The Playground Game:: Inquiry‐Based Learning About Research Methods and Statistics

The Playground Game is a web-based game that was developed for teaching research methods and statistics to nursing and social sciences students in higher education and vocational training. The complexity and abstract nature of research methods and statistics poses many challenges for students. The Playground Game aims to address this issue and bridge the gap between theory and practice by providing students with a playful practical problem case that they have to analyse and evaluate: the player’s task is to make substantiated judgements about a study that was carried out to decide upon the most suitable location for laying out a children’s playground in a fictitious town. This paper reports about the evaluation of the Playground Game among 103 students of the bachelor psychology programme from Leuven University. A pre-questionnaire preceding the game was used to collect information about the students´ individual characteristics and included a self-assessment. A post-questionnaire collected the students´ appreciations and comments, and included the same self-assessment as well as five additional test questions. This set-up allowed us to not only collect the players’ judgements and appreciations about the game, but also to assess achieved learning gains. All student activities were carried out online. As an additional step we have set up a quasi-experiment for exploring to what extent score mechanisms and audio cueing could be used for influencing (reducing) the players’ trial-and-error behaviours. The students were randomly distributed over 4 groups each of which was linked to a different version of the game. We implemented two different game score mechanisms and either used short audio cues indicating a correct or incorrect decision, or omitted these. Technically the Playground Game was implemented on the EMERGO platform, which is an open source educational gaming platform developed by the Open University of the Netherlands (www.emergo.cc). The game (so far only a Dutch language version is available) is an outcome of the CHERMUG project (Continuing and Higher Education in Research Methods Using Games), which was sponsored by the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission

Developing scenario-based serious games for complex cognitive skills acquisition::Design, development and evaluation of the EMERGO platform

Serious games are considered to provide powerful and attractive ways to acquire complex cognitive skills for education and training. But existing platforms for development of game-based e-learning often appear either not to be very user-friendly or too rigid or costly. This article addresses the design, development and evaluation of a generic platform for fast and flexible development and delivery of a wide variety of scenario-based games that enables complex cognitive skills acquisition. We present the requirements for the EMERGO platform and which common components it offers to cater for most of the needed functionalities within scenario-based games. We explain how users in various roles can use the platform to manage, develop, deliver and play a broad variety of scenario-based games. Evaluation data are presented to back up the claim that the platform indeed allows for faster, more user-friendly and less costly development and delivery of scenario-based games. Seven years after the platform has been launched, it until now has proven successful and still continues to evolve. We close off with some conclusions and needs for further development

Developing scenario-based serious games for complex cognitive skills acquisition::Design, development and evaluation of the EMERGO platform

Serious games are considered to provide powerful and attractive ways to acquire complex cognitive skills for education and training. But existing platforms for development of game-based e-learning often appear either not to be very user-friendly or too rigid or costly. This article addresses the design, development and evaluation of a generic platform for fast and flexible development and delivery of a wide variety of scenario-based games that enables complex cognitive skills acquisition. We present the requirements for the EMERGO platform and which common components it offers to cater for most of the needed functionalities within scenario-based games. We explain how users in various roles can use the platform to manage, develop, deliver and play a broad variety of scenario-based games. Evaluation data are presented to back up the claim that the platform indeed allows for faster, more user-friendly and less costly development and delivery of scenario-based games. Seven years after the platform has been launched, it until now has proven successful and still continues to evolve. We close off with some conclusions and needs for further development

Encouraging contributions in Learning Networks using incentive mechanisms

Please refer to the original Article: Hummel, H., Burgos, D., Tattersall, C., Brouns, F., Kurvers, H., Koper, R. (2005). Encouraging constributions in learning networks using incentive mechanisms. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning,21, 355-365. Submitted (April 8,2005)We investigate incentive mechanisms to increase active participation in Learning Networks. The Learning Network under study is LN4LD, a Learning Network for the exchange of information about the IMS Learning Design specification. We examine how to encourage learners in LN4LD to contribute their knowledge, and whether incentive mechanisms can increase the level of active participation. We describe an incentive mechanism based on constructivist principles and Social Exchange Theory, and experimentation using the mechanism designed to increase the level of active participation. The incentive mechanism allows individual learners to gain personal access to additional information through the accumulation of points earned by making contributions. Repeated measurements according to a simple interrupted time series with removal design show that the level of participation was indeed increased by the introduction of the reward system. It can therefore be considered worthwhile to use incentive mechanisms in Learning Networks

Facilitating participation:From the EML web site to the Learning Network for Learning Design

Please refer to original publication: Hummel, H., Tattersall, C., Burgos, D., Brouns, F., Kurvers, H., & Koper, R. (2005). Facilitating participation: From the EML website to the Learning Network for Learning Design. Interactive Learning Environments,13(1-2), 55-69This article investigates conditions for increasing active participation in on-line communities. As a case study, we use three generations of facilities designed to promote learning in the area of Educational Modelling Languages. Following a description of early experience with a conventional web site and with a community site offering facilities for collaboration, we describe a pilot implementation of a Learning Network. Preliminary participation data (both passive and active) is reported, together with lessons learned while setting up the pilot. Early experiences reveal that clear policies, usability and reward systems are of importance when facilitating a Learning Network. Our ‘lessons learned’ are phrased in terms of recommendations which will be used to guide subsequent Learning Network implementations.The authors would like to thank the management and staff of the Schloss Dagstuhl International Conference and Research Center for Computer Science for providing a pleasant, stimulating and well-organized environment for the writing of this article. Furthers thanks go to the community members from all over the world for participating in the learning networks

Skills Labs - Deliverable 3.1: Workshops scholing EMERGO-methodiek (3.1a) en toolkit (3.1b)

Nadolski, R. J., Hummel, H. G. K, Slootmaker, A., & Kurvers, H. (2009). Skills Labs - Deliverable 3.1: Workshops scholing EMERGO-methodiek (3.1a) en toolkit (3.1b). SURFFoundation.Deze Deliverable 3.1 beschrijft globaal de workshops die in het project Skills Labs voor de casusontwikkelaars (docenten) door WP3 (Professionalisering en Support) worden aangeboden. De workshops zijn gericht op het leren werken met de EMERGO-methodiek en de EMERGO-toolkit die bij een aantal fasen binnen deze methodiek worden gebruikt door de casusontwikkelaars.Surf foundation. The Netherlands

Scripted collaboration in serious gaming for complex learning: Effects of multiple perspectives when acquiring water management skills

Hummel, H. G. K., Van Houcke, J., Nadolski, R. J., Van der Hiele, T., Kurvers, H., & Löhr, A. (2011). Scripted collaboration in gaming for complex learning: Effects of multiple perspectives when acquiring water management skills. British Journal of Educational Technology, 42(6), 1029-1041. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2010.01122.xThis article examines how learning outcomes from playing serious games can be enhanced by including scripted collaboration in the game play. We compared the quality of advisory reports, that students in the domain of water management had to draw up for an authentic case problem, both before and after collaborating on the problem with (virtual) peer students. Peers studied the case from either an ecological or governance perspective, and during collaboration both perspectives had to be confronted and reflected upon. This article argues why such type of workplace-based learning scenarios are important for professional development, describes how serious gaming scenarios can be designed to support such complex learning, and reports data on student satisfaction and learning effects of including scripted collaboration. Preliminary results from a pilot study with 12 students show that including scripted collaboration significantly enhances the quality of learning outcomes

Automated essay scoring in applied games:Reducing the teacher bandwidth problem in online training

This paper presents a methodology for applying automated essay scoring in educational settings. The methodology was tested and validated on a dataset of 173 reports (in Dutch language) that students have created in an applied game on environmental policy. Natural Language Processing technologies from the ReaderBench framework were used to generate an extensive set of textual complexity indices for each of the reports. Afterwards, different machine learning algorithms were used to predict the scores. By combining binary classification (pass or fail) and a probabilistic model for precision, a trade-off can be made between validity of automated score prediction (precision) and the reduction of teacher workload required for manual assessment. It was found from the sample that substantial workload reduction can be achieved, while preserving high precision: allowing for a precision of 95% or higher would already reduce the teacher’s workload to 74%; lowering precision to 80% produces a workload reduction of 50%