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EDUCATION
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
A narrative game is described here which main goal is to support childrens' free expression and socialization considering their cultural background. This game can be used at school, in which students can develop a story together under the teacher's supervision. The idea is to support teachers to create characters and scenarios according to the students' cultural context, expressed in their common sense knowledge, and consequently enabling them to get engaged on developing the story collaboratively. Also, teacher has the common sense's support to conduct the story according to the facts are being narrated, to stimuli the students' communion. This cultural sensitive RPG-like environment intends to promote a closer contact between teacher and students and among students giving them a more contextualized computer tool to be stimulated to freely express their thoughts, desires and to support them to cooperative work with teachers what is desirable for their intellectual and cognitive development.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
This article reports the development and evaluation of a computer game (RightWay Cafe) as a special medium to promote a healthy diet for young adults. Structural features of computer games, such as interactive tailoring, role playing, the element of fun, and narrative, were operationalized in the RightWay Cafe game to afford behavior rehearsal in a safe and entertaining way. Theories such as the health belief model, social cognitive theory, and theory of reasoned action guided the content design of the game to influence mediators of behavior change, including self-efficacy, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and behavior change intention. A randomized controlled evaluation study with pretest, posttest, and follow-up design demonstrated that this game was effective in teaching nutrition and weight management knowledge and increasing people's self-efficacy and perceived benefits of healthy eating, as well as their intention to be on a healthy diet. Limited long-term effects were also found: participants in the game-playing group had greater self-efficacy than participants in the control group after 1 month. This study validates the computer game-based approach to health promotion for young adults. Limitations and implications are also discussed.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
While many reports espouse the potential impact that 3-D virtual worlds are expected to have on teaching and learning in higher education in a few years, there are few empirical studies that inform instructional design and learning assessment in virtual worlds. This study explores the nature and process of learning in Second Life in a graduate interdisciplinary communication course in fall 2007. Literature suggests that 3-D virtual worlds can be well suited for experiential learning environments. In this study, the actual instructional effectiveness of Second Life as an experiential learning environment for interdisciplinary communication is empirically examined using mixed research methods of journal content analysis, surveys, focus group, and virtual world snapshots and video. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
One of the core courses in the undergraduate mechanical engineering curriculum has been completely redesigned. In the new numerical methods course, all assignments and learning experiences are built around a video/computer game. Students are given the task of writing computer programs to race a simulated car around a track. In doing so, students learn and implement numerical methods content. The design of the course, around a video game, is rooted in commonly accepted theories of how people learn. The article describes a study to assess the effectiveness of the video game-based course. Results show that students taking the game-based course, on average, spend roughly twice as much time, outside of class, on their course work. In a concept mapping exercise, students taking the game-based course demonstrate deeper learning compared to their counterparts taking traditional lecture/textbook-based numerical methods courses.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
The aim of this article is to define a new simulation game in operation management called Logistic Game. The main objectives are to introduce a new simulation game approach in solving the different correlated subsystems based on 'visual interactive learning' and to verify its positive effects on the learning process with respect to the usual simulation games. The game is based on an inside plant virtual supply chain simulation and copes with the educational challenges of teaching Industrial Logistics in a new, effective way. By applying a visual interactive simulation package, the game creates a virtual dynamic scenario directly visible by participants, with an improvement of experimentation and conceptualisation phases, and offers several logistic decisions and their strategic links from a holistic point of view. The challenge goes beyond a pure theoretical setting and students learn strategies and gain experience directly by operating in a virtual supply chain and sharing knowledge. The Logistic Game has been used to train more then 300 students since December 2006 in three different Italian workshops and has been designed to encourage the employment selection process by the companies involved.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
This chapter analyzes video games and video clips with an Islamic emphasis and the various levels at which they convey ethical and moral values. Both video games and video clips have been neglected and marginalized by the academy, albeit to varying degrees. Given their pervasiveness, especially among Middle Eastern youth, we are in crucial need today of critical understanding of the different ways these media articulate Islam and communicate it to consumers. This chapter in particular discusses the appropriation of games by various private Islamic companies, operating in the broader religious and cultural context of the Islamic revival and piety movement, for educational purposes. Finally, this chapter discusses how Islamic game production and, more generally, the public discourse of the Islamic piety movement are shaping mainstream video game production targeted at Muslim audiences and the marketing strategies of game production companies.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
Games in education have given rise to a body of research, still small but rapidly growing, on the subject. Organizations are reacting by incorporating games into training. Educational programs that prepare training professionals thus must include in their curriculum courses addressing the design of games. This paper discusses ways to overcome some challenges that may be encountered in teaching such a course. It describes the results of using games as a means of increasing learners’ level of engagement when reviewing readings in a face-to-face instructional game class.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
Empirical research on the effects of computer games and simulations, and their value in attaining instructional objectives, are reviewed, as are studies concerning the transfer of capabilities acquired from games and simulations to ‘real world’ tasks. Results suggest that games and simulations improve a variety of cognitive capabilities. Furthermore, there is evidence for positive transfer from activities required by games and simulations to real world task performance. This transfer appears to depend much more on similarities between cognitive and attention processes than on physical similarities. Attitudes to games were found to be positive. However, the findings suggest that hostility and aggression tend to increase as a result of exposure to games, and school grades may suffer as a result of excessive game playing. Recommendations for the development of games, limits to the generality of findings, concerns about research on games, and recommendations for further research are discussed.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
The popularity of computer games is evident from data published by the
Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which represents the computer and
video game industry in the United States. In 2006, $7.4 billion was spent on
computer and video game software in this country — breaking down to eight
titles sold every second of every day (ESA, 2006b). Further, 93 percent of
computer game buyers and 83 percent of console game buyers were over the
age of 18 in 2006.....the training and educational
community has become interested in capturing the motivation and engagement
of games and using them to deliver instruction. This paper discusses research
reviews and empirical studies dealing with computer games and suggests a
number of research-based recommendations for developers of computer games
intended for instruction
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
This paper proposes a model for analysing the ways in which teachers negotiate the tensions
between games narratives and curriculum objectives in incorporating commercial offtheshelf
computer games into formal educational practice. The paper is based on the year long
Teaching with Games project which comprised surveys of over 1,000 teachers and students,
and 10 exploratory case studies of teachers use of COTS games in four schools with over 300
children. The games used in the study were The Sims 2, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 and Knights of
Honor. These were used in ‘traditional’ lessons and in diverse competency and contentbased
curricular environments. A key finding was that teachers focusing on encouraging competency
skills such as teamwork and problemsolving
were more likely to maintain the overarching
narrative of the game in lesson activities than teachers who were focusing on students’
acquisition of content knowledge.
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