Continuous Reinforcement Learning-based Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment in a Visual Working Memory Game

Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA) is a viable approach to enhance a player's experience in video games. Recently, Reinforcement Learning (RL) methods have been employed for DDA in non-competitive games; nevertheless, they rely solely on discrete state-action space with a small search space. In this paper, we propose a continuous RL-based DDA methodology for a visual working memory (VWM) game to handle the complex search space for the difficulty of memorization. The proposed RL-based DDA tailors game difficulty based on the player's score and game difficulty in the last trial. We defined a continuous metric for the difficulty of memorization. Then, we consider the task difficulty and the vector of difficulty-score as the RL's action and state, respectively. We evaluated the proposed method through a within-subject experiment involving 52 subjects. The proposed approach was compared with two rule-based difficulty adjustment methods in terms of player's score and game experience measured by a questionnaire. The proposed RL-based approach resulted in a significantly better game experience in terms of competence, tension, and negative and positive affect. Players also achieved higher scores and win rates. Furthermore, the proposed RL-based DDA led to a significantly less decline in the score in a 20-trial session

“Fractions my way”: how an adaptive learning environment affects and motivates students

An adaptive learning environment entitled “Fractions My Way” was developed and introduced to 206 fourth- and fifth-grade students who used it to study fractions over one academic year. Follow-up questionnaires and interviews (with students and teachers) revealed that the method enhanced their sense of ability, their responsibility toward their own learning, and their enjoyment in learning (leading to higher motivation). They claimed they learnt and understood the material better. Post-course assessment indicated an overall improvement in knowledge. Two drawbacks were mentioned: the stress associated with knowing the teacher was constantly monitoring performance and the sense of competition between peers

Gamification in education: practising English phrasal verbs using a gamified activity

The lack of engagement is a problem for many students in school and a number of potential ways to solve this issue have been proposed. One such solution is the implementation of gamification. Gamification is “the use of game design elements in non-game contexts” (Deterding et al. 2011: 2). Since games have been characterised as fun, gratifying, involving, and motivating (Prensky 2001: 106), including elements from games into non-game contexts should lead to increased engagement in students. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse whether a gamified activity has any positive effect on the engagement of younger, 6th grade students – a relatively underexplored age group. Additionally, this thesis aims to analyse how three game elements – points, time constraints, and cooperation – affect the engagement of these students. The scope of the study conducted in this thesis is small, but since the students participating in it are part of an underrepresented age group, this thesis still hopes to provide valuable data for further research.https://www.ester.ee/record=b5414717*es

Using EEG data as Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment in a serious game about the plastic pollution in the oceans

In this work, it is explored whether real-time EEG (Electroencephalography) can adjust the difficulty in a serious game focused on engagement, attention, and learning about plastic pollution in our oceans. Using EEG to balance the game around the players’ affective state by measuring brain activity in real time, it is aimed to better fit the player’s skill level, enabling a stable flow state. The experimental study included 34 participants with an experimental group (n=17), and a control group (n=17). The experimental group played the game about the plastic pollution in our oceans with anadaptive difficulty adjustment (DDA) based on changes in their levels of attention and calm measured by EEG. The evaluation is based on a user engagement questionnaire, structured interviews, the EEG data, and a knowledge test. The results revealed high engagement in the game from both the experimental group and the control group. However, the participants in the control group were more attentive while playing the game and scored higher on all questions in the knowledge test compared to the experimental group. In conclusion, our study cannot provide evidence for usingEEG-DDA to increase the engagement, attention, and learnings about pollution in the oceans in a serious game. However, there are still advantages for including EEG in game related research, and much future research is needed in how to provide optimal learning in serious games

Advancing sCool - Game Type Research and Development

The proposed project, sCool, is an adaptive game-based learning experience designed for STEM education. In this work, we present a new iteration of sCool in efforts to further examine contributing factors of engagement, usability, and comprehension. The newly developed game experience for acquiring object-oriented programming skills is divided into two parts: concept learning and practical challenge. The concept learning part teaches students theoretical lessons of programming through fun gameplay. The practical challenge part allows students to practice programming by completing tasks. This project presents several new game types for both the concept learning and practical challenge parts. The development of these game types spreads across two phases. The first phase introduces two new game types and focuses on extending sCool to support learning object-oriented programming and improve student’s learning comprehension. The second phase builds off of the first phase, introducing another new game type to improve the object-oriented programming learning experience and the game’s overall usability and engagement. During the first phase, three experiments were conducted in a classroom setting with a computer science teacher. Conducting a study involving a total of 39 school students and three teachers, we are able to successfully display an enhanced understanding of different programming concepts. During the second phase, a single experiment was held remotely among a wide group of people, and the participants were self-guided by an instruction document and the sCool application. Conducting a study with 25 participants, we are able to show a significant improvement in the game’s usability and engagement. For future works, further evaluations in-classroom and over a longer course will be useful in assessing the new game type’s effectiveness in teaching object oriented programming. Furthermore, the game should be expanded to support learning more complex concepts in object oriented programming