3,177 research outputs found

    Disciplinary integration of digital games for science learning

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    Model Matching Theory: A Framework for Examining the Alignment between Game Mechanics and Mental Models

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    The primary aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive review and elaboration of model matching and its theo- retical propositions. Model matching explains and predicts individuals’ outcomes related to gameplay by focusing on the interrelationships among games’ systems of mechanics, relevant situations external to the game, and players’ mental mod- els. Formalizing model matching theory in this way provides researchers a unified explanation for game-based learning, game performance, and related gameplay outcomes while also providing a theory-based direction for advancing the study of games more broadly. The propositions explicated in this article are intended to serve as the primary tenets of model matching theory. Considerations for how these propositions may be tested in future games studies research are discussed

    Video games as a source of extramural English:Finnish university students’ perspective

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    Abstract. This thesis examines how video games as an entertaining pastime activity may function as a source of extramural English language learning for Finnish players. Previous research about video games and learning has been primarily focused on identifying learning principles deeply rooted in the design of video games. This study examines video games in their immediate sociocultural context, as a form of popular culture comprised of complex communities and activities. The study applied qualitative research methods. The data for this study comes from ten semi-structured interview sessions with Finnish university students of English who were active gamers during their early formal education and listed playing video games as a pastime activity. The interview required informants to give information about their experiences and opinions in relation to video games and English second language learning. The results of the thesis show that the informants consider video games as a significant, effective, and versatile source of additional language learning. Additionally, the results show that the learning experiences described by the informants often realize the characteristics of modern sociocultural learning theories and approaches.Tiivistelmä. Tässä opinnäytetyössä tutkitaan, miten englanninkielisten videopelien pelaaminen voi edistää suomenkielisten pelaajien kouluajan ulkopuolista oppimista. Aikaisempi tutkimus pelien ja oppimisen suhteesta on keskittynyt pitkälti pelien oppimiselle olennaisten toimintaperiaatteiden kartoittamiseen. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan pelejä ja oppimista irrottamatta niitä sosiokulttuurisesta viitekehyksestään populaarikulttuurin muotona, joka koostuu monitahoisista yhteisöistä ja aktiviteeteistä. Tutkimusmenetelmä on laadullinen. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu teemahaastatteluista, jonka kymmenen haastateltavaa ovat äidinkielenään suomea puhuvia englannin kielen yliopisto-opiskelijoita. Kaikki haastateltavat harrastivat videopelejä peruskoulun aikana. Haastattelussa osallistujia pyydettiin kertomaan kokemuksistaan ja mielipiteistään englannin kielen oppimisesta videopelien kautta. Tutkimus osoittaa, että haastateltaville videopelit ovat olleet merkittävä, hyvin toimiva ja monipuolinen kanava englannin kielen oppimisessa. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa todetaan, että haastateltavien kuvauksien perusteella pelien kautta tapahtuva oppiminen myötäilee nykyaikaisten sosiokulttuuristen oppimiskäsitysten malleja

    Multiplayer Disciplinarily-Integrated Agent-Based Games: SURGE Gameblox

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    Early work on disciplinary-integrated games (DIGs) focused on Cartesian time-series analyses as the formal representations through which the game communicates challenges and opportunities to the players as well as the formal representations through which the players control the game. In our earlier work, we explored the potential generalizability of the DIG genre in terms of hypothetical examples in physics, biology, chemistry, and the social sciences as well as in terms of multiple model types including constraint-system analyses, system dynamics models, situation-action models, and agent-based models. In particular, Sengupta and Clark and Krinks, Sengupta, and Clark explored the integration of computational modeling, physical models, and Cartesian models. Building on that work, we began outlining theoretical frameworks and arguments highlighting the affordances of moving DIG design more deeply into agent-based modeling. In the current paper, we present the actual design process and rationale through which we developed prototypes of two multiplayer DIG prototypes with agent-based models as the mode of control wherein players create, trade, and elaborate on one another’s code as part of gameplay. We close with a discussion of implications for the design of disciplinary-integrated games leveraging agent-based modeling as the focal formal representation for communication and control

    Video Design and Interactivity: The Semiotics of Multimedia in Instructional Design

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    This creation-as-research thesis examines the semiotics of multimedia and interactivity within the context of instruction, focusing on theoretical and practical representations in video game design, and the cultural models therein. There are 4 parts to this thesis 1) A traditional written document; 2) A 15-Module Online Course in video game design entitled Gaming, Interactive, and Multiplatform Media; 3) 15 Summary Videos of the online course in video game design; 4) The performative creation-as-research dissertation presentation. This thesis highlights the teaching practices surrounding video game design principles, while emulating those design principles as part of the instructional platforms. The 4 parts of this thesis, collectively, are a manifestation of the findings in the written component, which suggests that video games, through their innate interactivity via the inclusion of multimedia as part of their design, hold critical implementation frameworks for course-based instructional design, when multimedia is used as part of the instructional process

    Reinventing the book: exploring the affordances of digital media to (re)tell stories and expand storyworlds

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    A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Professional Doctorate in Journalism, Media, Television and CinemaThe focus of this thesis is on analysing the affordances of new technologies of the book. It looks at the transition between the affordances of the material book and the digital, focusing on the formal aspects of the book and its digital production and consumption. The research uses a coreperiphery model to locate innovation, looking first at a range of practices and then at selected producers and artefacts to identify relevant uses of the affordances of digital media, namely participation, co-creation, online reading communities, and the potential for cross-media extension of stories into other forms. The analyses of selected digital artefacts evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and ask: how have the affordances of the digital medium been used? What do these affordances offer to producers and consumers? And how have certain affordances changed the use value, the pleasures and the suitability of texts for their intended functions? This evaluation takes into account professional publishing contexts and a range of practices, looking at the ways in which producers make, classify and present their works. Affordances theory is used throughout, and ultimately shows that good design practices reinvent the medium, push the boundaries of the book, whilst considering the habits, needs and expectations of readers/users. A practice-led project is subject to analysis and reflection on practice in order to draw further insights and recommend approaches and tools for designers, publishers and other producers. This project experimented with reader engagement and co-creation to adapt the Nature Mage fantasy book series (Duncan Pile, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016) onto enhanced digital book and digital game texts. Media-specificity is used as a framework to look at the ways in which stories can be translated and expanded onto new forms that explore the affordances of digital media. The adaptations are located at the intersection of media, shaped by a range of intertexts from both analogue and digital media, and offering not simply another way of enjoying the narrative but texts that explore the digital affordances also to design features that relate to ludic, creative and social motivations and pleasures. Ultimately the thesis revisits the very definition of the book, its functions, its value and the ways in which emerging digital artefacts are doing the work of books and — thanks to new affordances and their hybrid nature — are not only changing the experience of reading, but also mixing it with the work of other media forms and genres. In doing so, this thesis contributes to furthering professional practice by highlighting a range of uses of the affordances of the digital medium to reinvent the book in the next chapter of its evolution

    Smart glasses for 3D multimodal composition

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    Extended reality technologies – mixed, augmented, and virtual reality, and future-related technologies – are rapidly expanding in many fields, with underexplored potentials for multimodal composition in digital media environments. This research generates new knowledge about the novel wearable technology – smart glasses – to support elementary students’ multimodal story authoring with 3D virtual objects or holograms. The researchers and teachers implemented learning experiences with upper elementary students from three classrooms to compose and illustrate written narratives before retelling the story with Microsoft HoloLens 2 smart glasses, selecting 3D holograms to illustrate the settings, characters, and events from the 3D Viewer software. The findings analyse how smart glasses supported students’ multimodal composition, and relatedly, the new modal resources available to students wearing smart glasses to compose 3D stories. The findings have significance for educators and researchers to understand and utilise the multimodal affordances of augmented and mixed reality environments for composing and storytelling
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