Comparing Bayesian Statistics and Frequentist Statistics in Serious Games Research

This article presents three empirical studies on the effectiveness of serious games for learning and motivation, while it compares the results arising from Frequentist (classical) Statistics with those from Bayesian Statistics. For a long time it has been technically impracticable to apply Bayesian Statistics and benefit from its conceptual superiority, but the emergence of automated sampling algorithms and user-friendly tools has radically simplified its usage. The three studies include two within-subjects designs and one between-subjects design. Unpaired t-tests, mixed factorial ANOVAs and multiple linear regression are used for the analyses. Overall, the games are found to have clear positive effects on learning and motivation, be it that the results from Bayesian Statistics are more strict and more informative, and possess several conceptual advantages. Accordingly, the paper calls for more emphasis on Bayesian Statistics in serious games research and beyond, as to reduce the present domination by the Frequentist Paradigm

Ict in het onderwijs: middel of doel?

Ict speelt een steeds grotere rol in het onderwijs. Een heilig principe daarbij is dat de technologie slechts een middel is en nooit tot doel mag worden verheven. Wie het waagt de technologie tot doel te verheffen, kan pek en veren verwachten. Maar wat is er eigenlijk mis met het centraal stellen van technologie in het onderwijs? Daarom in dit artikel argumenten waarom ict op school best het doel kan zijn

Amplifying applied game development and uptake

The established (digital) leisure game industry is historically one dominated by large international hardware vendors (e.g. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo), major publishers and supported by a complex network of development studios, distributors and retailers. New modes of digital distribution and development practice are challenging this business model and the leisure games industry landscape is one experiencing rapid change. The established (digital) leisure games industry, at least anecdotally, appears reluctant to participate actively in the applied games sector (Stewart et al., 2013). There are a number of potential explanations as to why this may indeed be the case including ; A concentration on large-scale consolidation of their (proprietary) platforms, content, entertainment brand and credibility which arguably could be weakened by association with the conflicting notion of purposefulness (in applied games) in market niches without clear business models or quantifiable returns on investment. In contrast, the applied games industry exhibits the characteristics of an emerging, immature industry namely: weak interconnectedness, limited knowledge exchange, an absence of harmonising standards, limited specialisations, limited division of labour and arguably insufficient evidence of the products efficacies (Stewart et al., 2013; Garcia Sanchez, 2013) and could, arguably, be characterised as a dysfunctional market. To test these assertions the Realising an Applied Gaming Ecosystem (RAGE) project will develop a number of self contained gaming assets to be actively employed in the creation of a number of applied games to be implemented and evaluated as regional pilots across a variety of European educational, training and vocational contexts. RAGE is a European Commission Horizon 2020 project with twenty (pan European) partners from industry, research and education with the aim of developing, transforming and enriching advanced technologies from the leisure games industry into self-contained gaming assets (i.e. solutions showing economic value potential) that could support a variety of stakeholders including teachers, students, and, significantly, game studios interested in developing applied games. RAGE will provide these assets together with a large quantity of high-quality knowledge resources through a self-sustainable Ecosystem, a social space that connects research, the gaming industries, intermediaries, education providers, policy makers and end-users in order to stimulate the development and application of applied games in educational, training and vocational contexts. The authors identify barriers (real and perceived) and opportunities facing stakeholders in engaging, exploring new emergent business models ,developing, establishing and sustaining an applied gaming eco system in Europe

Accommodating Stealth Assessment in Serious Games:Towards Developing A Generic Tool

Stealth assessment derives the progression of learning in an unobtrusive way from observed gameplay captured in log files. To this end, it uses machine learning technologies to provide probabilistic reasoning over established latent competency variable models. Now that video games are increasingly being used for training and learning purposes, stealth assessment could provide an excellent means of monitoring learning progress without the need for explicit testing. However, applying stealth assessment is a complex and laborious process. This paper analyses the limitations of stealth assessment and conceptualizes the requirements for developing a generic tool that could overcome its barriers and accommodate its practical application. Hence, a framework is presented describing its user and functional requirements. The proposed generic solution could open up the wider uptake of stealth assessment in serious games

Personalised learning: a familiar concept to secondary teachers? And which teachers?

This paper presents the main results of a questionnaire survey that sought to evaluate secondary school teachers’ familiarity with the notion of personalised learning and to relate it to personal, sociological and professional characteristics. The outcomes of this work are both an exploratory study aimed at defining more focused questions about the theme of personalisation, and the first tryout of the questionnaire designed to gather data. Although this was thus a preliminary study which did not lay claim to any more general scope, it still enables some hypotheses to be framed and examined in the light of the answers of 43 practitioners. The appendix provides the full questionnaire on personalisation, as distributed to participants.Peer reviewe

Generating Computational Models for Serious Gaming

Westera, W. (2013, 25 October). Generating computational models for serious gaming. Presentation at the GALA Serious Gaming Conference, Paris, France.Many serious games include computational models that simulate dynamic systems. These models promote enhanced interaction and responsiveness. Under the social web paradigm more and more usable game authoring tools become available that enable prosumers to create their own games, but the inclusion of dynamic simulations remains a specialist’s job involving knowledge of mathematics, numerical modeling and programming. This presentation explains a methodology for specifying and running a specific subset of computational models without the need of bothering with mathematical equations. The methodology comprises a knowledge elicitation procedure for identifying and specifying the required model components, whereupon the mathematical model is automatically generated. The approach is based on the fact that many games focus on optimisation problems that are covered by a general class of linear programming models. The presentation thus sketches the principles of a creativity tool that removes barriers for harvesting the creative potential of teachers and students

Kinetics of Radioiodinated Heptadecanoic Acid and Metabolites in the Normal and Ischaemic Canine Heart

This study was undertaken to elucidate if the myocardial elimination rate of the radioactivity after administration of radioiodinated heptadecanoic acid was related to beta-oxidation of the fatty acid or related to washout of free radioiodide. In samples of normal and ischaemic myocardium the distribution of the radioactivity over free radioiodide, heptadecanoic acid and lipids was determined. In normal myocardium the major component was free radioiodide, only a small percentage being heptadecanoic acid. In ischaemic myocardium more radiolabelled lipids were present and less free iodide when compared with normal myocardium. The percentage heptadecanoic acid was slightly increased. It is concluded that radioiodinated heptadecanoic acid behaves like the natural analogues regarding uptake and distribution. However, washout of free radioiodide determines the elimination rate as observed during a scintigraphic stud