Evaluating the efficacy of digital games to develop communication skills in an arts environment

Much has been written about the theoretical potential of digital games to transform teaching and learning and to offer new forms of digital assessment; yet the education system in the United Kingdom (UK) is arguably still focused exclusively on the assessment and reward of individual effort and achievement. This can be at odds with the requirements of twenty-first century working environments and in the requirements for developing the personal employability characteristics of students. Engaging students in authentic collaborative project work that requires sophisticated and coordinated communication can present real challenges. Employers are increasingly demanding as prerequisite that graduates have highly developed communication and collaborative team working skills for opportunities in the digital industries such as Games Design, however Games Design students are often quite isolated in their personal industry related practice, working methods and their online lifestyles and lack the "soft skills" which would enable them to work successfully within a team. The authors elaborate on how Hull School of Art and Design has attempted to address this problem through the implementation of an Applied Game, the "Watercooler Game", for their Games Industry undergraduates. They present their reflections on the rationale behind the pedagogic approach, the decision to develop an applied game to address their pedagogic challenges and their experience of working with a commercial Games Developer in producing the game. Using a sophisticated evaluation framework, devised as part of the EU Horizon 2020 funded Realising an Applied Gaming Eco-system (RAGE) project, the authors present the initial findings of their evaluation of game from a multidimensional perspective. The pedagogic approach, the technical approach adopted by the developers of the game (an open source asset based approach) and the pedagogic efficacy of the game through evaluation of the learning objectives achieved and how these finding may be applicable in a wider educational context

The "Water Cooler" game

Much has been written about the theoretical potential of digital games to transform teaching and learning and to offer new forms of digital assessment; yet the education system in the United Kingdom (UK) is arguably still focused exclusively on the assessment and reward of individual effort and achievement. This can be at odds with the requirements of twenty-first century working environments and in the requirements for developing the personal employability characteristics of students. Engaging students in authentic collaborative project work that requires sophisticated and coordinated communication can present real challenges. Employers are demanding, as prerequisite, that graduates have highly developed communication and collaborative team working skills for opportunities in the digital industries such as Games Design, however Games Design students are often quite isolated in their personal industry related practice, working methods and their online lifestyles and lack the “soft skills” which would enable them to work successfully within a team. In this paper, the authors elaborate on how Hull School of Art and Design has attempted to address this problem through the implementation of an Applied Game, the “Watercooler Game”, for their Games Industry undergraduates. They present their reflections on the rationale behind the pedagogic approach, the decision to develop an applied game to address their pedagogic challenges and their experience of working with a commercial Games Developer in producing the game. The authors present the initial findings of their evaluation of game from a multidimensional perspective. The pedagogic approach (using applied games with a selected small cohort of students), the technical approach adopted by the developers of the game (an open source asset based approach) and the pedagogic efficacy of the game through evaluation of the learning objectives achieved by a cohort of seventy learners situated in the College’s School of Art and Design

Mg/O₂ Battery Based on the Magnesium-Aluminum Chloride Complex (MACC) Electrolyte

Mg/O₂ cells employing a MgCl₂/AlCl₃/DME (MACC/DME) electrolyte are cycled and compared to cells with modified Grignard electrolytes, showing that performance of magnesium/oxygen batteries depends strongly on electrolyte composition. Discharge capacity is far greater for MACC/DME-based cells, while rechargeability in these systems is severely limited. The Mg/O₂-MACC/DME discharge product comprises a mixture of Mg­(ClO₄)₂ and MgCl₂, with the latter likely formed from slow decomposition of the former. The presence of Cl in these compounds suggests that the electrolyte participates in the cell reaction or reacts readily with the initial electrochemical products. A rate study suggests that O₂ diffusion in the electrolyte limits discharge capacities at higher currents. Formation of an insulating product film on the positive electrodes of Mg/O₂-MACC/DME cells following deep discharge increases cell impedance substantially and likely explains the poor rechargeability. An additional impedance rise consistent with film formation on the Mg negative electrode suggests the presence of detrimental O₂ crossover. Minimizing O₂ crossover and bypassing charge transfer through the discharge product would improve battery performance

The "Water Cooler" game

Much has been written about the theoretical potential of digital games to transform teaching and learning and to offer new forms of digital assessment; yet the education system in the United Kingdom (UK) is arguably still focused exclusively on the assessment and reward of individual effort and achievement. This can be at odds with the requirements of twenty-first century working environments and in the requirements for developing the personal employability characteristics of students. Engaging students in authentic collaborative project work that requires sophisticated and coordinated communication can present real challenges. Employers are demanding, as prerequisite, that graduates have highly developed communication and collaborative team working skills for opportunities in the digital industries such as Games Design, however Games Design students are often quite isolated in their personal industry related practice, working methods and their online lifestyles and lack the “soft skills” which would enable them to work successfully within a team. In this paper, the authors elaborate on how Hull School of Art and Design has attempted to address this problem through the implementation of an Applied Game, the “Watercooler Game”, for their Games Industry undergraduates. They present their reflections on the rationale behind the pedagogic approach, the decision to develop an applied game to address their pedagogic challenges and their experience of working with a commercial Games Developer in producing the game. The authors present the initial findings of their evaluation of game from a multidimensional perspective. The pedagogic approach (using applied games with a selected small cohort of students), the technical approach adopted by the developers of the game (an open source asset based approach) and the pedagogic efficacy of the game through evaluation of the learning objectives achieved by a cohort of seventy learners situated in the College’s School of Art and Design

The "Water Cooler" applied game

: Much has been written about the theoretical potential of digital games to transform teaching and learning and to offer new forms of digital assessment; yet the education system in the United Kingdom (UK) is arguably still focused exclusively on the assessment and reward of individual effort and achievement. This can be at odds with the requirements of twenty-first century working environments and in the requirements for developing the personal employability characteristics of students. Engaging students in authentic collaborative project work that requires sophisticated and coordinated communication can present real challenges. Employers are demanding, as prerequisite, that graduates have highly developed communication and collaborative team working skills for opportunities in the digital industries such as Games Design, however Games Design students are often quite isolated in their personal industry related practice, working methods and their online lifestyles and lack the “soft skills” which would enable them to work successfully within a team. In this paper, the authors elaborate on how Hull School of Art and Design has attempted to address this problem through the implementation of an Applied Game, the “Watercooler Game”, for their Games Industry undergraduates. They present their reflections on the rationale behind the pedagogic approach, the decision to develop an applied game to address their pedagogic challenges and their experience of working with a commercial Games Developer in producing the game. The authors present the initial findings of their evaluation of game from a multidimensional perspective. The pedagogic approach (using applied games with a selected small cohort of students), the technical approach adopted by the developers of the game (an open source asset based approach) and the pedagogic efficacy of the game through evaluation of the learning objectives achieved by a cohort of seventy learners situated in the College’s School of Art and Design

Mg/O2 battery based on the magnesium–aluminum chloride complex (MACC) electrolyte

Mg/O2 cells employing a MgCl2/AlCl3/DME (MACC/DME) electrolyte are cycled and compared to cells with modified Grignard electrolytes, showing that performance of magnesium/oxygen batteries depends strongly on electrolyte composition. Discharge capacity is far greater for MACC/DME-based cells, while rechargeability in these systems is severely limited. The Mg/O2-MACC/DME discharge product comprises a mixture of Mg(ClO4)2 and MgCl2, with the latter likely formed from slow decomposition of the former. The presence of Cl in these compounds suggests that the electrolyte participates in the cell reaction or reacts readily with the initial electrochemical products. A rate study suggests that O2 diffusion in the electrolyte limits discharge capacities at higher currents. Formation of an insulating product film on the positive electrodes of Mg/O2-MACC/DME cells following deep discharge increases cell impedance substantially and likely explains the poor rechargeability. An additional impedance rise consistent with film formation on the Mg negative electrode suggests the presence of detrimental O2 crossover. Minimizing O2 crossover and bypassing charge transfer through the discharge product would improve battery performance

A Mg/O2 battery based on the MACC Electrolyte

Mg/O2 cells employing a MgCl2/AlCl3/DME (MACC/DME) electrolyte are cycled and compared to cells with modified Grignard electrolytes, showing that performance of magnesium/oxygen batteries depends strongly on electrolyte com-position. Discharge capacity is far greater for MACC/DME-based cells, while rechargeability in these systems is severe-ly limited. The Mg/O2-MACC/DME discharge product comprises a mixture of Mg(ClO4)2 and MgCl2, with the latter likely formed from slow decomposition of the former. The presence of Cl in these compounds suggests that the electro-lyte participates in the cell reaction, or reacts readily with the initial electrochemical products. A rate study suggests that O2 diffusion in the electrolyte limits discharge capacities at higher currents. Formation of an insulating product film on the positive electrodes of Mg/O2-MACC/DME cells following deep discharge increases cell impedance substan-tially, and likely explains the poor rechargeability. An additional impedance rise consistent with film formation on the Mg negative electrode suggests the presence of detrimental O2 crossover. Minimizing O2 crossover and bypassing charge transfer through the discharge product would improve battery performanc