A. Abbas1, M. Iqbal2, L. Boyle1, G. Baxter1, A. Williams1, S.A. Petersen2, E. Topolewska-Siedzik3, A. Jimoyiannis4, P. Tsiotakis4, G. Scott1 1University of the west of Scotland (UNITED KINGDOM) 2Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NORWAY) 3Uniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie (POLAND) 4University of Peloponnese (GREECE)

G. Scott1, L. Boyle1, E. Topolewska-Siedzik2, A. Jimoyiannis3, S. Abbas-Petersen4 1University of the West of Scotland (UNITED KINGDOM) 2UKSW (POLAND) 3University of the Peloponnese (GREECE) 4NTNU (NORWAY)

This article focuses on the early stages of an international project on gamifying national identity. It examines the production of the content required for developing a sophisticated and engaging approach to pedagogical innovation in education, through game-based learning. This will encourage individuals to think about both European and national identity, specifically within the context of the European Union (EU). At a time when the EU faces significant challenges, a better understanding and appreciation of the role of national and supra-national identity and belonging in Europe is clear. RU EU? – an Erasmus+ funded project – aims to develop an innovative online game to help students and others enhance their understanding of their own national and European identities and challenge attitudes and prejudices. The content development of the game has brought together experts with socio-political knowledge, pedagogical understanding and technical expertise. This article discusses the early stages in the content development process, during which we amassed material from literature reviews, academic interviews and student focus groups and surveys. We sought to ensure that the content of the game reflected the issues raised within the game development lifecycle and our article describes our engagement with this material and its integration into game content.

The importance of health and social services is increasing as European society grows older and unemployment and relocation across Europe increases. This growing demand for services is creating unprecedented pressures on health and social care systems. Despite differences in political approaches and institutional frameworks, health and social services across Europe face similar challenges in adjusting to demographic ageing, societal change, rising expectations and consumerism, changing employment and family patterns, evolving technological opportunities and funding issues. A key part of the sector deals with vulnerable people. Education and training plays a pivotal role in developing those who work with vulnerable people and, more generally, the social services sector. In many parts of Europe, the sector has a strong emphasis on learning and assessing skills for job roles in real practice environments ("practice learning"). In some qualifications, practice learning can be almost 40% of the total learning time. There are also on-going demands for practice learning with new qualified professionals and professionals as part of CPD. There are clear logistical challenges in arranging practice opportunities where trainees are able to learn the core skills of the job and receive high quality support, supervision and assessment of their practice from suitably qualified mentors/practice assessors. Furthermore, finding sufficient numbers of such placements has been a challenge for the last 30 years. However, there are also other challenges; e.g. risks associated with work-based learning and the safety and well-being of service users in giving trainees access to their lives. This paper discusses the development of a 3D simulated practice learning environment that focuses on supporting people who work with young children. The paper then presents the findings from a large-scale teacher training programme for the game that was run across various European countries with 120 participants.

Westera, W., Berta, R., Moreno-Ger, P., Bellotti, F., Nadolski, R., Padron-Napoles, C. L., Boyle, L., Beligan, D., & Baalsrud Hauge, J. (2013, December 12). Spreading of Excellence in Serious Gaming. Presentation on the GALA project review meeting. Luxembourg: European Commission.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) is the main regulatory body responsible for registering people who work in social services and is responsible for regulating their education and training. In Scotland there are currently 191, 000 social service workers who work with a variety of different people in a variety of different settings ranging from care home services for adults to early year settings such as nurseries and out of care clubs. Games-based Learning has developed a reputation with educationalists for being a potential form of supplementary learning and has been applied in a number of different subject areas. The current state of computer games technology allows the creation of games beyond that of 2D games or web-based eLearning games for increased engagement and immersion. It is therefore considered to be beneficial to use current computer games technology to create a realistic, 3D simulated practice environment for social and health care training. This paper will introduce a generic simulated practice environment developed in Unity for childhood practice training. The paper will describe the preliminary development of the games-based learning environment and discuss the implemented prototype. The paper presents an analysis of an expert evaluation that has been performed on this prototype and discusses future developmental directions.

Games-based learning has captured the interest of educationalists and industrialists who seek to exploit the characteristics of computer games as they are perceived by some to be a potentially effective approach for teaching and learning. Despite this interest in using games-based learning there is a dearth of empirical evidence supporting the validity of the approach covering the wider context of gaming and education. This study presents a large scale gaming survey, involving 887 students from 13 different Higher Education (HE) institutes in Scotland and the Netherlands, which examines students' characteristics related to their gaming preferences, game playing habits, and their perceptions and thoughts on the use of games in education. It presents a comparison of three separate groups of students: a group in regular education in a Scottish university, a group in regular education in universities in the Netherlands and a distance learning group from a university in the Netherlands. This study addresses an overall research question of: Can computer games be used for educational purposes at HE level in regular and distance education in different countries? The study then addresses four sub-research questions related to the overall research question:*What are the different game playing habits of the three groups? *What are the different motivations for playing games across the three groups? *What are the different reasons for using games in HE across the three groups? *What are the different attitudes towards games across the three groups? To our knowledge this is the first in-depth cross-national survey on gaming and education. We found that a large number of participants believed that computer games could be used at HE level for educational purposes and that further research in the area of game playing habits, motivations for playing computer games and motivations for playing computer games in education are worthy of extensive further investigation. We also found a clear distinction between the views of students in regular education and those in distance education. Regular education students in both countries rated all motivations for playing computer games as significantly more important than distance education students. Also the results suggest that Scottish students aim to enhance their social experience with regards to competition and cooperation, while Dutch students aim to enhance their leisurely experience with regards to leisure, feeling good, preventing boredom and excitement.

Thin, A. G., Lim, T., Louchart, S., De Gloria, A., Mayer, I., Kickmeier-Rust, M., Klamma, R., VeltKamp, R., Arnab, S., Bellotti, F., Boyle, L., Prada, R., Westera, W., Nadolski, R., & Abbas Petersen, S. (2013). Masters in Serious Games Curriculum Framework. Deliverable 5.3 of the Games and Learning Alliance Network of Excellence. Available at http://www.seriousgamessociety.org/download/SGMastersFwk.pdf.

Westera, W., Berta, R., Moreno-Ger, P., Bellotti, F., Nadolski, R., Padron-Napoles, C. L., Boyle, L., Beligan, D., & Baalsrud Hauge, J. (2013). Deliverable 9.7 - GALA Dissemination Report 3. Heerlen, The Netherlands: Games and Learning Alliance, European Network of Excellence.

Games-based Learning (GBL) is developing a reputation with some educationalists as a useful supplementary approach for teaching and learning. Two important issues for GBL application developers and educationalists are how the learning is actually assessed within a GBL environment and how assessment is integrated into a GBL application. This paper presents the preliminary results of a systematic literature review on assessment integration in GBL and highlights the state of the literature in this area by outlining important papers to act as a guide for educationalists tackling this important issue. This paper defines assessment and discusses formative and summative assessment and embedded and external assessment, but is primarily interested in integrating assessment into games-based learning applications. A discussion of traditional assessment approaches and assessment approaches in GBL are presented. Finally the paper presents the preliminary findings of the literature review and proposes a model/framework for educationalists to incorporate assessment into a GBL application.

Westera, W., Berta, R., Moreno-Ger, P., Bellotti, F., Nadolski, R., Moore, P., Boyle, L., Beligan, D., & Baalsrud Hauge, J. (2012). GALA Dissemination Report 2, Deliverable D9.6 of the GALA Network of Excellence on Serious Gaming. Heerlen, The Netherlands: Open Universiteit.

Computer games have become a highly popular form of entertainment and have had a large impact on how University students spend their leisure time. Due to their highly motivating properties computer games have come to the attention of educationalists who wish to exploit these highly desirable properties for educational purposes. Several studies have been performed looking at motivations for playing computer games in a general context and in a Higher Education (HE) context. These studies did not focus on the differences in motivations between online and offline game players. Equally the studies did not look at the differences in motivations of people who prefer single player games and people who prefer multiplayer games. If games-based learning is to become a recognised teaching approach then such motivations for playing computer games must be better understood. This paper presents the combined analysis of three studies at HE level, performed over a four year period from 2005 to 2009. The paper focuses on differences of motivations in relation to single player/multiplayer preference and online/offline game participation. The study found that challenge is the top ranking motivation and recognition is the lowest ranking motivation for playing computer games in general. Challenge is also the top ranking motivation for playing games in HE while fantasy and recognition are the lowest ranking motivations for playing games in HE. Multiplayer gamers derive more competition, cooperation, recognition, fantasy and curiosity from playing games and online gamers derive more challenge, cooperation, recognition and control from playing games. Multiplayer gamers and online gamers ranked competition, cooperation and recognition significantly more important for playing games in HE than single players and offline participants.

Over the past forty years computer games have played an increasingly important part in the way that university and college students spend their leisure time and have gradually replaced traditional leisure activities. It is therefore very important to understand learner motivations for playing computer games and playing computer games in tertiary education contexts as the field of games-based learning has a dearth of empirical evidence supporting the validity of the approach. It seems an obvious assumption that computing students would tend to play computer games quite significantly. This study will examine the motivations of computing students for playing computer games and playing computer games in an educational context at tertiary education level. The study will look at computing students in Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) and will perform a comparison to assess if these motivations are similar or dissimilar based on Malone and Lepper's 1987 framework or intrinsic motivation. The study will contribute a comparison of the same kind of student at different levels of tertiary education and different levels of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF).

Abstract — Serious games differ from commercial games with their focus on learning and training and their use of pedagogies.  Serious games have several components that can help to make them successful – learning theories, high-quality gaming experiences, offering collaboration and competition as well as the opportunity for assessment.  Team assessment has a potentially major role to play in serious games, allowing individuals to evaluate the role they play in a team, what team they fit into best and how their teams operate as a whole.The current study set out to examine the potential of the Infiniteams Island game (TPLD) as a learning tool, using a pre-post test method.  As Reference [1] proposed, the user would potentially “over estimate” their abilities pre game, with a more accurate response to their skills post game, having a greater understanding of what was being examined and being able to see the skills in action.  Using two hundred and four psychology students from the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), each gave answers to a pre-questionnaire, played the Infiniteams Island game and completed a post-game questionnaire.This study has led the way for future research in the area of team assessment in serious games, such as this one.  Having found that team role assessments such as the Belbin Team-Role Inventory cannot be automatic assessments implemented into open-ended free choice games, this study established a basis not only for future use of team assessment, but also demonstrated the capabilities for such serious games to cause players to evaluate their team skills more accurately, but indirectly.  Future implementation of team assessment, whether it is team roles or team strengths, should be applied externally, in parallel to any game.  Keywords

Computer games are exceptionally popular and play an increasingly important role in the lives of children and adults. This popularity has captured the attention of educationalists interested to ascertain if the highly engaging features of computer games can be used to help people learn effectively. To properly develop computer games for learning it is important to have an appreciation of what motivates people to play computer games. This paper will present the results of a survey of students' motivations for playing computer games at Higher Education (HE) level and their views of what features of computer games may be useful for learning. The survey was performed at the University of the West of Scotland in March 2009. As well as presenting the results of the 2009 survey, the paper will draw comparisons on two identical previous studies performed in 2005 and 2007. The study will assess whether the game playing habits, motivations for playing computer games, motivations for playing computer games in a HE setting, attitudes and perceptions of students are consistent over a four year period.

A highly important part of software engineering education is requirements collection and analysis which is one of the initial stages of the Database Application Lifecycle and arguably the most important stage of the Software Development Lifecycle. No other conceptual work is as difficult to rectify at a later stage or as damaging to the overall system if performed incorrectly. As software engineering is a field with a reputation for producing graduates who are inappropriately prepared for applying their skills in real life software engineering scenarios, it suggests that traditional educational techniques such as role-play, live-through case studies and paper-based case studies are insufficient preparation and that other approaches are required. To attempt to combat this problem we have developed a games-based learning application to teach requirements collection and analysis at tertiary education level as games-based learning is seen as a highly motivating, engaging form of media and is a rapidly expanding field. This paper will describe the evaluation of the requirements collection and analysis game particularly from a pedagogical perspective. The game will be compared to traditional methods of software engineering education using a pre-test/post-test, control group/experimental group design to assess if the game can act as a suitable supplement to traditional techniques and assess if it can potentially overcome shortcomings. The game will be evaluated in five separate experiments at tertiary education level.

Games-based learning focuses on the exploration of high-quality computer games and associated software tools for education and training. Games-Based Learning Advancements for Multi-Sensory Human Computer Interfaces: Techniques and Effective Practices disseminates knowledge on the theory and practice of games-based learning, promoting the development and adoption of best practices. Through a combination of theoretical chapters as well as practical case studies, readers will benefit from expert knowledge and learn from the experiences of both researchers and practitioners from across the globe.