were analyzed using the t-test. The normality was tested using the univariate approach, namely the Kolmogorov Smirnov, the homogeneity using the Box' M test, and the equivalence of the variance-covariance matrix using the Levene's test. The results of the study show that: 1) the jigsaw cooperative learning is effective for the JHS students’ mathematical skills and mathematics learning motivation; 2) the TGT cooperative learning is effective for the JHS students’ mathematical skills and mathematics learning motivation; 3) there is a difference in the effectiveness of the jigsaw and TGT cooperative learning in the JHS students’ mathematical skills and mathematics learning motivation; 4) the jigsaw cooperative learning method is more effective than the TGT cooperative learning method for the JHS students’ mathematics learning motivation; and 5) the jigsaw cooperative learning method is more effective than the TGT cooperative learning method for the JHS students’ mathematical skills. Keyword: Cooperative Learning, Jigsaw, Teams Game Turnament, Learning Motivation, Mathematics Skill

Taxation and stability in cooperative games

Cooperative games are a useful framework for modeling multi-agent behavior in environments where agents must collaborate in order to complete tasks. Having jointly completed a task and generated revenue, agents need to agree on some reasonable method of sharing their profits. One particularly appealing family of payoff divisions is the core, which consists of all coalitionally rational (or, stable) payoff divisions. Unfortunately, it is often the case that the core of a game is empty, i.e. there is no payoff scheme guaranteeing each group of agents a total payoff higher than what they can get on their own. As stability is a highly attractive property, there have been various methods of achieving it proposed in the literature. One natural way of stabilizing a game is via taxation, i.e. reducing the value of some coalitions in order to decrease their bargaining power. Existing taxation methods include the ε-core, the least-core and several others. However, taxing coalitions is in general undesirable: one would not wish to overly tamper with a given coalitional game, or overly tax the agents. Thus, in this work we study minimal taxation policies, i.e. those minimizing the amount of tax required in order to stabilize a given game. We show that games that minimize the total tax are to some extent a linear approximation of the original games, and explore their properties. We demonstrate connections between the minimal tax and the cost of stability, and characterize the types of games for which it is possible to obtain a tax-minimizing policy using variants of notion of the ε-core, as well as those for which it is possible to do so using reliability extensions. Copyright © 2013, International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (www.ifaamas.org). All rights reserved

A systematic literature review of methodology used to measure effectiveness in digital game-based learning

In recent years, a growing number of studies is being conducted into the effectiveness of digital game-based learning (DGBL). Despite this growing interest, however, it remains difficult to draw general conclusions due to the disparities in methods and reporting. Guidelines or a standardized procedure for conducting DGBL effectiveness research would allow to compare results across studies and provide well-founded and more generalizable evidence for the impact of DGBL. This study presents a first step in this process by mapping current practices through a systematic literature review. The review included peer-reviewed journal and conference publications between 2000 and 2012. Other inclusion criteria were that (1) the study’s primary aim was effectiveness measurement of cognitive learning outcomes, (2) the focus was on digital games and (3) a pre-post design with a control group was used. Twenty-five publications were found eligible for this study. Important differences were found in the number of control groups used and the type of intervention implemented in the control group (e.g. traditional classroom teaching, use of multimedia, computer-based learning, paper exercises, other games, or no intervention). Regarding the implementation method of the DGBL intervention in the experimental group, two approaches can be distinguished: stand-alone intervention or as part of a larger program. Moreover, a wide variety of effectiveness measures was used: measures for learning outcomes were complemented with time measurements and/or with self-reported measurements for self-efficacy and motivation. Learning effect calculation also varied, introducing pre-test scores in the analysis, conducting a separate analysis on pre- and post-test scores or conducting an analysis on difference scores. Our study thus indicates that a variety of methods is being used in DGBL effectiveness research opening a discussion regarding the potential and requirements for future procedural guidelines

Student attitudes to games-based skills development: learning from video games in higher education

Qualitative interview data is presented in support of previously-published quantitative evidence that suggests commercial video games may be used to develop useful skills and competencies in undergraduate students. The purpose of the work described here was to document the attitudes of those students involved in the quantitative study and to explore how the game-based intervention was perceived. To this end, student attitudes to the use of specified games to develop communication skill, resourcefulness and adaptability are examined. A broadly positive perception of the games' efficacy for skills development is revealed, and the aspects of game play that students believe contribute to skills development are discussed. These aspects include the need to communicate with team mates in order to succeed, and the fluid, unpredictable nature of in-game challenges. It is suggested that while the games played an important role in skills development, interaction between students, facilitated by game play, was also a significant factor