A Game-Based Learning Approach To Enhance Understanding Of Interface Design Principles In Design Education

The design of user interface is an important and challenging topic for student designers to understand and master. The eight principles of good User Interface (UI) design are often taught using primarily cognitive approaches, which can leave room for improvement in students’ ability to apply the principles in a variety of contexts. Game-based learning tools are recognised to be beneficial in university classrooms across a variety of discipline areas and topics due to their capacity to increase engagement. This project presents a first prototype for an instructional tool that leverages constructionism and embodied learning to enhance students’ understanding and application of these principles. This tool takes the form of a board game, thus encouraging peer learning. To test the prototype, three usability tests were carried out. Each user group was unique, the first being internal to the design team, the second having some prior exposure of the subject, and the third, having no prior experience at all. In each sessions, the participants were presented with a series of UI challenges, for which they were asked to construct suitable design solutions. Following the sessions, and where possible, the quality of these solutions were evaluated against a scoring system. This initial study suggests that instructional board games may be flexible enough to support learning outcomes at various stages of knowledge and skills acquisition among different learner groups

Science communication and concept of risk in bio-tech-sciences: Is it a part of neo-liberalism, or foucaultian bio-politics?

In this work a Raman flow cytometer is presented. It consists of a microfluidic device that takes advantages of the basic principles of Raman spectroscopy and flow cytometry. The microfluidic device integrates calibrated microfluidic channels- where the cells can flow one-by-one -, allowing single cell Raman analysis. The microfluidic channel integrates plasmonic nanodimers in a fluidic trapping region. In this way it is possible to perform Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy on single cell. These allow a label-free analysis, providing information about the biochemical content of membrane and cytoplasm of the each cell. Experiments are performed on red blood cells (RBCs), peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) and myelogenous leukemia tumor cells (K562)