Scoping the Potential Use of Serious Games for Public Engagement with Tree and Plant Health

After the devastating introduction of Chalara ash dieback into Great Britain in 2012, all devolved GB governments agreed on the need for increased public engagement in protecting tree and plant health. Serious games have been proposed as a tool for achieving this. This thesis explores two questions. Firstly, to what extent is there an appetite for using Serious Games among plant health professionals and the general public? Furthermore, when compared to traditional methods of presenting information in public engagement, can Serious Games improve participant engagement and retention of information? To address the first question, we conducted two studies of attitudes to Serious Games. In the first study, we conducted face-to-face structured interviews of tree and plant health professionals. In this group, we found that there was interest in the potential use of Serious Games; however, a lack of game development skills emerged as a challenge. In the second study, we used an online survey aimed at the general public to ask about attitudes, preferences, and experiences with Serious Games. Again, we found that there was an interest in the use of games with some reservations. In addressing the second question, two experiments were conducted comparing game and non-game methods of presenting identical information to participants. These experiments measured enjoyment and retention of information. In both experiments, the non-game treatment participants had higher quiz results, suggesting that the Serious Game treatment did not improve information retention. This may be because the learning content was not sufficiently related to the games. Additionally, despite Game players reporting a higher perceived level of learning in the second experiment this did not translate to longer term retention of information. We conclude that Serious Games can be useful in arousing interest; however, careful design is needed if they are to promote, rather than distract from, learning

Challenges for engineering students working with authentic complex problems

Engineers are important participants in solving societal, environmental and technical problems. However, due to an increasing complexity in relation to these problems new interdisciplinary competences are needed in engineering. Instead of students working with monodisciplinary problems, a situation where students work with authentic complex problems in interdisciplinary teams together with a company may scaffold development of new competences. The question is: What are the challenges for students structuring the work on authentic interdisciplinary problems? This study explores a three-day event where 7 students from Aalborg University (AAU) from four different faculties and one student from University College North Denmark (UCN), (6th-10th semester), worked in two groups at a large Danish company, solving authentic complex problems. The event was structured as a Hackathon where the students for three days worked with problem identification, problem analysis and finalizing with a pitch competition presenting their findings. During the event the students had workshops to support the work and they had the opportunity to use employees from the company as facilitators. It was an extracurricular activity during the summer holiday season. The methodology used for data collection was qualitative both in terms of observations and participants’ reflection reports. The students were observed during the whole event. Findings from this part of a larger study indicated, that students experience inability to transfer and transform project competences from their previous disciplinary experiences to an interdisciplinary setting

Exploring the practical use of a collaborative robot for academic purposes

This article presents a set of experiences related to the setup and exploration of potential educational uses of a collaborative robot (cobot). The basic principles that have guided the work carried out have been three. First and foremost, study of all the functionalities offered by the robot and exploration of its potential academic uses both in subjects focused on industrial robotics and in subjects of related disciplines (automation, communications, computer vision). Second, achieve the total integration of the cobot at the laboratory, seeking not only independent uses of it but also seeking for applications (laboratory practices) in which the cobot interacts with some of the other devices already existing at the laboratory (other industrial robots and a flexible manufacturing system). Third, reuse of some available components and minimization of the number and associated cost of required new components. The experiences, carried out following a project-based learning methodology under the framework of bachelor and master subjects and thesis, have focused on the integration of mechanical, electronic and programming aspects in new design solutions (end effector, cooperative workspace, artificial vision system integration) and case studies (advanced task programming, cybersecure communication, remote access). These experiences have consolidated the students' acquisition of skills in the transition to professional life by having the close collaboration of the university faculty with the experts of the robotics company.Postprint (published version