The Graduate Employability Skills app (GES-APP) is an innovative application that aims to assist students in higher education in thinking about and reflecting on their employability skills. This paper describes the iterative, 3 phase evaluation framework that was used in designing and evaluating the app and presents the key findings at each stage of the process. The iterative evaluation approach ensured that the GES-APP was modified at each phase by taking account of staff and students’ suggestions for improvements. Participants in the evaluation were students and staff from the 4 partner institutions of the EU-funded GES-APP project. The initial piloting focused on self-reporting of employability skills and participants provided positive comments about this activity, the key idea, content organization and functionality. They considered that it was innovative, meaningful and important and motivated them in exploring their employability skills and attitudes. Participants also provided many useful suggestions that were used to improve the layout and the quality of graphics, enhance users’ interactivity and feedback, and clarify the role of the employability coach. This revised prototype of the GES-APP was used in the quantitative and qualitative piloting of the extended app in phase 2. Further improvements were made and tested in phase 3. This involved a more rigorous, quasi-experimental design testing the final version of the GES-APP, using pre-and post-questionnaires to record students’ understanding of their employability skills, employer needs and career preparation. Statistically significant changes were found following the GES-APP intervention along two key dimensions: (a) Understanding employer needs and the labor market and (b) preparing for a career. This evaluation suggests that students would welcome digital support of this kind in helping them make the transition from higher education into the world of work.

Learning the alphabet is a fundamental part of any language, especially British Sign Language (BSL). Without an understanding of the alphabet, learners may lack awareness of where signs outside the alphabet originate from, which leads to gaps in proficiency. Although the BSL Scotland Act 2015 promotes the use of BSL, many learners in Britain continue to face challenges that hinder language acquisition, such as limited access to learning materials, classes, and groups. Serious games have captured great interest and have been applied in a plethora of areas for education, training, or awareness through engaging gameplay. They offer a unique approach to overcoming these barriers, promoting deaf awareness and encouraging sign language learning through engaging material. This paper presents the development of a novel, hangman-inspired serious game prototype designed to facilitate learning the BSL alphabet and vocabulary. The game integrates spelling exercises with visual sign representations, aiming to connect the BSL letter recognition to the corresponding dynamic sign. This prototype serves as a step towards addressing resource gaps and accommodating the community by offering a potential model for sign language learning through a serious game. Immersive serious games can add a level of engagement and potential haptic interaction to BSL education. This paper will also provide a preliminary scoping literature review of the state of the art of the application of VR and serious games for sign language education.

One primary aspect of civic education is to build inclusive societies where everyone can feel valued, respected andcelebrated for their individual diverse attributes. While a civilised society exercises tolerance, empathy, compassion andforgiveness, in the daily walks of life there are no second chances to make the correct first impression. Many individuals areexceptionally apprehensive when having to interact with minorities through fear of causing unintentional offence oremotional damage in first encounter situations. Serious games can offer an immersive and educational training experiencewhere mistakes can be made with far fewer ramifications than in real life making them significantly more risk free. This paperexplores the development of Pronouns in Practice, a serious game designed specifically to address inclusive communication,with a focus on pronoun use. This paper will review the literature on the use of serious games in Equality, Diversity andInclusion (EDI) related areas particularly looking at pronoun related training in the Educational Sector. The prototype will beconstructed using subject experts in conjunction with user and design requirements identified in the literature review and adesign framework that is outlined. The paper will present a preliminary design framework for development and evaluationof serious games in EDI related subjects and will particularly look at the use of simulations in initial human interaction withthe use of pronouns. The paper intends to produce a prototype to address alleviating concerns with general interactionassociated with using pronouns.

Video games when utilised in academic settings have the potential to enhance the student learning experience through their immersive qualities. When integrated and combined with course curriculum they can aid student engagement and retention. Video games, when also applied within a social context in education have the ability to contribute to student success at university through supporting and facilitating student wellbeing, inclusion, equality and a sense of community. The aim of this paper is to present a case study about the co-creation of a retro games room by students and educators within a BSc (Hons) Computer Games Development programme at a Scottish University. The idea behind the retro games room was to offer a multifunctional space where students can socialise, relax and share their passion for gaming out with their core academic studies. The room has fostered a sense of community and belonging among students making them feel part of their academic programme. The paper provides a scoping review of the academic literature associated with supporting student belonging in higher education via student identity and engagement. In addition, the paper presents predominately quantitative results on the students’ experience of using the room to develop a sense of community and identity with a view to enhancing student ownership and belonging on the programme. The paper illustrates the logic and justifications made regarding the proposed use of the room from a student belonging perspective. It denotes how a combined community of practice and affinity space approach, with a shared interest of bringing students together has the potential to enhance their overall positive wellbeing. The paper also provides a solid case study for other educators to reflect on regarding ways to enhance the student experience on their respective programmes from the grass roots level.

The popularity of esports has gained public interest over the past decade, leading to the industries evolution, providing further avenues for career prospects and educational outreach. Esports, abbreviated from electronic sports, is the nature of playing video games casually or professionally at a competitive capacity, either as an individual, or as a team. Previous research areas in esports have focused on education, psychological factors, health and nutrition, business management, performance review, and commercialisation, factoring in the relevance of esports in sports and supporting terms. The industry has different avenues and perspectives that are advantageous to develop innovative approaches, providing information about the industry, and improving the understanding for the wider general audience. Serious games and games-based learning provides the opportunity to educate and inform about the phenomenon of esports and the potential career industry pathways. This paper presents a conceptual design for an esports serious game to educate players about esports in relation to career pathways and genres. Investigation and adaption of serious game frameworks (e.g. Learning Mechanics-Game Mechanics, Activity Theory Model of Serious Games) will be adhered to through the research. This will lead to the development of a serious game for potential stakeholders to assist in their interests in studying or learning about esports and its multi-faceted career opportunities through simulated scenarios. A mixed methods approach will support the increased frequency of new esports programmes in secondary, further, and higher education, using a serious game to inform prospective students in relation to potential career avenues. The conceptual design idea presented in this paper will support the initial research steps of a serious game to teach about esports.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate undergraduate student perceptions about the application of immersive technologies for enhancing the student learning experience. This study assesses the viewpoints of students from varying multidisciplinary backgrounds about whether immersive technologies can enhance their learning experience and increase their level of engagement in the context of higher educational delivery.Design/methodology/approachThe research used a case study methodology adopting a questionnaire-based research mixed methods approach. In total, 83 participants completed the questionnaire. The purpose of the research was to evaluate and interpret students' perspectives at higher educational level about the use of immersive technologies towards enhancing their learning experience. There was also a focus on remote educational delivery due to the legacy of COVID-19.FindingsThe findings suggest that there is still more empirical work to be undertaken regarding the application of immersive technologies in higher education. The study revealed that there are immersive benefits though preference for face-to-face teaching remains popular. The negative connotations associated with immersive technology use in higher education, (e.g. virtual reality), such as cost of equipment and motion sickness, substantiates the themes identified in the academic literature.Originality/valueThe study explores a diversity of immersive technologies and their application in higher education (HE) contexts. Findings indicate that although there are acknowledged pedagogical benefits of immersive technology use in HE prevalent barriers remain that require further empirical research if immersive technology use is to be universally used in the sector.

The term competitive gameplay or gaming is predominantly associated with esports. Esports, a synonym, or abbreviation for electronic sports is an industry that has a global outreach with a lucrative market. This is accentuated by the event driven, business model focus and organised competitive events, often involving sponsorship. These additional characteristics associated with esports is what distinguishes it from traditional or casual gaming. Though esports games can be played individually, they are predominantly viewed as a team activity. Beyond the debate as to whether esports can be classified as a sport, it is an area that has attracted a significant amount of academic research. Research areas have often included esports psychology, esports player health and nutrition and esports management. Some research studies have also reviewed how esports have the potential to e.0quip esports players with relevant 21st century skills such as critical and lateral thinking. One area where esports appears to be under researched is in the relationship between competitive gameplay and learning theories. It can be argued that this is an important consideration when delivering esports from an educational perspective. The aim of this paper is to provide a scoping review of the esports literature identifying empirical research associated with competitive gaming and graduate attributes. Esports game genres will be explored from a gameplay perspective demonstrating via learning theory examples how these games can facilitate graduate attributes in players. Exploring the domain of esports game genres, learning theories and meta-skills, the paper presents a conceptual model illustrating the interrelationship between these areas. The paper also has practical value to educators, who may be as yet unfamiliar with esports, informing them of the subject’s educational benefits from a graduate attribute and employability perspective.

Programming is a highly difficult skill which is a constituent of many undergraduate programmes at Higher Education (HE) level. With the advancement of games technology there is an increasing opportunity for educators to provide innovative assessment tools for students on their courses which are highly immersive and graphically indicative of the times. This could potentially be in a supplementary capacity or to a greater extent inextricably linked to the learning outcomes and assessment outcomes. Notably serious games and Games-Based Learning (GBL) have received high levels of attention from educationalists due to being motivational, novel learning approaches. This paper will outline two empirical studies conducted to develop a game to teach programming at HE level. The first study will gauge the acceptability of a computer game for teaching programming and formulating content integration development requirements. The second study will outline the evaluation of the developed game being placed in a module as a formative assessment tool to assist learners to revise for their formal class test. Study one showed that acceptability of the game was high with 61 participants completing an acceptability/content integration questionnaire. The game was designed to consolidate knowledge on rudimentary and advanced programming concepts, data structures and algorithms. 48 participants evaluated the game in study two with the results generally indicating that they enjoyed playing the game as a revision alternative with 14% of participants rating it as very effective and 51% of participants as effective for allowing them to prepare for their class test. The majority of participants also believed that games could be utilised in a formative and summative assessment capacity on courses for independent study.

In Higher Education Institutions Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) training sometimes has great variability and may lack sensitivity. As a result, the process often lacks depth and does not provide the ability to make mistakes in a more risk free/simulated practice environment in a simulated practice way. EDI can often encompass and touch on rather uncomfortable subjects that people would much prefer to avoid such as racism, discrimination, sexuality, religion, disabilities, marginalisation, lack of representation, unconscious bias and micro-aggressions, professional dilemmas, and ambivalence. People tend to avoid having difficult conversations and asking questions to enhance understanding. Serious games can offer a vehicle to explore some of these issues in a simulated, risk free, immersive environment with no real world consequences. They are a legitimate academic discipline used in a number of diverse fields such as business, mathematics, and soft skills. This paper will perform a preliminary discursive review of the use of games-based learning and serious games in EDI education and associated terms to produce valuable empirical evidence. The study will review developmental, evaluation and development frameworks for developing serious games for potentially difficult contexts in line with EDI i.e. resistance, ambivalence, and challenging confrontational discussions.

Global Employability Skills are skills that students acquire during their study period, that are in addition to theiracademic knowledge and skills, and that would help in their careers. As students continue their university journeys, theyoften

The aim of this paper is to give a detailed overview of the development of a 3D serious game that informs game students about career pathways in the games industry. The paper provides a scoping review on the key principles related to serious game design. These core design issues are reiterated in relation to how the development of the game has adhered to them. The paper illustrates the game’s audit trail in terms of implementation providing a development blueprint for other educators to follow when developing an educational game. The learning outcomes of the game are also accentuated and how the implementation of the game has catered for them. An important aspect of the paper is to highlight how the underlying aspects of game design can accommodate intrinsic content and motivation whilst accommodating the various pedagogical frameworks embedded in the gameplay. The characterising goals of the game have adopted a linear and cyclical approach that allows the player to progress through the gameplay completing formative and summative assessment challenges. The serious game was developed using the Unity game engine adopting a hub and spoke design. A key challenge when designing the game was how to ensure that the game remained endogenous when designing the game’s levels. The design considerations presented in this paper provide a solid implementational framework about how to implement principles of learning and assessment associated with employability skill sets with a specific focus to the games industry.

In this paper, we present a mobile application, the GES App, designed to help students recognise, document, and articulate their employability skills to their prospective employees.Global Employability Skills are skills that students acquire that are in addition to their academic knowledge and skills, and that would help them in their careers.As students continue their university journeys, they often overlook or underestimate the importance of developing Global Employability Skills that employers consider as important for their jobs.The GES App is a mobile application designed to stimulate university students to reflect upon their experiences and assess the skills they may develop outside of their formal university studies.This paper presents how the GES App supports students plan their careers and develop their Global Employability Skills that would make them more attractive to their future employers.A use case scenario is described to illustrate the role the GES App could play, from the perspectives of university students, staff and employers.