Poziv na predavanje: Serious NetGames? Evaluating the potential of network technologies for serious games and learning assessment​

Sažetak:

With the maturing of tools for creating networked games, their development costs are decreasing, bringing them within reach of lower-cost productions aimed at digital game-based learning (DGBL). This opens new horizons for enhancing gameplay, implementing learning strategies and realizing new concepts altogether. Areas for potential improvement include adaptive game content, social reward strategies and personal monitoring. Moreover, network technologies create new possibilities for assessing the effectiveness of DGBL itself. Until recently, a clear conceptualization and standardized procedure to asses DGBL effectiveness were lacking. For the past three years, we have been developing such a framework and conducting validation studies in a variety of domains: training mental arithmetic skills and teaching English to young children; teaching traffic safety to teenagers, fire safety to hospital staff and interpersonal communication to the personnel of a large European bank. In my keynote I will present some of the lessons learned whilst conducting this work and reflect upon both achievements and failures. Based on these I will assess the potential of network technologies for furthering the impact of serious games and their effectiveness assessment.

Životopis:

Jan Van Looy is Assistant Professor at the research group for Media and ICT (iMinds-MICT), Ghent University, Belgium. In 2006 he finished his Ph.D. on the shaping of digital games, which was published as Understanding Computer Game Culture (2010). In 2007-2008, he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at HUMLab, University of Umea, Sweden. Since September 2008, he has been working, first as Postdoctoral Researcher and then as Assistant Professor at Ghent University. There he and his team conduct multidisciplinary user research into immersive media and digital gaming. Past publications have dealt with the effects of stereoscopic 3D media, omnidirectional video experience, measuring player identification; antecedents of gamer identity; effects of stereotype threat on game experience, teacher adoption of digital games in the classroom, and effectiveness of serious games for language learning, awareness raising, mental calculus and personal empowerment and social inclusion. Current research interests of the Gaming and Immersive Media Lab (www.mict.be/gaming) include brain correlates of flow experience, psychophysiological effects of gender stereotype threat, methodology for serious game effectiveness research, player persistence in exergames, and augmented reality quality of experience.