Serious Gaming

Since 2009, the use of sandbox creation games in classrooms have become popular with Minecraft being one of the most ubiquitous. Little research has however been conducted in terms of how history educators create, design and use such technology for their classes. Even fewer comprehensive research exists to describe how students experience these lessons in a formal school setting and whether sex and prior experience impact their motivation to learn. Using teacher interviews, correspondence and reflections, this chapter discusses the collaborative, technological, creative and pedagogical considerations on how teachers design and use Minecraft lessons.

De snelle opmars van kunstmatige intelligentie roept existentiële vragen op. Maar waar die voorheen voornamelijk uit de hoek van de geesteswetenschappers kwamen, zijn het nu de techoptimisten zelf die aan de bel trekken. " Eva Hofman, in De Groene No 19, 10 mei 2023 "We want to use AI to augment the abilities of people, to enable us to accomplish more and to allow us to spend more time on our creative endeavors." Jef Dean, Google Chief Scientist, mei 2023 "As AI redefines what's possible, it also creates new ways to be helpful. Helping in the moments that matter has always been core to Google's work. " (https://aigoogle/responsibility/socialgood) Inhoud 1. Inleiding 2. AI in sciencefiction 3. Enkele AI-apps 4. AI Research en toepassingen in Nederland 5. Fysieke grenzen aan de groei van AI 6. Een 'wired' samenleving en 'smart cities' 7. Schendingen van het recht op privacy en cybercrime 8. De singulariteitshypothese 9. Enkele problemen van het gebruik van AI 10. Conclusie Bijlagen 1. Global trends in digital and energy indicators, 2015-2021 9 2. Tips voor communicatie met AI ChatboxGPT 10 Bibliografie 11

This qualitative case study reports descriptive findings of digital game-based learning involving 15 Taiwanese middle school students' use of computational thinking skills elicited through programmed activities in a game design workshop. Situated learning theory is utilized as framework to evaluate novice game designers' individual advancement in developing a designer language, mindset, and use of computational thinking skills. Three strands of findings were extrapolated from analyzing observational data, participant-generated written responses and artifacts: Understanding games as systems and how components work together in meaningful relationships in game design; Developing growing sophistication in communicating with other novice game designers using language germane to game design; Improving understanding and application of computational thinking skills through game design activities. Extended discussions on three focal cases revealed that using design pedagogy, participants operationalized computational thinking skills in design tasks. Promises and pitfalls of using game design to facilitate computational thinking skills are discussed.

Het Business Model Canvas (BMC) bestaat uit 9 bouwstenen. Idee is om deze op 1 A4 (de canvas) weer te geven, waarmee je in een oogopslag alle kernzaken van je bedrijf in samenhang kan zien. Echter het is geen bedrijfsplan waarmee je naar een financier kan gaan. Daarom heeft SBRN het zo aangepast dat het wel kan. Hieronder een overzicht van de (verplichte) onderwerpen in het ondernemersplan -gekoppeld aan de bouwstenen van het BMC. Als je het plan alleen voor jezelf maakt voldoet het Businessmodel Canvas natuurlijk. Structuur E-learning Business Model Canvas, zie sbrn.online: de opbouw is idem de opbouw van het ondernemersplan, zie schema hierboven. Bouwsteen 1 Customer Segments en Bouwsteen 2 Value Proposition worden in hoofdstuk 6 Marktonderzoek van het ondernemersplan behandeld. De bouwstenen 3 Channels; 4 Customer Relationships; 5 Revenue Streams, 6 Key resources, 7 Key Activities en 8 Key Partnerships komen in hoofdstuk 7 Marketing van het ondernemersplan aan de orde. De bouwstenen 6 Key Resources, 7 Key Activities en 8 Key Partners worden in de inleiding verwerkt, na de managementsamenvatting. Dit is de basis van het bedrijf, hier begin je mee. Tot slot komen de bouwstenen 9. Cost Structure en 5. Revenue Streams terug in hoofdstuk 9 Exploitatiebegroting. Uiteindelijk bepaal je zelf welke informatie je verwerkt in je ondernemersplan. Bedenk daarbij wel voor wie je het ondernemersplan maakt. Voor jezelf, een financier, een co-creator of wie dan ook.

Background No treatment for COVID-19 is yet available; therefore, providing access to information about SARS-CoV-2, the transmission route of the virus, and ways to prevent the spread of infection is a critical sanitary measure worldwide. Serious games have advantages in the dissemination of reliable information during the pandemic; they can provide qualified content while offering interactivity to the user, and they have great reach over the internet. Objective This study aimed to develop a serious game with the purpose of providing science-based information on the prevention of COVID-19 and personal care during the pandemic while assessing players’ knowledge about COVID-19–related topics. Methods The study was conducted with the interdisciplinary collaboration of specialists in health sciences, computing, and design at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The health recommendations were grouped into six thematic blocks, presented in a quiz format. The software languages...

De Nederlandse gameontwikkelaar Davilex Games bracht spellen uit als RedCat, A2 Racer en AmsterDoom, waaraan menig gamer nog met nostalgie terugdenkt. Toch was de gamepers zelden echt positief over deze spellen ten tijde van de release. Hoe valt deze opmerkelijke tegenstelling te verklaren? Dit boekje belicht deze mythe van Davilex
Games op toegankelijke wijze.

Videogaming is a significant social phenomenon, shaping relationships and communities in digital spaces. Social capital, comprising bonding (close relationships) and bridging (diverse connections), is an important component of psychological wellbeing. The primary aim of this study was to explore the role of videogame playing in the development of social capital and its impact on individual wellbeing. By examining the interplay between gaming behaviors, social connections, and mental health, this research sought to contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the social implications of videogaming. This study employed a mixed-methods approach, integrating quantitative and qualitative data. A longitudinal survey was conducted with 3,989 participants, measuring gaming behaviour, social capital, perceived wellbeing, and relationship quality through standardized scales and open-ended questions. Findings reveal a nuanced relationship between videogaming and social capital. Quantitative data indicate that frequent gaming and time spent gaming alone do not reliably increase social capital, but the quality of relationships formed through gaming strongly correlates with improved wellbeing. Qualitative findings emphasized themes such as selfpresentation, and the challenges and benefits of forming meaningful relationships. Participants noted the value of anonymity, authenticity, and shared interests in fostering connections, while also identifying barriers like social anxiety, toxicity, and time constraints. A conceptual model developed from the findings integrates theories to explain how gaming behaviors shape social capital. This research underscores the potential of videogaming as a social platform capable of fostering meaningful connections and contributing to social capital.

Mixed reality (MR) is an area of computer research dealing with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer-generated graphical objects are visually mixed into the real environment and vice versa in real time. This chapter contains an introduction to this modern technology. Mixed reality combines real and virtual and is interactive, real-time processed, and registered in three dimensions. We can create mixed reality by using at least one of the following technologies: augmented reality and augmented virtuality. The mixed reality system can be considered as the ultimate immersive system. MR systems are usually constructed as optical see-through systems (usually by using transparent displays) or video see-through. Implementation of MR systems is as marker systems (real scene will be added with special markers. These will be recognized during runtime and replaced with virtual objects) or (semi) markerless systems (processing and inserting of virtual objects is without exact markers. Additional information is usually needed, for example, image and face recognition, GPS coordinates, etc.). The chapter contains also a description of mixed reality as an advanced computer user interface and the newest collaborative mixed reality.

St Andrews Cathedral is located on the East Coast of Scotland, construction started in 1160 and spanned Romanesque and Gothic architectural styles. It was consecrated in 1318, four years after the battle of Bannockburn in the presence of King Robert the Bruce. For several hundred years, the Cathedral was one of the most important religious buildings in Europe and the centre of religious life in Scotland. During the Scottish Reformation, John Knox lead reformers in divesting the Cathedral of much of its finery. Thereafter it fell into disuse and decline. Today the impressive remains only hint at the former glory of this important building. Cultural Heritage encompasses physical aspects such as architecture and artifacts along with less tangible culture such as music, songs and stories. Open virtual worlds offer an extensible collaborative environment for developing historic scenes against the background of which material and ephemeral aspects of cultural heritage associated with a site may be explored through engagement with historic narratives. They offer the potential to reconstruct within a 3D computer environment both the physical structures of the past and important aspects of the light, music and life that once filled those structures. Virtual reconstructions enable scenarios to be created where individual pieces of art can be located and appreciated within the audio, visual and spacial contexts for which they were originally created. Bringing together architecture, sculpture, illumination, stained-glass, music, procession and lighting into a scene which can be explored from multiple spatial perspectives enables holistic experience and appreciation. Historic reconstructions may be created upon virtual stages allowing new and engaging Cultural Heritage perspectives to be accessible to diverse audiences. Through the example of St Andrews Cathedral reconstruction this paper presents an example of Open Virtual Worlds as a technology for supporting the creation and use of virtual reconstructions as a platform that promotes understanding of and engagement with Cultural Heritage. The use contexts discussed range from research based exploration of 3D spaces, to primary schools students using the reconstructions as a backdrop for tag. The digital literacies of the audience and goals of the use case impact on the appropriateness of the user interface. A range of interfaces are explored including games controllers, touch screens, tablets that provide location aware views into the model and hands free gesture control systems.

This study presents a reflective analysis of the design, implementation, and pedagogical outcomes of a Mobile Application Development course offered under the newly introduced four-year undergraduate honours framework in Kerala, India. Employing a mixed-methods approach over six months with eight undergraduate students, the study examined instructional practices, student preparedness, infrastructural constraints, and learning outcomes. A student-centered and experiential learning model was adopted, integrating blended instruction, flipped-classroom strategies, gamification-based formative assessment, AI-assisted coding tools, and structured laboratory practice using Android Studio and Kotlin. Initial infrastructural challenges, particularly limited hardware capacity, were addressed through resource optimization and technical intervention, enabling effective practical engagement. Student performance was evaluated through quizzes, class tests, application-based tasks, and oral examinations. Results indicate satisfactory to high levels of achievement, with consistent performance across cognitive and applied domains. Students demonstrated competence in GUI design, event handling, graphical rendering, GPS integration, file management, debugging, and collaborative development. The findings highlight the importance of aligning curriculum reform with pedagogical innovation, infrastructural preparedness, and continuous assessment strategies. The study contributes to ongoing discussions on experiential and technology-enhanced learning in undergraduate computer science education within emerging institutional contexts.

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Accessibility in games remain largely inaccessible to visually and hearing impaired people. In this work, we introduce 2222, an accessible maze game that promotes a real inclusion, through resources such as auditory orientation and equity in the game mechanics, reducing the disparity in the gameplay experience between players. Furthermore, we also brought environmental awareness within our narrative to inspire players to transform our reality.

Big Data and data technologies increasingly find their way into school education. Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining are focal research areas. However, technical solutions often fail to meet the practical requirements of teachers or to really mirror human learning processes. The LEA's BOX project aims at developing a practical web platform that hosts tools for a theory-based approach to Learning Analytics and that offers tools to open and negotiate learner models.

Digital learning games are useful educational tools with high motivational potential. With the application of games for instruction there comes the need of acknowledging learning game experiences also in the context of educational assessment. Learning analytics provides new opportunities for supporting assessment in and of educational games. We give an overview of current learning analytics methods in this field and reflect on existing challenges. An approach of providing reusable software assets for interaction assessment and evaluation in games is presented. This is part of a broader initiative of making available advanced methodologies and tools for supporting applied game development.

Learning Analytics is one of the most promising major trends in educational technology. However, Learning Analytics is very often a rather statistical approach to the understanding of educationally relevant data. Theory-driven approaches are much sparser. In the context of the European Lea's Box project (www.leas-box.eu), we aim at developing methods for analysing data coming from multiple sources on the basis of psychological theories from the area of Intelligent Tutorial Systems, namely Competence-based Knowledge Space Theory (CbKST) and Formal Concept Analysis (FCA). These well-elaborated approaches allow us to identify competencies on an atomic level, to establish structural, multi-dimensional knowledge spaces, and to identify individual learning paths and knowledge gaps. In this paper we introduce an approach to utilize the mentioned theories to predict learning paths, the Learning Performance Vector, and individual limits, the so-called individual learning Horizon.

A key factor for the success and efficacy of an educational medium is the extent to which it is capable of addressing the preferences, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and goals of individual learners. Research in the field of learning and instruction has demonstrated in the past that one on one tutoring is the most effective and powerful way of teaching. Ever since, the research community attempted to equip artificial systems with the strength and abilities of human tutors. Specifically in a medium such as educational computer games an appropriate personalization is a key factor for fun, immersion, and ultimately learning. The same holds true for serious, in particular educational, games. Because the key strength of serious games is seen in their intrinsic motivational potential, it's all about focusing on the learners. More importantly, in contrast to conventional educational systems, in games this means accounting for both, a game related and a learning related hemisphere. This report attempts to emphasize the importance of advancing a construct such "educational game AI" and it illustrates recent technologies and approaches.

Using computer games for educational purposes is a fascinating and popular idea. An important goal of research is an increased personalization and adaptation. In the present work we introduce the work of the 80Days project which primarily focuses on non-invasive in-game assessment and adaptation on the basis of psycho-pedagogical models. Moreover, we present the manifestation of research efforts in form of a compelling demonstrator game.

The research in brain-computer interfaces (BCI) has shown that brain activity can be used as an active/voluntary or passive/involuntary control modality in man-machine interaction. Until recently, BCI research aimed almost solely at improving the life of disabled persons in need of communication and physical interaction with their environment. Impressive results have been obtained where disabled persons have learned how to control an artificial limb or a wheelchair using their thoughts. Nowadays, however, we also see research aimed at using BCI for the general population. This is an interesting development. Why would a non-disabled user want to use BCI? Or, how could a computer use BCI in order to better support its user? In this Special Issue, our emphasis is on brain-computer interfacing that aims at detecting and using the mental or affective state of the user in order to adapt the interface to the user.

The research in brain-computer interfaces (BCI) has shown that brain activity can be used as an active/voluntary or passive/involuntary control modality in man-machine interaction. Until recently, BCI research aimed almost solely at improving the life of disabled persons in need of communication and physical interaction with their environment. Impressive results have been obtained where disabled persons have learned how to control an artificial limb or a wheelchair using their thoughts. Nowadays, however, we also see research aimed at using BCI for the general population. This is an interesting development. Why would a non-disabled user want to use BCI? Or, how could a computer use BCI in order to better support its user? In this Special Issue, our emphasis is on brain-computer interfacing that aims at detecting and using the mental or affective state of the user in order to adapt the interface to the user.

Approximately 200,000,000 children are born with or will acquire a disability during their lifetimes. In the developing world the situation is much worse, where a lack of education and resources and cultural norms conspire against the disabled child. In countries where resources are scarce, children who are disabled may be neglected and abandoned by society. This paper examines a project that provided effective training for developing world care givers of abandoned disabled children. The project started as a ‘tips and tricks’ for transfer of physiotherapy skills to inner city care givers in Kingston, Jamaica, using video conferencing. It developed into a bespoke, accredited training course for inner city caregivers as more partners were attracted to the project.

No doubt, the ills of American education (eg, falling achievement levels, declining literacy rates, substandard math and science competency) made visible through high-stakes testing, international comparisons (Gisburg et al. 2005), and school accountability will continue to ...

Deze paper onderzoekt de differentiële impact van maatwerk webontwikkeling vergeleken met template gebaseerde oplossingen op bedrijfsprestaties. Door middel van case study analyse van webwrk Web Agency, een Nederlands bureau gespecialiseerd in volledig maatwerk, worden de voordelen van onafhankelijke code ontwikkeling geëvalueerd. De bevindingen suggereren dat maatwerk websites significant betere prestaties leveren op gebied van laadsnelheid, zoekmachineoptimalisatie en conversieratio's. De studie concludeert dat investeringen in strategisch maatwerk een positieve return on investment genereren voor kleine en middelgrote ondernemingen.

I would also like to thank my thesis twin, Marikken, for her advice and suggestions. Our countless discussions and lunches where we could share our ups and downs were highly appreciated. I also had great pleasure of working with my friends at ESIT who provided the material for this thesis. Thank you all for many hours of interesting Corpus discussions. Thanks also to the informants who participated in the interviews and offered exciting insights. My sincere gratitude also goes to my friend Maarten, both for sharing his expertise, but also for frequently reminding me how dancing always puts a smile on my face. Thank you, Kamilla, for our many chats and your profound advice. A special thank you goes to my friend, Veronica, for cheering me on throughout the process and calling me weekly to make sure I was not procrastinating. You never wavered in your support. I cannot leave the University of Agder without thanking my fellow peers for their genuine friendship during the last five years. Special thanks go to Elin, Susanne and Siri for our countless discussions, both personal and professional. Thanks should also go to my professors for engaging lectures and interesting conversations. Lastly, I wish to thank my family for always providing me with unfailing support and unconditional love. I am forever grateful to my parents who have taught me the value of hard work and dedication, and to my caring brothers and their families for always giving me a helping hand. Thank you to my niece, Lara, for filling my heart with pure joy during the most challenging days. I am beyond excited to meet your sister, Andrea.

Human-computer interaction (HCI), especially in the games domain, targets to mimic as much as possible the natural human-to-human interaction, which is multimodal, involving speech, vision, haptic, etc. Furthermore, the domain of serious games, aiming to value-added games, makes use of additional inputs, such as biosensors, motion tracking equipment, etc. In this context, game development has become complex, expensive and burdened with a long development cycle. This creates barriers to independent game developers and inhibits the introduction of innovative games, or new game genres. In this paper the PlayMancer platform is introduced, a work in progress aiming to overcome such barriers by augmenting existing 3D game engines with innovative modes of interaction. Playmancer integrates open source existing systems, such as a game engine and a spoken dialog management system, extended by newly implemented components, supporting innovative interaction modalities, such as emotion recognition from audio data, motion tracking, etc, and advanced configuration tools.

We describe a novel design, implementation and evaluation of a speech interface, as part of a platform for the development of serious games. The speech interface consists of the speech recognition component and the emotion recognition from speech component. The speech interface relies on a platform designed and implemented to support the development of serious games, which supports cognitive-based treatment of patients with mental disorders. The implementation of the speech interface is based on the Olympus/RavenClaw framework. This framework has been extended for the needs of the specific serious games and the respective application domain, by integrating new components, such as emotion recognition from speech. The evaluation of the speech interface utilized purposely collected domain-specific dataset. The speech recognition experiments show that emotional speech moderately affects the performance of the speech interface. Furthermore, the emotion detectors demonstrated satisfying performance for the emotion states of interest, Anger and Boredom, and contributed towards successful modelling of the patient's emotion status. The performance achieved for speech recognition and for the detection of the emotional states of interest was satisfactory. Recent evaluation of the serious games showed that the patients started to show new coping styles with negative emotions in normal stress life situations.

The book is the first-ever documentation of the flora of the park. The species arrangement style in this book follows the Engler and Prantl system, which is also used in the Flora of Bhutan. It includes photographs along with information such as the scientific name, common name, habit, habitat, IUCN status, and flowering time.