Inequality of opportunity is high on the European education agenda. Equipping teachers to be able to identify and address inequality requires them to develop sensitivity, multi-perspectivity and agency, and these are complex attributes that require personal experiences and deep reflection.Recognizing this complexity, five Master’s students chose this challenge for their collective graduate research project. Following the principles of design research and inspired by Bourdieu’s ideas on different forms of capital, they developed a card game that helps both beginning and experienced teachers reflect on the hidden mechanisms of inequality, particularly on the effects of socio-economic status (SES), and it stimulates them to address these mechanisms.The impact of the card game – both in terms of outcomes and its driving mechanisms – is now the subject of a study, funded by the Centre of Expertise Urban Education of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. The preliminary results are promising: especially identifying with low SES pupils and feeling the accumulation of negative experiences raises teachers’ awareness.In our presentation we first play the game with you and then discuss the results and possible implications and applications.
Game User Research is an emerging field that ties together Human Computer Interaction, Game Development, and Experimental Psychology, specifically investigating the interaction between players and games. The community of Game User Research has been rapidly evolving for the past few years, extending and modifying existing methodologies used by the HCI community to the environment of digital games. In this workshop, we plan to investigate the different methodologies currently in practice within the field as well as their utilities and drawbacks in measuring game design issues or gaining insight about the players' experience. The outcome of the workshop will be a collection of lessons from the trenches and commonly used techniques published in a public online forum. This will extend the discussion of topics beyond the workshop, and serve as a platform for future work. The workshop will be the first of its kind at CHI, tying together HCI research and Game User Research.
Deze publicatie richt zich vooral op het concept Design Based Research,gezien vanuit het perspectief van de bijna 40 lectoren die de hogeschool rijk is. Dit lectoratenoverzicht kan worden beschouwd als een atlas of reisgids waarmee de lezer een route kan afleggen langs de verschillende lectoraten. De lectoraten die actief zijn op het gebied van de Service Economy worden beschreven in hoofdstuk 2. De lectoraten die actief zijn op het gebied van Vitale Regio worden beschreven in hoofdstuk 3. De lectoraten die actief zijn op het gebied van Smart Sustainable Industries worden beschreven in hoofdstuk 4. De lectoraten die actief zijn op het gebied van de hogeschoolbrede thema’s Design Based Education en Research worden beschreven in hoofdstuk 5. Tenslotte wordt er in hoofdstuk 6 een eerste aanzet gedaan om één of meer verbindende thema’s of werkwijzen te ontdekken in de aanpak van de verschillende lectoraten. Het is niet de bedoeling van deze publicatie om een definitief antwoord te geven op de vraag wat NHL Stenden precies bedoelt met het concept Design Based Research. Het doel van deze publicatie is wel om een indruk te krijgen van wat er allemaal gebeurt binnnen de lectoraten van NHL Stenden, en om nieuwsgierig te worden naar meer.
Plastic products are currently been critically reviewed due to the growing awareness on the related problems, such as the “plastic soup”. EU has introduced a ban for a number of single-use consumer products and fossil-based polymers coming in force in 2021. The list of banned products are expected to be extended, for example for single-use, non-compostable plastics in horticulture and agriculture. Therefore, it is crucial to develop sustainable, biodegradable alternatives. A significant amount of research has been performed on biobased polymers. However, plastics are made from a polymer mixed with other materials, additives, which are essential for the plastics production and performance. Development of biodegradable solutions for these additives is lacking, but is urgently needed. Biocarbon (Biochar), is a high-carbon, fine-grained residue that is produced through pyrolysis processes. This natural product is currently used to produce energy, but the recent research indicate that it has a great potential in enhancing biopolymer properties. The biocarbon-biopolymer composite could provide a much needed fully biodegradable solution. This would be especially interesting in agricultural and horticultural applications, since biocarbon has been found to be effective at retaining water and water-soluble nutrients and to increase micro-organism activity in soil. Biocarbon-biocomposite may also be used for other markets, where biodegradability is essential, including packaging and disposable consumer articles. The BioADD consortium consists of 9 industrial partners, a branch organization and 3 research partners. The partner companies form a complementary team, including biomass providers, pyrolysis technology manufacturers and companies producing products to the relevant markets of horticulture, agriculture and packaging. For each of the companies the successful result from the project will lead to concrete business opportunities. The support of Avans, University of Groningen and Eindhoven University of Technology is essential in developing the know-how and the first product development making the innovation possible.
Evaluating player game experiences through biometric measurementsThe BD4CG (Biometric Design for Casual Games project) worked in a highly interdisciplinary context with several international partners. The aim of our project was to popularize the biometric method, which is a neuro-scientific approach to evaluating the player experience. We specifically aimed at the casual games sector, where casual games can be defined as video or web-based games with simple and accessible game mechanics, non threatening themes and generally short play sessions. Popular examples of casual games are Angry Birds and FarmVille. We focussed on this sector because it is growing fast, but its methodologies have not grown with it yet. Especially the biometrics method has so far been almost exclusively used domain by the very large game developers (such as Valve and EA). The insights and scientific output of this project have been enthusiastically embraced by the international academic arena. The aim of the grant was to focus on game producers in the casual sector, and we have done so but we also established further contacts with the game sector in general. Thirty-one outputs were generated, in the form of presentations, workshops, and accepted papers in prominent academic and industry journals in the field of game studies and game user research. Partners: University of Antwerpen, RANJ, Forward Games, Double Jungle, Realgames, Dreams of Danu, Codemasters, Dezzel, Truimph Studios, Golabi Studios
The production, use, disposal and recovery of packaging not only generates massive volumes of waste, it also consumes raw materials, water and energy (Fitzpatrick et al. 2012). Simultaneously, consumers have shown an increasing interest in products incorporating sustainable and social attributes (Kletzan et al., 2006). As a result, environmentally friendly packaging, also called ecofriendly or sustainable packaging, has become mainstream. In this context, packaging is more than just ensuring the product's protection and easing transportation, it is also a communicative tool (Palmer, 2000) and it becomes associated with multiple drivers of the purchasing process. Consequently, companies face pressure to innovate responding to consumer demands, and focusing on sustainable solutions that reduce harmful materials and favour green alternatives for both, the product and the packaging. Although the above has triggered research on consumer choice for sustainable products and alternatives on sustainable packaging, the relation between sustainable packaging and consumer behaviour remains underexplored. This research unpacks this relationship, i.e., empirically verifies which dimensions (recyclability, biodegradability, reusability) of sustainable packaging are perceived and valued by consumers. Put differently, this research investigates consumer behaviour towards the functions of sustainable packaging in terms of product protection, convenience, reliability of information and promotion, and scrutinises the perceived credibility of the associated ethical responsibility claims. It aims to identify those packaging materials and/or sustainability characteristics perceived as more sustainable by consumers as well as the factors influencing actual consumer choice towards sustainable packaged products. We aim to gain more insights in the perceptual frame that different types of consumers apply when exposed to sustainable packaging. To this end, we will make use of revealed preference methods to measure consumer valuations of sustainable packaged products. This game-theoretic approach should provide a more complete depiction of consumers' perceptions and preferences.
