“Premierløytnant Bielke”: A Mobile Game for Teaching and Learning History

Developments in mobile phone technology, together with an increased research interest in utilizing computer games to facilitate teaching and learning, are an important catalyst for the emergence of the area of mobile, location-based computer games in schools. This article describes both the design process and an evaluation of Premierløytnant Bielke, a mobile, location-based game for teaching and learning history using mobile phones. We argue that by using the surroundings and milieu that are local to the students in a playful context, we can support the construction of meaning related to the subject of history in a way that is both engaging and worthwhile.publishedVersio

Towards Adaptive Technology in Routine Mental Healthcare

This paper summarizes the information technology-related research findings after 5 years with the INTROducing Mental health through Adaptive Technology project. The aim was to improve mental healthcare by introducing new technologies for adaptive interventions in mental healthcare through interdisciplinary research and development. We focus on the challenges related to internet-delivered psychological treatments, emphasising artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and software engineering. We present the main research findings, the developed artefacts, and lessons learned from the project before outlining directions for future research. The main findings from this project are encapsulated in a reference architecture that is used for establishing an infrastructure for adaptive internet-delivered psychological treatment systems in clinical contexts. The infrastructure is developed by introducing an interdisciplinary design and development process inspired by domain-driven design, user-centred design, and the person based approach for intervention design. The process aligns the software development with the intervention design and illustrates their mutual dependencies. Finally, we present software artefacts produced within the project and discuss how they are related to the proposed reference architecture. Our results indicate that the proposed development process, the reference architecture and the produced software can be practical means of designing adaptive mental health care treatments in correspondence with the patients’ needs and preferences. In summary, we have created the initial version of an information technology infrastructure to support the development and deployment of Internet-delivered mental health interventions with inherent support for data sharing, data analysis, reusability of treatment content, and adaptation of intervention based on user needs and preferences.publishedVersio

Mobile, location-based games for learning: Developing, deploying and evaluating mobile game technology in education

Recent developments in mobile technology have facilitated the emergence of a vast number of games to be played on mobile phones. Several mobile games have also been developed with the explicit purpose of being used for learning. Studies of the educational practices related to these mobile games are not extensively available, however. The main aim for this research was to explore how mobile, location-based games can be used to facilitate teaching and learning practices within education. In particular, the aim was to fill the research gap on educational practices with mobile, location-based games, with an emphasis on mediated, situated social interaction with these games. For this purpose the technological framework of SILO — an authoring tool for creating location-based games — and the game Premierløitnant Bielke were designed, enacted and evaluated. Engagement with the game was studied in three different settings: first, with regard to usability and educational potential of the game; second, with regard to the opportunities for countering the experience of “onetimeness” of game playing and integration with other classroom tools and activities; and third, with regard to gaining insight into the interactional organisation and practical accomplishment of gameplay to discover what the players were actually doing when playing the game. A fourth study explored the educational potential of students creating location-based games for each other to play using the SILO framework. Inspired by design-based research, the methodological approach was to study naturally occurring gameplay in order to inform and improve, in practical ways, the design of both the technology and the activities within the scenarios in which the games were embedded. Based on a view of learning as a situated, mediated and socially originated phenomenon, an ethnographically inspired approach to data collection and analysis was adopted, with the view that learning practices should be studied in light of the context in which they take place. This choice was supported by the observation that the data material on learning practices with mobile, locationbased games for learning is still relatively scarce. Therefore, explorative studies that can lead to knowledge about the social practice of location-based gaming and how to use them in educational institutions are valuable. The results indicate that learning by playing mobile, location-based games seems to be motivating and engaging to students, gameplay relies on a varied set of skills, and it is possible and inspiring to integrate student game creation into classroom activity

Evaluating the Organising of a Collaborative Telelearning Scenario from an Instructor Perspective - an Activity Theoretical Approach

Masters dissertation (hovedfag). Department of Information Science, University of Bergen, Norway.Not availabl

Reusable data visualization patterns for clinical practice

Among clinical psychologists involved in guided internet-facilitated interventions, there is an overarching need to understand patients symptom development and learn about patients need for treatment support. Data visualizations is a technique for managing enormous amounts of data and extract useful information, and is often used in developing digital tool support for decision-making. Although there exists numerous data visualisation and analytical reasoning techniques available through interactive visual interfaces, it is a challenge to develop visualizations that are relevant and suitable in a healthcare context, and can be used in clinical practice in a meaningful way. For this purpose it is necessary to identify actual needs of healthcare professionals and develop reusable data visualization components according to these needs. In this paper we present a study of decision support needs of psychologists involved in online internet-facilitated cognitive behavioural therapy. Based on these needs, we provide a library of reusable visual components using a model-based approach. The visual components are featured with mechanisms for investigating data using various levels of abstraction and causal analysis.acceptedVersio

An old game, new experience: exploring the effect of players’ personal gameplay history on game experience.

This experimental study explores how game experience differs between players with different gameplay histories within the same game universe. We are interested in how prolonged engagement with a game series affects the gameplay experience in relation to the most recent game version in the series. A total of 54 participants were divided into four groups depending on their gaming experience, namely non-gamers, new-gamers, old-gamers and core-gamers. They played the mobile version of Super Mario Run, and questionnaire data was collected after the gameplay session. The results of the study showed that not only the players’ personal gameplay history but also the length of experience or degree of familiarity with the game universe affected the experience of playing a new game in the same game universe. Additionally, familiarity with the game universe had a positive impact on the feeling of competence, immersion, emotions and flow.publishedVersio

An old game, new experience: exploring the effect of players’ personal gameplay history on game experience.

This experimental study explores how game experience differs between players with different gameplay histories within the same game universe. We are interested in how prolonged engagement with a game series affects the gameplay experience in relation to the most recent game version in the series. A total of 54 participants were divided into four groups depending on their gaming experience, namely non-gamers, new-gamers, old-gamers and core-gamers. They played the mobile version of Super Mario Run, and questionnaire data was collected after the gameplay session. The results of the study showed that not only the players’ personal gameplay history but also the length of experience or degree of familiarity with the game universe affected the experience of playing a new game in the same game universe. Additionally, familiarity with the game universe had a positive impact on the feeling of competence, immersion, emotions and flow

Reusable data visualization patterns for clinical practice

Among clinical psychologists involved in guided internet-facilitated interventions, there is an overarching need to understand patients symptom development and learn about patients need for treatment support. Data visualizations is a technique for managing enormous amounts of data and extract useful information, and is often used in developing digital tool support for decision-making. Although there exists numerous data visualisation and analytical reasoning techniques available through interactive visual interfaces, it is a challenge to develop visualizations that are relevant and suitable in a healthcare context, and can be used in clinical practice in a meaningful way. For this purpose it is necessary to identify actual needs of healthcare professionals and develop reusable data visualization components according to these needs. In this paper we present a study of decision support needs of psychologists involved in online internet-facilitated cognitive behavioural therapy. Based on these needs, we provide a library of reusable visual components using a model-based approach. The visual components are featured with mechanisms for investigating data using various levels of abstraction and causal analysis