barcelona 19-21 january 2011 european commission information society and media gala game and...

BARCELONABARCELONA19-21 January 201119-21 January 2011

European Commission Information Society and Media

GaLAGame and Learning Alliance

The European Network of Excellence on Serious Games

WP2 R&D Coordination

TC Activity

1Bremen, 19-21 Sept

2011



Agenda

• Overview– Aim and Objectives– Technical Committees– Roadmap

• Deliverable 2.1

• Issues

• Work in progress and next step

2Bremen, 19-21 Sept

2011



WP2 Aim and Objectives

• Activities coordinated under the technical committees (TCs) addressing the different elements essential for the success of R&D of serious games.

• TCs aim:– to aggregate, systemize and synthesize the research activities, – addressing within-area possible fragmentation aspects and

pinpointing solutions, – highlighting hot-themes, best practices, critical situation.

• Applications and Implications: best practices, gaps and fragmentation issues – to contribute towards the actual R&D carried out by the special interest groups operated under WP3.

3Bremen, 19-21 Sept

2011



Technical Committees – A Recap

4Bremen, 19-21 Sept

2011

Technical Committees Leader

2.1 - Serious Game Mechanics HWU

2.2 - Personalization and Artificial Intelligence INESC-ID

2.3 - Serious Games Architecture SERIOUS GAMES INTERACTIVE

2.4 - Human-Computer Interaction UPS

2.5 - Interoperability and semantics MAN

2.6 -Assessment UCM

2.7- Psychology UWS

2.8 - Pedagogy CNR

2.9 -Neuroscience UNIGRAZ

2.10 - Technical Committees integration and harmonization COVUNI



Roadmap

5Bremen, 19-21 Sept

2011



Year 1: Foundation

• Aim: Best practices, research gaps and fragmentation issues

• Activities– Literature Review– Case studies (ongoing)

• Deliverable 2.1: Research Field Report 1 (month 10)

• To feed into activities within WP3• MS3: TC Activity Report (month 12)

6Bremen, 19-21 Sept

2011



Deliverable 2.1: Research Field Report 1

• BACKGROUND» State of the art

» Hot topics and gaps» Fragmentation issues

• METHODOLOGIES (TC Activity strategy)• DISCUSSIONS

» Best practices within the area

» Gaps and solutions

» Solutions to fragmentation

» Roadmap

• COLLABORATIVE POTENTIALS» Cross TCs/SIGs links

» Cross TCs/SIGs activities

» Joint research and publication activities

7Bremen, 19-21 Sept

2011



Peer-Review

TC2.1 to review: 2.3 and 2.5









8Bremen, 19-21 Sept

2011



TC 2.1: Mechanics

• Research Background – Investigate relationship between elements of fun and pedagogy within a gaming context

– Comprehensive survey of game mechanics and game patterns

– Spectrum, constituents and relationship of game (serious or otherwise) mechanics and pedagogy

• Main findings – Highlighted issues and problems in dissociating game-play mechanisms from pedagogical

output

– The lack of a consistent taxonomy (including semantics) makes the game genre a poor candidate for the labelling of games

– Limited framework provision to support assembling game patterns into an appropriate game• No direct connection has been made between game design patterns and pedagogical theories

applicable for serious games

– The term ‘game mechanics’ is a conundrum that evades a unified resolution

– Similar to games, the domain of pedagogy is fragmented• It comprises a variety of non-exclusive learning theories, each favouring a particular view on learning

and each focussing on a subset of variables

• Conclusions– No clear theories how effective learning mechanisms map relevantly in a gaming experience

– A pedagogy-game-mechanics mapping model has been developed as a test case

– A bottom-up approach to identify design implementations of pedagogical intentions

9Bremen, 19-21 Sept

2011



TC 2.2: Personalisation and AI

• Research Background– Aim: aggregate and synthesize research activities concerning

the accommodation player’s differences regarding learning styles, difficulties, needs and learning rates.

– Method: Skype meetings and categories distribution between collaborators.

• Main Findings– 13 sub-categories overviewed including 27 different AI

techniques >40 relevant publications catalogued > 16 game examples

• Conclusions– most relevant research isn’t used in SG’s fast development

cycles. – discussion about the contribution of AI to SG’s is getting

relevance in this TC.

10Bremen, 19-21 Sept

2011



TC 2.3: Serious Games Architecture

• Four areas have been defined as the major areas of interest within the TC:

– Game engines and graphical engines

– Collaborative gaming: Multiplayer and massive multiplayer

– Support for social networking

– Tracking and integration

• Aim is to produce a white paper for each of the four areas outlining the state of the art, challenges and advantages, and potentially proposing both best practice and alternative solutions for the future of serious game architecture.

• The report is based on the main activity of the first year centering around area 1, Game engines, with regards to

– what defines a game engine and

– the considerations involved in choosing a game engine (ex. knowledge of end-user, knowledge of pedagogical approach, resources available, etc.).


2011



TC 2.4: HCI


2011

• Research Background– State of the art

– WIMP vs Post WIMP (VR)

– Hot topics, gaps and solutions– Immersion and Haptics– News uses / user needs– Mixed Interactive Systems,

Contextualized Interaction

– Fragmentation – Technique dispersion,

heterogeneity– Designing interaction mechanics

complexity

– Methodologies– Literature and technology survey

• Main Findings– Best practices

– Human Centred Design method

– Solutions to fragmentation– Global approach to interaction technologies – Development methods suited for efficient

advanced technics

– Roadmap– Characterisation and evaluation of

– Gaps between technology and use.– Technology / usages fragmentation

– Priority topics for prototyping solutions within projects.

• Collaborative potentials– TCs or SIGs can provide case study of games in

their research fields / application domains.– We can provide recommendation or constraint,

best practice rules to design an interaction well fitted to these applications


2011



TC 2.5: Interoperability and Semantics

• Research background– The core objective is to generate best practices and recommendations that would fundament

in-depth understanding, cost-efficient development and large-scale implementation of reusability in the serious games (SG) environment based on a serious game multidimensional interoperability framework (SG-MIF).

– Methods: literature review; case studies (SCORM; LOM); concept map (SG-MIF).

• Main findings– Overlaps in research; isolate developments; redundancy.

– Low, but increasing acceptance & assimilation rates .

– Poor practice-driven interconnections between the education and businesses.

– Lack of agreement on concepts, development processes, instructional design, etc.

• Research needs– Enable the development of an interoperability – oriented mentality at the academic and

business level.

– Facilitate joint efforts that focus on implementing the interoperability between games and LMSs, the interoperability between game components, and the semantic interoperability.

– Develop the Serious Games Glossary of Terms to potentiate semantic understanding across communities and software components.

– Extend the Serious Games Multidimensional Interoperability Framework that integrates: the SG components, the SG ecosystem, and external factors beyond SG.


2011



TC 2.6: Assessment

• Research Background– What is the scope of the TC?

– Initial literature review (UCM) + detailed literature review (all partners)

• Main findings– Wide field with a broad definition: “research topics related to

assessment and serious games”.

– 14 initial research areas, categorized in two overarching branches:

• Assessment of serious games.

• Assessment in/with serious games.

– Some areas barely explored in the literature.

• Conclusion– Identification of common approaches, open gaps and fragmentation

issues.

– Empty areas likely to become hot research topics


2011



TC 2.7: Psychology

• Research Background– AIM The aim of TC2.7 Psychology is to identify areas where existing theories and

research in psychology can assist in designing better games, exploring the potential of serious games in learning and behaviour change and evaluating their effectiveness.

– Agreed topics: learning outcomes; engagement in games; soft skills: self regulation in games & working in groups; decision making in games; cognitive biases in games; individual differences; explicit and implicit learning

– Literature review of learning outcomes– Literature review of engagement in games– Literature review of group learning in games

• Main Findings– Overlaps in areas of engagement with TC2.9; soft skills with TC2.8; assessment of

engagement and individual differences with TC2.6– Possible seed projects on engagement in games; cognitive biases in decision making

• Conclusions– Psychological aspects of games to be explored in case studies – Many areas of overlap with other TCs – Piloting of ESADE’s group learning game in different content area


2011



TC 2.8: Pedagogy

• Research Background– AIM To investigate the pedagogical aspects of SGs design and deployment that can enhance educational

processes. – Method

• online discussions on key challenges, gaps/fragmentation, definition of literature review approach • collaborative authoring of position papers • joint undertakings to initiate games-based projects

• Main Findings– Identification of :

• some game features potentially enhancing SGs pedagogical effectiveness • pedagogical paradigms to be analysed in relation to SGs

– Definition of a method for dynamic /comprehensive literature search /reviews– Literature review- based drafts of : (to be shared with other TCs SIGs and WPs)

• Serious Games definition• Serious Games positioning with respect to related fields• Field analysis of existing SGs taxonomies focusing on pedagogy coming from different web services

– 2 joint papers– 2 research projects proposed and approved

• Conclusions– Case studies– Investigation of how relevant pedagogical paradigms and learning outcome frameworks can be applied to

SG design and deployment


2011



TC 2.9: Neuroscience

• Research Background– The main objective of TC2.9 is to fill the gap between serious game (SG) research and

neuroscience. TC2.9 aims to integrate, support and develop new joint research and development activities across the GaLA partners in areas which link neuroscience and serious games.

• Main findings– Literature Review about the state of the art “SG and Neuroscience”:

• Results of literature search and outline of the literature findings provided at the TC2.9 wiki at the GaLA homepage

• Each member wrote a first draft of their contribution to the literature review

– Empirical study examining cortical correlates during gaming (EEG & NIRS)• Literature review should build a basis for a subsequent empirical study• Based on this research findings future proposals should be developed• Collaboration between UniGraz and CovUni: Planning of a first empirical study is already in progress

• Conclusions – TC2.9 members have begun to exchange knowledge and expertise and they are working on

a common understanding of serious games and neuroscience

– There is an already on-going cross linking between TC2.9 and other TCs/SIGs/WPs

– The resulting collaborations and research findings will be the basis for future proposals


2011



Publications

ECGBL 2011: Designing Serious Games for education: from Pedagogical principles to Game Mechanisms

1 DIBE-UNIGE, Genova, Italy, 2 ITD-CNR, Genova, Italy, 3 Serious Games Institute, University of Coventry, UK4 Serious Games Institute ,University of Coventry, UK, 5 Tampere University of Technology, Pori, Finland

ECGBL 2011: Serious Games in Formal Education: Discussing Some Critical Aspects1 Carol I National Defence University, Bucharest, Romania,2 Serious Games Institute, University of Coventry, UK3 University of Genova, Italy,4 Institute for Educational Technology, Italian National Research Council, Genova,

Italy,5 Serious Games Institute , University of Coventry, UK,6 Escuela Superior de Administración y Dirección de Empresas (ESADE), Barcelona, Spain

VS-Games 2011: Building Social Communities around Alternate Reality Games

Coventry University, Playgen

Continuum Press: Digital Games and Learning

Coventry University, UNIGE

Routledge: Digital Games and Learning book series

Coventry University, UNIGE + others?

ICVL 2010: Serious Games in Miltary Life Long Learning Environment

MAN, UNIGE


2011



Funding

• PROJECT GEL (Game Enhanced Learning) – Financed in the second call for Theme Teams (network of researchers) by the Stellar NoE

– Coordinator: ITD-CNR; partners: TAMPERE University, ESADE-Barcellona; MAN Bucharest, Coventry University, LIG Grenoble

• PROJECT MAGICAL MAking Games In CollAboration for Learning. – Call for Proposal LLP 2011 (DG EAC/49/10). Transversal Programme: KA3 (Key Activity 3

ICT)

– Coordinator: ITD-CNR; partners: TAMPERE University; Manchester Metropolitan University; Leuven University.

• PROJECT eSG Stimulating entrepreneurship through Serious Games. – Call for Proposal LLP 2011 (DG EAC/49/10). Sub-Programme Erasmus

– Coordinator: DIBE, Università di Genova; partners: ITD-CNR; Delft University, ESADE-Barcellona

• ICASE Studentship– Playgen and COVUNI


2011



General Issues


2011

Issues Action Possible solutions

Overlaps TCs, SIGs TCs to participate in cross links activities with other TCs and SIGs

Standardisation TCs, SIGs All TCs are working towards a framework to encapsulate:o Best practiceso Taxonomyo Ontologyo Toolso Solutions to gaps and fragmentation issues

o WP3 to provide games for case studies (Year 2)

Fragmentation TCs, SIGs The overall taxonomy to document the elements within each TCs relevant to Serious Gaming.

The findings from each TCs will contribute to the R&D within the SIGs focussing on best practices.

Applying solutions within the SIG activities

Logistics – lack of participation from members

TCs Groups of 3 TCs – Combine activities which will address fragmentation. Mechanics, semantics, personalisation Assessment, Pedagogy, Psychology neuroscience, HCI, architecture



Work in progress and next step

Year 1: Foundation coveredReview and case studies are ongoing

NEXT...

Year 2: Solutions

Year 3: Applications

Year 4: Review


2011



Year 2: Solutions• Case study of existing serious

games based on the recommendations from WP3 under the Special Interest Groups (SIGs).

• Based on the extracted best practices from Year 1 activities and the case studies (Year 2), each TC is expected:

– To document the parameters, attributes, criteria and tools within the technical area as a taxonomy and/or ontology (D2.2).

– To feed back solutions to gaps and potential research ideas to the R&D activities within the SIGs and seed projects.


2011

Best Practices and Research Gaps

Framework

Taxonomy

Ontology

Tools

Research Ideas: seed projects, solutions to gaps, etc.

Case Studies

Games Repository from SIGs

Applications and R&D within the SIGs



Year 3: Applications

• Best practices within the area to be replicated and applied in relevant R&D carried out under the SIGs.

– The overall framework based on the taxonomy, ontology and tools identified by each TC can be implemented and applied.

– The application of the specific frameworks from the different technical areas will allow defragmentation to be carried out.

• The solutions to the fragmentation issues will include the interrelated taxonomies from the different TCs.

• D2.3 will document findings based on the ongoing R&D


2011

Research Ideas: seed projects, solutions to gaps, etc.


Application of framework

Fragmentation solutions



Year 4: Review

• The success of the framework and the defragmentation will be evaluated based on the outcome of the R&D activities within the SIGs.

– The criteria will include the interrelation between the different taxonomies with regards to the application of the framework to address and support specific SIG areas.

– Best practices within the areas will be re-evaluated and matched against the findings based on the actual R&D activities.

• The outcome from Year 4 (D2.4) will include the proven and tested framework which can be applied in other areas beyond the lifespan of the GALA project


2011


Evaluations of technical

contributions to R&D activities

Improved framework based on ongoing assessment, best

practices within the R&D, solutions to gaps

and fragmentation, ongoing literature

review



Conclusions

• The first year activities of the technical committees revolve around understanding the current status of serious games with regards to the specific areas.

• It has been identified that cross links activities are important to ensure overlaps within these areas are addressed, fragmentation issues to be solved and a more standardised approach is reached.

• ‘Common framework’ to be extracted in Year 2 of the project.

• The first deliverable from all the TCs will provide essential findings to support the activities in Year 2, which includes more case studies based on the collected games (WP3) and the extraction of best practices and gaps based on these existing games and deployment of games.

• Lesson learnt from Year 1 of the project include the importance of cross links activities between the TCs and SIGs, standardisation in terms of the shared framework ( taxonomy, ontology) and team work to ensure deliverables are met, quality research findings are produced and smooth translation of knowledge to the activities in Year 2.


2011

barcelona 19-21 january 2011 european commission information society and media gala game and...

Documents

media peerreview tc2

media roadmap

media deliverable

media tc

media technical committees

research activities

media wp2

media year