8,003 research outputs found

    Using gaming paratexts in the literacy classroom

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    This paper illustrates how digital game paratexts may effectively be used in the high school English to meet a variety of traditional and multimodal literacy outcomes. Paratexts are texts that refer to digital gaming and game cultures, and using them in the classroom enables practitioners to focus on and valorise the considerable literacies and skills that young people develop and deploy in their engagement with digital gaming and game cultures. The effectiveness of valorizing paratexts in this manner is demonstrated through two examples of assessment by students in classes where teachers had designed curriculum and assessment activities using paratexts

    On the Liberation of Space in Computer Games

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    This article describes the evolution of space in computer games from self-contained spaces to more processual concepts. While in the early age of computer games the design of space primarily caused specific interpretations and acts (invasion or defence of space – as a matter of opinion), the latter concepts become more and more indefinite: Former hard-fought dungeons and space stations resolve into landscapes open for relational perspectives. Insofar as the design of space loses its impact on the perceptions and actions of the players, acts of social communication and not warfare reduce uncertainty. The thesis is that this process gives rise to the formation of communities and the unpredictable configuration of space

    Digital Games and Second Language Learning among Tertiary-level EFL Learners: A Critical Review

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    Despite the increased interest in the possibilities of digital games in second language education, their use in higher education is a relatively uncharted territory. This review was carried out to examine how digital game-based language learning is used, and what its effects are on language learners at tertiary level in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. Twenty-seven studies were short-listed from academic literature and were analysed for research methodology, theoretical frameworks, research foci, game types and specifications, research results, and pedagogical implications. The research revealed six types of digital games, each with its own affordances that could enhance language learning. It was also found that these games increased vocabulary uptake and long-term lexical retention, enhanced L2 reading and listening comprehension, fostered writing ability and communicative competence, and increased motivation and willingness to communicate in the L2. Therefore, it may be deduced that digital games can be employed as a beneficial tool for the development of L2 competence and for the enrichment of the language learning experience. Suggestions for further research and educational implications have been provided

    Microworld Writing: Making Spaces for Collaboration, Construction, Creativity, and Community in the Composition Classroom

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    In order to create a 21st century pedagogy of learning experiences that inspire the engaged, constructive, dynamic, and empowering modes of work we see in online creative communities, we need to focus on the platforms, the environments, the microworlds that host, hold, and constitute the work. A good platform can build connections between users, allowing for the creation of a community, giving creative work an engaged and active audience. These platforms will work together to build networks of rhetorical/creative possibilities, wherein students can learn to cultivate their voices, skills, and knowledge bases as they engage across platforms and genres. I call on others to make, mod, or hack other new platforms. In applying this argument to my subject, teaching writing in a college composition class, I describe Microworld Writing as a genre that combines literary language practice with creativity, performativity, play, game mechanics, and coding. The MOO can be an example of one of these platforms and of microworld writing, in that it allows for creativity, user agency, and programmability, if it can be updated to have the needed features (virtual world, community, accessibility, narrativity, compatibility and exportability). I offer the concept of this MOO-IF as inspiration for a collaborative, community-oriented Interactive Fiction platform, and encourage people to extend, find, and build their own platforms. Until then and in addition, students can be brought into Microworld Writing in the composition classroom through interactive-fiction platforms, as part of an ecology of genre experimentation and platform exercise

    Gaming Business Communities: Developing online learning organisations to foster communities, develop leadership, and grow interpersonal education

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    This paper explores, through observation and testing, what possibilities from gaming can be extended into other realms of human interaction to help bring people together, extend education, and grow business. It uses through action learning within the safety of the virtual world within Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Further, I explore how the world of online gaming provides opportunity to train a wide range of skills through extending Revans’ (1980) learning equation and action inquiry methodology. This equation and methodology are deployed in relation to a gaming community to see if the theories could produce strong relationships within organisations and examine what learning, if any, is achievable. I also investigate the potential for changes in business (e.g., employee and customer relationships) through involvement in the gaming community as a unique place to implement action learning. The thesis also asks the following questions on a range of extended possibilities in the world of online gaming: What if the world opened up to a social environment where people could discuss their successes and failures? What if people could take a real world issue and re‐create it in the safe virtual world to test ways of dealing with it? What education answers can the world of online gaming provide

    Cidades Virtuais como um ambiente educacional colaborativo

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    O CIVITAS (Cidades Virtuais com Tecnologias para Aprendizagem e Simulação) Ă© um projeto de pes- quisa, ensino e extensĂŁo, orientado por uma abordagem voltada Ă  construção das cidades imaginadas pelos alunos, nos primeiros anos do ensino fundamental, com ĂȘnfase na quarta sĂ©rie. Os professores juntamente com as crianças aventuram-se neste projeto sobre um desvio em relação ao currĂ­culo oficial, proposto para refletir sobre a invenção das cidades. Neste contexto, o jogo CittĂ  Ă© apresentado como um ambiente que permite a criação de conteĂșdos digitais, real / virtual / imaginĂĄrio de cidades, permitindo diferentes formas de interação entre os alunos, por meio de computa- dores em rede. As situaçÔes de cooperação, possibilitadas pelo acesso ao jogo, sĂŁo ferramentas para professores e alunos poderem pensar as informaçÔes que operam como regra geral e palavras de ordem com a invenção da cidade / conhecimento

    Zirkus Empathico 2.0, A serious game to foster emotional and collaborative skills in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

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    Autismus-Spektrum-Störung (ASD) ist eine neurologische Entwicklungsstörung, die durch eine Reihe von Entwicklungsstörungen gekennzeichnet ist, die zu einem Mangel an sozialen, kommunikativen und kooperativen FĂ€higkeiten fĂŒhren. Sozio-kommunikative BeeintrĂ€chtigungen können durch von Verhaltenstherapeuten konzipierte und durchgefĂŒhrte Trainingsprogramme fĂŒr soziale Kompetenzen verbessert werden. ComputergestĂŒtzte Therapien zur Lösung sozio-kommunikativer Schwierigkeiten bei Kindern, Jugendlichen und Erwachsenen mit ASD haben ermutigende Ergebnisse gezeigt. Das Serious-Game-Format ist eine Form der Intervention. Seriöse Spiele sind pĂ€dagogisch wertvoll, aber oft attraktiver als offensichtliche pĂ€dagogische Hilfsmittel. Zirkus Empathico 2.0 ist ein Serious Game fĂŒr mehrere Spieler mit verschiedenen Levels und BĂŒhnen in einer Zirkusumgebung. Die Auswertung erfolgte ĂŒber einen Zeitraum von acht Wochen. Sechzig Kinder mit ASD im Alter von fĂŒnf bis elf Jahren wurden vor und nach der Behandlung untersucht. Zu den primĂ€ren Ergebnissen gehörten die Empathiebewertung durch die Eltern und objektiv gemessene FĂ€higkeiten zur Emotionserkennung. Die Bewertung der EffektivitĂ€t und Verwendbarkeit des Spiels fĂŒr das Training sozialer Kompetenzen zeigte, dass es eine plausible Lernumgebung schuf, indem es das Bewusstsein der Studienteilnehmer fĂŒr FĂ€higkeiten und neurotypisches Verhalten steigerte und ihre vorhergesagte Angst in zukĂŒnftigen sozialen Situationen verringerte. Nach der Behandlung wurden signifikante Behandlungseffekte festgestellt. Sowohl bei Kurz- als auch bei Langzeitbeurteilungen. Zirkus Empathico 2.0 ist erfolgreich bei der langfristigen Verbesserung der sozio-emotionalen FĂ€higkeiten in realen Situationen. ZukĂŒnftige Forschung sollte sich auf die spezifischen Prozesse konzentrieren, die den Übertragungs- und Aufrechterhaltungsvorteilen von Empathie und Emotionserkennung zugrunde liegen.Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a spectrum of developmental abnormalities that result in a lack of social, communicative, and collaborative abilities. Socio-communicative impairments can be improved through behavioral therapist-designed and delivered social-skills training programs. Computer-based therapies to resolve socio-communicative difficulties in children, adolescents, and adults with ASD have demonstrated encouraging outcomes. The serious game format is one type of intervention. Serious games are educational but often appeal more than overt pedagogical tools. Zirkus Empathico 2.0 is a multi-player serious game set with various levels and stages in a circus environment. It was evaluated over eight weeks. Sixty children with ASD aged five to eleven years were evaluated before treatment and post-treatment. Primary outcomes included empathy rating by parents and objectively measured emotion recognition abilities. Secondary outcomes were assessed as emotional awareness, emotion management, well-being, and personal therapy goals. The assessment of the game's effectiveness and usability for social-skills training indicated that it established a plausible learning environment by boosting trial participants' awareness of abilities and neurotypical behavior and decreasing their predicted fear in future social situations. Following treatment, significant treatment effects were detected. In both short- and long-term assessments, moderate impacts were observed on emotional awareness, emotion management, and autistic social symptomatology. Parents reported that therapy goals were met, and that treatment was transferred well. Zirkus Empathico 2.0 is successful at improving long-term socio-emotional abilities in real-world situations. Future research should focus on the specific processes behind empathy and emotion recognition's transmission and maintenance benefits

    Getting Down in the MUDs: A Ludological Perspective on Arguers

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    Dan Cohen (2018) and Michael Gilbert (1997) have variously emphasized the need for argumentation theorists to pay attention to ‘arguers’ and not just ‘arguments.’ Following Yong-Set (2016), this paper will suggest that ‘games’ can be leveraged to enrich an understanding of the ‘person’ aspect of argumentation. Ludology is the academic and critical study of games qua games, especially in terms of system design, player experience and the socio-cultural dynamics of gaming. By drawing upon and extending the lessons learned from ludologist Bartle’s (1996, 2012) analysis of the relation between player-types and games that successfully implement Multi-User-Dungeons (MUDs), I argue that a healthy ‘ecosystem for argument’ requires different ‘player types.’ The preferred activities that differentiate the player types each require the success of other player types to prosper. If a goal is to understand how real argumentation functions so that it can be bettered, one cannot define the scope of argumentation narrowly or reductively. This highlights the importance of adopting a conceptual framework – such as Gilbert’s “4 Modes of Argument” – that is rich and versatile enough to deal with the diversity necessarily found in the range of activities that involve arguers and the arguments in which they produce and share evidence
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