The authors analyze the policy discourse on the utility of games for society at the level of the European Union, and for five EU countries, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Norway. The ongoing study is part of a Research Roadmap developed within the GALA Network of Excellence on Serious Games (2010-2014, EU FP7). The authors identify four policy discourses on the utility of serious games that they label as Technology Enhanced Learning; Creative Innovation; Social Inclusion and Empowerment and Complex Systems. The polcies applicable to SGs in the five European countries are briely described and compared. It was seen that some countries have explicit policies for SGs (the Netherlands, Germany); whereas most of the countries only have implicit policies not directly addressing SGs but which can be used to support SGs development and use.
The authors analyze the policy discourse on the utility of games for society at the level of the European Union, and for five EU countries, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Norway. The ongoing study is part of a Research Roadmap developed within the GALA Network of Excellence on Serious Games (2010-2014, EU FP7). The authors identify four policy discourses on the utility of serious games that they label as Technology Enhanced Learning; Creative Innovation; Social Inclusion and Empowerment and Complex Systems. The polcies applicable to SGs in the five European countries are briely described and compared. It was seen that some countries have explicit policies for SGs (the Netherlands, Germany); whereas most of the countries only have implicit policies not directly addressing SGs but which can be used to support SGs development and use.
In this paper, the authors explore the possible contribution of serious games for advanced academic and/or professional learning in particular to support the decision-making andmanagement of complex infrastructures, such as utilities, ports and wind farms. The developments of the computer industry make it more attractive to add computer technology into simulation games to make the results of the game more realistic and so achieve more learning with the participants. In the future this will be more important to make the games still attractive for the players, because they are grown up with computers, e-learning and online communication. An example of a case study of SIM Maas, a simulation game about the development of the Port of Rotterdam (PoR), will be given. This case illustrates the use of computer-based simulation-games for professional learning.
The project’s aim is to foster resilient learning environments, lessen early school leaving, and give European children (ages 4 -6) a good start in their education while providing and advancing technical skills in working with technology that will serve them well in life. For this purpose, the partnership has developed age appropriate ICT animation tools and games - as well as pedagogical framework specific to the transition phase from kindergarten to school.
Physical rehabilitation programs revolve around the repetitive execution of exercises since it has been proven to lead to better rehabilitation results. Although beginning the motor (re)learning process early is paramount to obtain good recovery outcomes, patients do not normally see/experience any short-term improvement, which has a toll on their motivation. Therefore, patients find it difficult to stay engaged in seemingly mundane exercises, not only in terms of adhering to the rehabilitation program, but also in terms of proper execution of the movements. One way in which this motivation problem has been tackled is to employ games in the rehabilitation process. These games are designed to reward patients for performing the exercises correctly or regularly. The rewards can take many forms, for instance providing an experience that is engaging (fun), one that is aesthetically pleasing (appealing visual and aural feedback), or one that employs gamification elements such as points, badges, or achievements. However, even though some of these serious game systems are designed together with physiotherapists and with the patients’ needs in mind, many of them end up not being used consistently during physical rehabilitation past the first few sessions (i.e. novelty effect). Thus, in this project, we aim to 1) Identify, by means of literature reviews, focus groups, and interviews with the involved stakeholders, why this is happening, 2) Develop a set of guidelines for the successful deployment of serious games for rehabilitation, and 3) Develop an initial implementation process and ideas for potential serious games. In a follow-up application, we intend to build on this knowledge and apply it in the design of a (set of) serious game for rehabilitation to be deployed at one of the partners centers and conduct a longitudinal evaluation to measure the success of the application of the deployment guidelines.
Inzet van serious games als scholingsinstrument voor zorgprofessionals of als patiëntinterventie neemt sterk toe. Serious games kunnen kosten besparen en zorgkwaliteit verbeteren. (Potentiële) afnemers vragen, in lijn met het medische onderzoeksparadigma, vaak naar de klinische effectiviteit (internal validity) van deze games. Het gros van de Nederlandse game-ontwikkelaars bestaat echter uit kleine ondernemingen die het aan middelen en expertise ontbreekt om de hiervoor benodigde longitudinale onderzoekstrajecten uit te voeren. Tegelijkertijd tonen mkb’ers, meestal zonder ervan bewust te zijn, tijdens het game-ontwikkelproces al verschillende validiteitsvormen aan volgens het design-onderzoeksparadigma (face validity, construct validity, e.d.). Door dit niet bij hun afnemers kenbaar te maken, komt een constructieve dialoog over validiteit moeilijk op gang en lopen mkb’ers opdrachten mis. Het ontbreekt hen aan een begrippenkader en praktische handvatten. Bestaande raamwerken zijn nog te theorie-gedreven. Om mkb’ers te helpen de 'clash' te overbruggen tussen het medische en het design-onderzoeksparadigma, ontwikkelen lectoraten ICT-innovaties in de Zorg (Hogeschool Windesheim, penvoerder) en Serious Gaming (NHL Stenden Hogeschool) samen met elf mkb’ers, afnemers, studenten en experts in een learning community drie hulpmiddelen: •Checklist: praktische mkb-richtlijnen voor het vaststellen van validiteit; •Beslisboom: op basis waarvan mkb’ers onderbouwd de juiste validatiemethode kunnenselecteren; •Serious game: om samen met (potentiële) afnemers te spelen, zodat verschillende soortenvaliditeit expliciet benoemd worden. De hulpmiddelen worden inhoudelijk gevoed door casestudies waarin mkb’ers gevolgd worden in hoe validiteit momenteel wordt vastgesteld en geëxpliciteerd in het ontwikkelproces. Vervolgens brengen we de ontworpen hulpmiddelen in de mkb-praktijk voor evaluatie. Opgeleverde hulpmiddelen stellen mkb’ers in staat werkbare validatiemethoden toe te passen gedurende het game-ontwikkelproces om acceptabele bewijslast op te leveren voor potentiële afnemers, waardoor hun marktpositie versterkt. Ook draagt het project bij aan operationalisering van bestaande raamwerken en kunnen de hulpmiddelen in game design-curricula worden geïncorporeerd.
