Lessons learnt from the user journey of well-known digital games for the development of educational software

In addition to the actual core content of games, the user journey or user experience in digital games is becoming more and more important. The menu structure should be as intuitive as possible. Features that are important should be displayed to the player at the moment when the game engine assumes that access is necessary. The player should then reach the content with one tap or click. This persuasive design concept is called ‘nudging’ and is rooted in behavioural psychology. Therefore, in the design of the game environment, the viewpoint of goal orientation plays a major role. Two perspectives exist here. First, from the player's point of view: What is necessary to ensure a well-rounded game experience? The second perspective is from the producer's point of view and revolves around what do they want the player to accomplish next. Some of the top games have now also developed so-called "main menu games", which are challenges around the actual game to keep the players content and give them additional tasks that are as stimulating as possible. In this paper, the authors would like to demonstrate the above-mentioned mechanics by analysing four smash hits, namely “FIFA”, “Clash of Clans”, “Pokemon Go” and “League of Legends”, with the aim of gaining learnings for the development of digital educational software. This new form of learning software should be user-centred and offer an outstanding learning experience through optimal design and mechanics.peer-reviewe

Das Metaverse aus technischer, soziologischer und ökologischer Sicht: Chancen und Herausforderungen im Kontext der Medienbildung

In unserem Paper untersuchen wir das Metaverse aus drei verschiedenen Perspektiven: Gesellschaft, Nachhaltigkeit und Technologie. Der gesellschaftliche Teil erörtert die möglichen Auswirkungen des Metaverse auf die Gesellschaft, wie z. B. Veränderungen am Arbeitsplatz und die Entstehung neuer sozialer Strukturen. Der technische Teil konzentriert sich auf die technischen Grundlagen des Metaverse, mit einem Fokus auf Blockchain-Technologien, im Speziellen der Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Der Abschnitt über Nachhaltigkeit behandelt die Auswirkungen aus ökologischer, ökonomischer und sozialer Sicht. Der Einsatz von Blockchain und NFTs hat die Diskussion um das Thema Metaverse seit Anfang der 2020er-Jahre massiv vorangetrieben. Hierbei werden zwei Arten von Metaverseansätzen unterschieden: dezentralisierte und communitybasierte versus zentralisierte kommerzielle Anwendungen. In unserer Arbeit heben wir die potenziellen Vorteile und Herausforderungen des Metaverse hervor und betonen die Notwendigkeit eines umfassenden Verständnisses der verschiedenen Perspektiven und Komponenten, um seine ethische Nutzung zu gewährleisten. Für uns ist es essenziell, dass Bildungseinrichtungen, die Player aus der Industrie – sowohl die großen Konzerne als auch Start- und Scale-Ups –, die Zivilgesellschaft und die Wissenschaft zusammenarbeiten, um ein Verständnis des Metaverse zu entwickeln. Dabei sollten öffentliche Diskussionen und Beteiligungsprozesse gefördert werden, um den gesellschaftlichen Dialog rund um das Metaverse zu intensivieren

The role of blockchain technologies in digital assessment

Once information is stored on the Blockchain, it cannot be altered retroactively. This immutability makes Blockchain technology an ideal candidate to secure learning achievements and educational credentials. Keeping data trustworthy, secure and manipulation-proof has become an increasing issue in education due to the rise of digital learning environments, which often combine learning experiences, testing procedures and educational credential management. Currently, most digital learning environments safeguard their data using traditional safety systems (e.g. password protection), which in turn are not Blockchain-based, but controlled by a centralized authority. While these centralized systems provide a certain level of security against unauthorized access from outside the system, manipulation from within the system cannot be excluded. Users with high enough access rights (teachers, administrators, system managers) can still add, change or delete entries. This becomes an even greater problem when learning achievements are to be reflected in fair and transparent credit systems, and especially when these educational credits are to be valid across different institutions or even countries. Due to their ability to store data in a decentralized, transparent and manipulation-proof way, Blockchain-based technologies can provide solutions to this problem. The aim of this paper is to describe the status quo of Blockchain technologies in the educational sector, including the expected merits and drawbacks.peer-reviewe

Teaching financial literacy around the topic of games : a case study

In the last decade, various pricing models have been developed around computer games. The classic model is games that are bought at a fixed price and no further spending is necessary. However, for some of these games, there are frequent content expansions, such as new stories, available to purchase. Other games have an initial price and a subscription model. A further concept, which can be seen in well-known esports games, such as “League of Legends”, but also in mobile games, such as “Clash of Clans”, is the free2play model. Here, the game can basically be played for free, but there are in-game purchases or so-called season passes, where rewards can be earned more quickly. In all models with in-game purchases, it is always the same procedure: for real money, a further type of ingame token (for instance, jewels in Clash of Clans and “FIFA points” in FIFA) can be bought in addition to the in-game currency that can be earned by playing the game. However, it is only possible to invest money in the game, but not to convert the in-game currency into real money (although there are workarounds like using eBay or other platforms and sell the game accounts or meet in game to transfer in-game currency which has been purchased with a peer2peer FIAT transaction before). In some cases, that secondary currency, which is intended to be purchased for real money, can also be earned, but usually only very slowly and with a lot of effort while playing, which might have legal reasons, so the games cannot be blamed to fall under the gambling jurisdiction. This paper takes the esports School League Floridsdorf+ in Vienna as an example to examine how the topic of digital games and their respective around the game and in-game economy can be used to introduce students to the topic of financial literacy. This can also be facilitated to explain classic financial topics such as interest rates, inflation, deflation, savings accounts or new technologies such as blockchain in an applied and sustainable way.peer-reviewe

HotCity—A Gamified Token System for Reporting Waste Heat Sources

Urban planning needs to discover and incorporate new energy sources to meet climate protection targets in the future. Waste heat from industrial and urban infrastructure has proven to be a viable solution, but its proper identification can be challenging, especially for smaller and unconventional sources. Our project relies on the principles of gamification enhanced by a blockchain based token system and crowdsourcing as methods to collect and utilise spatial data such as the location and the size of previously unused heat sources. The mobile platform-neutral HotCity App en ables users to collectively patrol the city in search of waste heat sources and to gain tokens that can be exchanged for rewards. The blockchain platform Ardor was used for cheat proofing and to enable transparency for the reward system. The field test conducted in winter 2020/2021 showed high usability scores as well as high acceptance ratings of our approach opening up new use case scenarios in the context of spatial energy planning.©2022 Elsevier. This manuscript version is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY–NC–ND 4.0) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

The use of blockchain technologies to issue and verify micro-credentials for customised educational journeys : presentation of a demonstrator

In recent years, a clear trend towards personalised learning experiences has emerged. Individual preferences are in the foreground and should be made possible, for example, through selectable choices. If these courses take place in the same educational institution, the handling of credit and the clear allocation to learning outcomes is usually possible. However, it becomes difficult when the options also extend to courses outside the main educational institution. It is even more difficult when the study opportunities occur, for example, at educational institutions abroad or at businesses with a strong focus on practice. Here, accreditation is often very difficult, dependent on the case and a painstaking process, unless it is regulated by law, for example through the Bologna Process in the case of universities. New ways in adult education go a whole step further, especially via the so-called second-chance education, when the trainee has a choice of often hundreds of possible courses at various educational and vocational institutions. However, the diploma or work permit is ultimately awarded by the authorities and not a specific university or college. This is an ideal example for the concept of micro-credentials or the possibility of partial achievements being made through various channels, whereby each of these microcredentials clearly defines the educational goal that is required and the extent to which this has been achieved by the learner. The most important factor regarding micro-credentials is a standardised form of storage, presentation, verification and approval processes. By discussing a demonstrator, this paper shows how blockchain technologies in combination with digital identities represent a feasible approach to mapping and comparing micro-credentials.peer-reviewe

Create digital games for education : dame design as a teaching methodology

Besides the pure application of serious games as tools for knowledge transfer, a further trend has been observed in the last few years: The creation of games as an opportunity to gain practical experience and thereby also build up valuable knowledge. In this context several approaches are possible, such as using paper prototyping, game maker tools like Scratch, RPG-Maker, Construct 3 or Game Maker Studio 2, and the application of actual game engines like Unity. This contribution aims to discuss the possibility of creating games in a very specific, predefined genre using game maker tools that have been especially developed for use in an educational context and therefore offer didactic guidance. The Game Creator Tool which was developed as part of the Erasmus+ project Create Digital Games for Education (CDG4E) is presented in more depth. Using this tool, one can create decision card games inspired by the mobile game bestseller "Reigns". Within the project, the consortium created educational games in different areas such as fake news prevention and STEM education. In addition to these ready-made games, another focus was placed on using the tool itself as a teaching technique, for example to create games on a specific topic with school classes or within youth work, but also as an instrument for setting up dedicated "game jams". This contribution reports on the advantages and drawbacks of creating the tool itself by analysing qualitative and quantitative data gathered during the iterative design process of the Game Creator.peer-reviewe

Adaptive learning and assessment : from the teachers' perspective

Digital technologies have changed and continue to shape the way students interact with learning material, both in traditional and informal education. Adaptive learning methodologies offer an interesting avenue for personalized learning, whereas every individual student is presented with tailormade content, specifically based on the distinct strengths, weaknesses, goals and engagement patterns of the learner. This is intended to consolidate knowledge and ensure that learning progresses at the right time and pace. Underpinning such computer-mediated interventions, one might find simple logic, allowing the content to be adapted after short intermediate tests, up to more complex Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods, which for example, in the realm of serious games, take on the role of the teacher whom facilitates the appropriate learning experience. Such an approach is an interesting and well-meaning methodology that requires additional research and consequently should be developed further, both in terms of the supporting technology and pedagogy. For instance, with regard to the latter, the role of the teachers (and educators in general), in self-directed learning of students whilst utilizing adaptive educational applications is to be investigated. This will allow teachers to take on the role of learning companions and subsequently better estimate the student's progress and facilitate the overall learning experience. In this paper, the authors critically analyse the role of adaptive learning methodologies from the teacher’s perspective and extend this notion not only to support the learning experience itself, but also to assess it, particularly in formative and embedded ways. Furthermore, the authors take a glimpse at the future, where in a few years' time, the assessment of a teacher (through standardized testing or otherwise), will no longer be the decisive factor affecting and/or shaping the career path of a child or young adult. As such, this paper takes an explorative approach to identify the current state of play amongst educators, their expectations and fears regarding adaptive learning and assessment, through a mixed methods approach involving an online survey, followed by a focus group discussion with experts in the field.peer-reviewe

Preprint_Held im Spiel_Wernbacher

Computer games can be described as a multi-facetted phenomenon: the reception of interactive media however involves a diversity of potential effects. The current study tries to solve a part of the complex puzzle involving the consequences of media reception. Basically, the present analysis concentrated on the potential activation of game related words in the lexicon by an elaborated game playing experience. The degree of accessibility of specific words in the lexical storage was measured via a lexical decision task (LDT) paradigm. Each task contained a game related, an aggression related and a neutral word category. The LDT units were masked as word/nonword discrimination tests. Two lexical decision tasks were completed after two playing sessions of 15 minutes each by a sample consisting of 60 males. In addition to these tasks interactions with and between motives to play computer games were examined. The following computer games were selected for the systematic variation of context related variables: The 3D-role playing game “Oblivion” and the 3D-first person shooter “Call of Duty 2” were assigned to the experimental groups. The skill training game “Tetris” was assigned to the control group. Depending on the condition, players should react differently in the lexical decision tasks. Indeed, the results showed faster reactions to game compatible words by the “Call of Duty 2”-group in comparison to the “Oblivion”-group. Additionally both experimental groups recognized game related words faster than neutral words. The control group showed identical answers in the game related und neutral word decision tests. Concerning the activation of aggression related schemata, the results showed that playing violent video games did not enhance the accessability of words referring to aggression and/or violence. These findings suggest a cognitive transfer effect from the virtual game world to the real word. In other words, a highly immersive game playing experience can leave a certain trace in the lexical storage

Preprint_Traces_Wernbacher

The ability to travel long and short distances at any time enables a high degree of individual flexibility on the one hand, but it also results in a number of adverse effects, including massive impacts on traffic flow and a constantly growing lack of space. Increasing emission levels (CO2, NO2) and the associated fine dust pollution are to be considered serious barriers for meeting internationally agreed targets on environmental preservation; they will also negatively affect the health of city residents. As a result these factors will increase community and state expenditure (through accidents, parking tickets and so on) as a direct result of insufficient sustainable and future-oriented individual traffic behaviour. In course of the state funded project “Traces“ we aim to tackle these challenges by promoting sustainable mobility in the urban area using a contextual gamification framework. During the past year behavioural theories have been combined with state-of-the-art ICT technologies in order to create an immersive playing experience. During the game players will be motivated to choose from a variety of inter- and multimodal mobility options. The gamification framework uses a pervasive gaming approach with location-based elements for changing behavioural patterns surrounding individual mobility choices. The main goal is to achieve a change in long established behavioural patterns, demonstrate feasible alternatives and establish an authentic gaming experience, creating an incentive to use inter- and multimodal mobility forms (persuasive design). Through the integration of modern ICT technologies target groups will be addressed in real life conditions. The bi-directional transfer between the virtual and real game world will be additionally enhanced by offline-campaigns in urban space (pervasive design). In order to achieve our objectives, the game concept as well as the mobile application demo will be developed within living laboratories (labs) in order to stay as close as possible to the end-users’ needs. The basic game mechanics, functionality and usability of the game framework are optimized following an iterative design process. Additionally, experts will be involved in dedicated workshops for enabling a professional integration of best-practice experiences. The project results are constantly evaluated and will lead to an action plan for promoting and enhancing inter- and multimodal mobility as well as an impact analysis of the behavioural and cognitive effects