A theoretical framework for game jams in applied contexts

Game jams encourage participants to define, explore, create, and disseminate games with respect to a pre-defined time-period and under specified constraints. Various methods and approaches have helped with establishing conventions, rules, and processes, and culture surrounding game jams, with practical guides for participants (Kaitila 2012) and organisers (Cornish et al. 2017) available. The popularity of game jams has resulted in an increased demand for game jams that explore a range of different topics, issues, and objectives through game development (Eberhardt 2016; Pirker et al. 2016). Stakeholders interested in ‘applied game jams’ have utilized traditional game jam formats to explore game development across various contexts, including health and wellbeing (Preston, 2014), community engagement (Decker et al. 2015), and social development (Myers et al. 2019). There is a perceived gap to establish a universal method with which to design, execute, and evaluate applied game jams against intentional outcomes

Training air traffic controllers through digital mobile applications versus traditional methods

Safety-critical industries, such as air traffic control, are highly regulated, with rigorous processes and procedures to ensure that safety remains of paramount importance despite the business environment. Training personnel in safety-critical industries is therefore typically a lengthy and expensive process. Gamification and the emphasis on fun, entertainment, progression and retention of concepts has been shown to deliver strong engagement amongst learners but remains at odds with training for safety-critical industries. This paper explores the impact of gamified digital applications versus more traditional training methods for the training of air traffic controllers (ATCs) and other roles relating to air traffic services. We explore the impact of the user experience on engagement and learning retention through the testing of two digital mobile applications, Location Indicators (LI) and The Aircraft Control Positions Operator (ACPO) Starter Pack. These prototypes examine how air traffic control training could be improved by digital applications. In an industry where the rate at which trainees can be trained is projected to fall short of the demand for staff to work in the air traffic industry (BBC, 2018) this project examines potential opportunities for changing established training methods. Each application presented key learning areas for trainees in the air traffic control industry and offers an alternative to the equivalent training currently used. The prototypes were designed to provide a succinct user experience that sat alongside gamified elements to improve engagement. These were then evaluated to determine whether they were effective in potential trainee learning

Digital training in the aeronautical industry:measuring the usability of two mobile applications

The air traffic control industry is highly regulated, with stringent processes and procedures to ensure that IP (Intellectual Property) and workplaces are kept secure. The training of air traffic controllers (ATCs) and other roles relating to air traffic services is a lengthy and expensive process. The rate in which trainees can be trained is projected to fall significantly short of the demand for staff to work in the air traffic industry. This paper focuses on two prototype mobile training applications - Location Indicators (LI) and the Aircraft Control Positions Operator (ACPO) Starter Pack. LI and the ACPO Starter Pack have been produced to explore how air traffic control training could be improved and supported using digital applications. Each application explores a key learning area for trainees in the air traffic control industry and presents an alternative to the equivalent training that is currently in use. The two prototypes that have been designed focus on producing a succinct user experience alongside gamified elements to improve engagement. As part of this paper, usability testing has been undertaken with LI and the ACPO Starter Pack. A total of nine usability tests have been undertaken at four different locations. These usability tests consisted of participants from differing demographics, varying experience with the current training and differing amounts of time with both applications. The System Usability Scale (SUS) was adapted and used to quantify participant’s reactions to the usability of each application. Usability scores for both applications were collected and then averaged to produce an overall score for each application. We can conclude from both usability scores and qualitative feedback that digital applications have the potential to engage future trainees in the air traffic services industry

A novel approach to cognitive engineering: manipulating access cost

The traditional approach to cognitive engineering involves reducing workload by providing operators with immediately accessible relevant information. We suggest that such immediate access may not always improve human performance. Somewhat counter-intuitively, making some information harder to access by slightly increasing the time, physical and mental effort to view it can induce a more memory-based planning strategy that can improve performance. Studies are described that find increasing access cost leads to improved recall, more efficient problem solving, and resilience to interruption. Implications for cognitive engineering are discussed

Digital training in the aeronautical industry: measuring the usability of two mobile applications

The air traffic control industry is highly regulated, with stringent processes and procedures to ensure that IP (Intellectual Property) and workplaces are kept secure. The training of air traffic controllers (ATCs) and other roles relating to air traffic services is a lengthy and expensive process. The rate in which trainees can be trained is projected to fall significantly short of the demand for staff to work in the air traffic industry. This paper focuses on two prototype mobile training applications - Location Indicators (LI) and the Aircraft Control Positions Operator (ACPO) Starter Pack. LI and the ACPO Starter Pack have been produced to explore how air traffic control training could be improved and supported using digital applications. Each application explores a key learning area for trainees in the air traffic control industry and presents an alternative to the equivalent training that is currently in use. The two prototypes that have been designed focus on producing a succinct user experience alongside gamified elements to improve engagement. As part of this paper, usability testing has been undertaken with LI and the ACPO Starter Pack. A total of nine usability tests have been undertaken at four different locations. These usability tests consisted of participants from differing demographics, varying experience with the current training and differing amounts of time with both applications. The System Usability Scale (SUS) was adapted and used to quantify participant's reactions to the usability of each application. Usability scores for both applications were collected and then averaged to produce an overall score for each application. We can conclude from both usability scores and qualitative feedback that digital applications have the potential to engage future trainees in the air traffic services industry

The influence of training and experience on memory strategy

© 2015, Psychonomic Society, Inc. This paper investigates whether, and if so how much, prior training and experience overwrite the influence of the constraints of the task environment on strategy deployment. This evidence is relevant to the theory of soft constraints that focuses on the role of constraints in the task environment (Gray, Simms, Fu, & Schoelles, Psychological Review, 113: 461–482, 2006). The theory explains how an increase in the cost of accessing information induces a more memory-based strategy involving more encoding and planning. Experiments 1 and 3 adopt a traditional training and transfer design using the Blocks World Task in which participants were exposed to training trials involving a 2.5-s delay in accessing goal-state information before encountering transfer trials in which there was no access delay. The effect of prior training was assessed by the degree of memory-based strategy adopted in the transfer trials. Training with an access delay had a substantial carry-over effect and increased the subsequent degree of memory-based strategy adopted in the transfer environment. However, such effects do not necessarily occur if goal-state access cost in training is less costly than in transfer trials (Experiment 2). Experiment 4 used a fine-grained intra-trial design to examine the effect of experiencing access cost on one, two, or three occasions within the same trial and found that such experience on two consecutive occasions was sufficient to induce a more memory-based strategy. This paper establishes some effects of training that are relevant to the soft constraints theory and also discusses practical implications