Anti-smoking educational game using avatars as visualized possible selves

Few social smokers envision themselves being affected by the negative consequences of smoking despite well-known facts that smoking causes serious illnesses and death. However, as smoking habits quickly develop, social smokers cannot be free from the negative consequences of smoking. In this study, we pose the following question: “Would showing social smokers’ possible future as a consequence of smoking help them alter their current smoking behaviors?” Thus, using the theoretical concept of possible selves, an anti-smoking educational game was created in which players could see changes to the appearance of their future selves as a consequence of smoking. We used a 2 (Future face: Showing vs. Not showing) × 2 (Self avatar: Self-avatar vs. Other-avatar) between-subjects design for the experiment. Results indicated that participants who viewed the future face, compared to who did not, reported more negative attitudes toward social smoking and greater intention to quit smoking. The main effect of the self avatar was insignificant; however, seeing the future face in the self-avatar condition led to an increase in perceived risks compared to other-avatar condition. The implications of using avatars as visualized possible selves in health promotion are discussed.     

Personalised e-learning through an educational virtual reality game using Web services

This paper describes how a personalised educational game architecture has been used in conjunction with Web services to provide remote access to the system. The educational game is a virtual reality adventure game that performs affective user modelling by measuring emotional characteristics of users. Virtual reality (VR) games are so popular among children and adolescents that can be used for the purposes of educational software to render it more attractive and motivating. The benefits of such an application can be maximised if it is available over the Web. Software applications that operate over the Web are targeted to a wide range of users. Hence they need a high degree of adaptivity and dynamic individualisation to each user that interacts with the application. This should include the students’ emotional state that affects their learning. However, the environment of a Web-based VR-game that performs user modelling is so demanding that the technology of Web services is necessary for its effective operation and interoperability. Moreover, reusability may be achieved for the user modelling component.

PpcProject: An educational tool for software project management

The University degrees about engineering in general, and software engineering in particular, contain subjects related with Project Management. In this subject, the most commonly used software for practical classes and homework is MS-Project. Nevertheless, the students find that MS-Project is not easy to use and that it requires a high knowledge about Project Management and about the use of the software package. To fill this gap, a new educational software tool, called PpcProject, has been developed and introduced in Software Project Management classes in front of MS-Project. When assessed in practical classes, it was shown to be more useful for educational purposes than Microsoft Project both, in terms of usability and of students performance.     

DELIVER! - An educational game for teaching Earned Value Management in computing courses

Context

To meet the growing need for education in Software Project Management, educational games have been introduced as a beneficial instructional strategy. However, there are no low-cost board games openly available to teach Earned Value Management (EVM) in computing programs.

Objective

This paper presents an educational board game to reinforce and teach the application of EVM concepts in the context of undergraduate computing programs complementing expository lessons on EVM basics.

Method

The game has been developed based on project management fundamentals and teaching experience in this area. So far, it has been applied in two project management courses in undergraduate computing programs at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. We evaluated motivation, user experience and the game’s contribution to learning through case studies on Kirkpatrick’s level one based on the perception of the students.

Results

First results of the evaluation of the game indicate a perceived potential of the game to contribute to the learning of EVM concepts and their application. The results also point out a very positive effect of the game on social interaction, engagement, immersion, attention and relevance to the course objectives.

Conclusion

We conclude that the game DELIVER! can contribute to the learning of the EVM on the cognitive levels of remembering, understanding and application. The illustration of the application of EVM through the game can motivate its usefulness. The game has proven to be an engaging instructional strategy, keeping students on the task and attentive. In this respect, the game offers a possibility to complement traditional instructional strategies for teaching EVM. In order to further generalize and to strengthen the validity of the results, it is important to obtain further evaluations.     

Benefits of educational games as an introductory activity in industrial engineering education

This study evaluates the use of educational games as an introductory activity in the first year of undergraduate degree programs in industrial engineering. This proposal exploit the potential use of games to present complex situations without discouraging players, allowing new students to examine important elements of the professional field. Therefore, an educational game designed for use during the first year of classes was developed. The contribution of this game proposed for student learning and motivation was evaluated using a questionnaire, as was the receptivity to the use of educational games. The results show that this activity motivated students to participate and to better understand the course content. They also indicate that educational games are well accepted by the first-year students. The following benefits of educational games as an introductory activity in higher education contribute to these results: the opportunity to present different concepts in an integrated manner, the possibility of offering a comprehensive and dynamic example that can be shared by students and professors, the greater freedom afforded to the professor for individual interaction with students and the ability to simultaneously satisfy the demand for knowledge and motivation.     

亚马逊棋机器博弈系统中评估函数的研究

机器博弈是人工智能学科研究的载体,亚马逊棋作为一个相对较新的博弈棋种,走棋特点介于围棋和象棋之间,非常适合用来进行机器博弈研究。以亚马逊棋博弈系统为实验平台,对机器博弈中的关键技术之一——评估函教进行了研究。以territory、position、mobility个主要评估特征为基础,根据亚马逊棋在开局、中局以及残局三个不同阶段的棋局特点,分析了不同阶段中各评估因子的重要程度以及权重取值,最后得到一个分阶段的评估函数。通过实验结果可知,提出的棋局评估函数是可行并且有效的。     

Participatory evaluation of an educational game for social skills acquisition

This paper reports a study conducted to formally evaluate a social problem-solving skills game during the start of the development to ensure that the desired game attributes were successfully embodied in the final game. Two methods, heuristic evaluation and participatory design, were adopted to assess whether the features of the game pose playability issues to the prospective young users and to translate the participants' contributions into game design directions. The participants playtested and evaluated the game based on the Pedagogical Playability Heuristics, which are different from existing heuristics developed for commercial games, as priority was placed on instructional design principles and the concept of playability. Using storyboarding, they built low-fidelity prototypes of the game. Suitable children's design and feedback on the games attributes that would bring about stimulation, connecting instructions to goals, appropriate challenge and influencing goal achievement were integrated into the game design. As a consequence of the study, steps were taken to improve the game as an interactive system to achieve the instructional goals and at the same time foster enjoyment among the users.     

The effectiveness of adaptive difficulty adjustments on students' motivation and learning in an educational computer game

Computer games that adaptively adjust difficulty are used to continuously challenge players according to their abilities. The adjustment of difficulty occurs automatically in response to a game's ongoing assessment of a player's performance. This approach to difficulty adjustment is likely to be of value in educational computer games as a means of scaffolding learning for students. However, there is limited research evaluating the effectiveness of educational computer games with adaptive difficulty adjustment when compared to non-adaptive difficulty adjustment. To expand on this research a quasi-experimental study was designed to isolate the impact of the difficulty adjustment game element on motivation and learning. A total of 234 secondary school students were allocated to one of three activities involving learning about Spanish cognates: an adaptive difficulty adjustment game, an incremental difficulty adjustment game that was non-adaptive, and a written activity. The three learning activities were designed following the same learning and motivation theories. The two games were identical apart from the difficulty adjustment mechanism. The results for motivation indicated that all students experienced high levels and there was no significant difference between the three learning activities. The pre- and post-tests results for learning indicated that significantly higher learning outcomes were achieved by students who played the adaptive game. Analysis of a game log recording the correctness of students' responses indicated that the adaptive difficulty adjustment game, in contrast to the non-adaptive incremental difficulty adjustment game, provided a scaffolding structure to enhance student learning.     

Opening The Door: An evaluation of the efficacy of a problem-based learning game

As higher education institutions seek to improve undergraduate education, initiatives are underway to target instructional methods, re-examine curricula, and apply innovative technologies to better engage students with content. This article discusses the findings of an exploratory study focused on a course redesign that game elements, PBL methods, and 3-D communication tools in an introductory computing course. Some of these findings included an appreciation for how the technology skills gained in the course applied to the world of work, an understanding of the significant role that interpersonal communications play in learning and in career success, a sense of empowerment fostered by access to resources, and an increased willingness to play, explore, and experiment with tools, content, and design processes.     

The effects of temperature variation on videometric measurement and a compensation method

When a videometric system operates over a long period, temperature variations in the camera and its environment will affect the measurement results, which cannot be ignored. How to eliminate or compensate for the effects of such variations in temperature is an emergent problem. Starting with the image drift phenomenon, this paper presents an image-drift model that analyzes the relationship between variations in the camera parameters and drift in the coordinates of the image. A simplified model is then introduced by analyzing the coupling relationships among the variations in the camera parameters. Furthermore, a model of the relationship between the camera parameters and temperature variations is established with the system identification method. Finally, several compensation experiments on image drift are carried out, using the parameter–temperature relationship model calibrated with one arbitrary data set to compensate the others. The analyses and experiments demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method.     

Supplier evaluation based on Nash bargaining game model

Traditional DEA method is improper for supplier evaluation and selection, as it adopts varying weights in evaluation, and fails to consider competition among the suppliers. In order to solve these two problems, Nash bargaining game DEA model is applied to supplier evaluation in present paper. However, there is a non-uniqueness problem with Nash bargaining game efficiency of supplier in existing Nash bargaining game DEA model. The existing Nash bargaining game DEA model is improved in present paper on this issue, then the improved model is applied to the third party logistics service provider evaluation. The result of supplier evaluation based on the improved model is more persuasive compared with the existing research achievement, owing to adopting common weights in evaluation, and the game between suppliers being taken account.     

基于游戏积分的学习评价机制

以计算机应用基础课程为例,探讨了中等专业学校中基于游戏积分式的一种学习评价机制。游戏积分式学习评价机制迎合中职学生心理特征,60%评价项不以学习目标达成度为目的,更注重学生参与度与学习兴趣的评价机制。实践证明,这种方法不仅能提高学生的学习兴趣、实现快乐课堂,更能实现课程过程性评价,最终达到预期教学效果。     

A multilevel analysis of the effects of external rewards on elementary students' motivation,engagement and learning in an educational game

This study investigated the effects of external rewards on fifth graders' motivation, engagement and learning while playing an educational game. We were interested in exploring whether the feedback-rich environment of the game could mitigate the predicted negative effects of external rewards. Data of students' engagement and learning were collected and analyzed at multiple levels. A quasi-experimental design was used to examine the effect of external rewards in one group (n = 50) compared to a control group without such rewards (n = 56). According to the results, the external rewards did not undermine students' motivation (e.g., at proximal and distal levels), however they did not foster disciplinary engagement. On the other hand, students in the reward condition showed significantly larger gains in conceptual understanding (proximal) and non-significantly larger gains in achievement (distal). These results suggest that the predicted negative consequences of external rewards may be addressed in this new generation of learning environments. Future research and contributions of the study are provided.     

Managing software process measurement: A metamodel-based approach

The evaluation of software processes is nowadays a very important issue due to the growing interest of software companies in the improvement of the productivity and quality of delivered products. Software measurement plays a fundamental role here. Given the great diversity of entities which are candidates for measurement in the software process improvement context (process models, projects, resources, products) this measurement must be performed in a consistent and integrated way. This will facilitate the making of decisions in process improvement. In this paper, a proposal for the integrated management of the software measurement is presented. The goal is to provide companies with a generic and flexible environment for software measurement which facilitates and establishes the basis for a common and effective measurement process and which is not restricted to only one kind of software entity or to a single quality or evaluation model. In order to achieve this, the proposal adopts the Model Driven Engineering philosophy and provides: a metamodel for the definition of software measurement models; a flexible method to measure any kind of software entity represented by its corresponding metamodel and GenMETRIC, which is the software tool that supports the framework.     

A general-purpose software measurement tool

A software measurement tool designed for the users of PRIME, an interactive system being developed, is presented. The tool, called SMT, allows its user to instrument a program, modify a pre-existing instrumentation and specify how the collected data are to be reduced by typing in a few simple commands. The user can also write his own measurement routines, which specify the actions to be taken at event detection time, and submit them to the SMT; after checking their correctness, the SMT deals with them as with its built-in, standard measurement routines. The design goals of a general-purpose tool like the SMT are discussed, and the prototype version of the tool, which has been implemented, is described from the two distinct viewpoints of a user and of a measurement-tool designer. An example of the application of the prototype to a measurement problem is illustrated, the reasons why not all of the design goals have been achieved in the implementation of the prototype are reviewed, and some of the foreseeable extensions of the SMT are described.     

The mechanisms of project management of software development

The changing environments of software development such as component-based, distributed and outsourced software development require matching changes by project managers to monitor, control and coordinate their projects. While the objectives of project management may be well established, the mechanisms with which those objectives are achieved are less well known. An empirical study was undertaken to investigate which mechanisms were used by practising project managers to monitor, control and coordinate software development projects.First, the types of mechanisms are discussed so that the mechanisms can be classified usefully. Then, the design of the empirical study is described. The data were collected through structured interview, which provided both quantitative and qualitative data. The data are analysed for each mechanism separately and the findings presented. The study found that project managers use multiple mechanisms to achieve project management objectives and use the same mechanism to serve multiple objectives. Further research is suggested to investigate project management from the opposite orientation, that is, which objectives are served by specific project management mechanisms.     

Impact of effort estimates on software project work

This paper presents results from two case studies and two experiments on how effort estimates impact software project work. The studies indicate that a meaningful interpretation of effort estimation accuracy requires knowledge about the size and nature of the impact of the effort estimates on the software work. For example, we found that projects with high priority on costs and incomplete requirements specifications were prone to adjust the work to fit the estimate when the estimates were too optimistic, while too optimistic estimates led to effort overruns for projects with high priority on quality and well specified requirements.

Two hypotheses were derived from the case studies and tested experimentally. The experiments indicate that: (1) effort estimates can be strongly impacted by anchor values, e.g. early indications on the required effort. This impact is present even when the estimators are told that the anchor values are irrelevant as estimation information; (2) too optimistic effort estimates lead to less use of effort and more errors compared with more realistic effort estimates on programming tasks.     

An interactive productivity measurement model using spreadsheet software

Previous computerized productivity measurement models to assist firms in computing productivity measures from a set of input data have been constructed using procedural languages, primarily Fortran and Basic. These models have a number of shortcomings which have detracted from their usefulness. First, these models must be modified to adapt them to the organization and data available from a particular firm. Modification is expensive and time consuming since it requires a detailed knowledge of the structure of the model and the language in which it is programmed in addition to a detailed knowledge of the firm. Second, data entry is not only difficult and time consuming but the user has no indication of what is happening between the input of data and the output of the final productivity measure.

This paper describes the development of an interactive multifactor productivity measurement model using Lotus 123. With the spreadsheet software the model can be easily adapted to fit the needs of the firm by the firm's industrial engineer with a only working knowledge of Lotus 123. Changes in data can be made easily by using the features of the spreadsheet software, and the effects of the changes can be seen easily and rapidly on various aspects of the model.     

Evaluating multiple aspects of a digital educational problem-solving-based adventure game

This study aims to evaluate multiple aspects of a problem-solving-based educational adventure game, Boom Room©. The learning effectiveness, game acceptance, and flow experience of the game were empirically investigated. The game was designed and developed for teaching knowledge of computer assembly. Sixty-seven university students in Taiwan were asked to complete a pre-test before playing the game and a post-test after playing the game. These students also provided evaluations of not only the usefulness, ease of use, and design elements of the game but also their experience with various flow dimensions of the game. A 2-stage cluster analysis was also conducted to explore the potentially different groups of students by categorizing them in accordance with their performance, degree of game acceptance and flow states. The results suggest that this game is beneficial for students with insufficient background knowledge of computer assembly, allowing these students to obtain vital knowledge of this topic if they achieved a sufficient acceptance of the game and an adequate flow experience from their game-playing experiences. The various dimensions of flow that were experienced by these students were significantly correlated with game acceptance. Suggestions for future study, game design, and instructional practice are discussed.     

The effectiveness of a math game: The impact of integrating conceptual clarification as support

This study investigates the impact of integrating conceptual clarifications as support in an educational math game, and explores the impact of adding this (internal vs. external) support on students’ game and mathematical performance, intrinsic motivation, and game perception. Three conditions are established: a condition in which internal support is offered, a condition in which (identical) external support is offered, and a control condition in which no support is added to the game. One hundred twenty-two vocational secondary education students participated in this study. The results of this study indicate that students benefit from playing with an educational game in order to enhance their proportional reasoning skills. Adding conceptual clarifications as instructional support in an intrinsically integrated game is not recommended. If the support is given to the students anyhow, it is advised to offer it externally because internally integrating this support leads to a decrease in performance and motivation. Hence, not only support as such, but also the way it is integrated in the game-based learning process, might be decisive for its effectivity. Obviously, further research is warranted in order to replicate these findings also for other types of support, other game-based learning environments and other target groups.