Serious Games

Typ: Seminar
Semesterwochenstunden: 2+0

Seminar: Serious Games

Description

In this Seminar we discuss how games can be exploited for learning. We start out with a definition of what games are. Next we discuss why and how games motivate us. Finally we look into paedagogical and psychological models that help us to design better serious games. We look into some existing serious games and think about how they use those models and discuss how they could be improved.
In parallel to the theory, students design their own serious game and discuss how they applied the theoretic knowledge.
The course language is English.

Goal

The goal of the course is to design a serious game while backing up this design with scientific background about learning and motivation.

Prerequisite

Participating students should be interested in Games and how and why they can be used for learning.

Course Details

SWS: 4 ETCS
Preliminary talk / Info meeting: Tuesday February, 7st 2012, 2:00 - 3:00 pm, 01.07.014
Time: Wednesday 2pm
Room: Seminar room, 01.07.014
Number of participants is limited to 20
Mandatory attendance
Contact: Barbara Köhler and Damir Ismailović

Helpful Software Tools

Latex

If you want to work with Latex and have never done so before, here some good starting point with well working configurations for the different operating systems.

Use the The Not So Short Introduction to LaTex to get started with LaTex.
Use this latex template for the essay.

For Windows

install miktex - TeX implementation for Microsoft Windows
install TeXnicCenter - integrated development environment (IDE) for developing LaTeX-documents on Microsoft Windows

For Linux

install Texlive
install Gummi - LaTeX editor for the Linux platform, written in C/GTK+. It was designed with simplicity in mind, but hopes to appeal to both novice and more advanced LaTeX writers.

For Mac

Latex on Mac (http://guides.macrumors.com/Installing_LaTeX_on_a_Mac)
install Texmaker - crossplatform Latex editor

Manage your references

JabRef is a Java program for comfortable working with Bibtex literature databases. Handy feature: if you know the PubMed ID for an article, JabRef can import data from there (via "Web Search/Medline").
Mendeley is a cross-platform program for organising your references. helps you keep track of your references, it comes with bibtex-Export to work nicely with Lyx or Latex and a Word extension. Furthermore there is a web importer (http://www.mendeley.com/import/) that lets you directly store the complete information about your reference saving you a lot of time typing that information by hand

Starting Points for Literature Search

This list may help you finding some good points to start your search:

Some publishers:

Libraries (online and offline):

http://rzblx1.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/ (Elektronische Zeitschriften Bibliothek)
Verbundkatalog des Bibliotheksverbundes Bayern (BVB)
Computer ORG
http://www.ub.tum.de/(TUM Library)
- Access to many electronic media (e-books and papers): https://eaccess.ub.tum.de/login
- Most of the time your mytum login will be enough, for some papers however you have to configure your proxy, see http://www.ub.tum.de/medien/ejournals/readme.html

Modalities

You will get a certificate with a grade based on the following criteria:

Ability to do independent research: do literature research, not only on given initial reading, but also newer papers (of the last three years) and cite them correctly
Short paper about chosen topic (around 5 pages)
Oral presentation (15 minutes + 15 minutes discussion) about the selected topic
Design document of your team (up to 15 pages)
ACTIVE participation at all the other presentations

Deadlines

1st April: Preliminary version of paper (see this as a chance to receive some feedback, before handing in the final version that will be graded)
15th April: Final submission of paper
One week before your presentation: slides
11th July: Design Document (might change)

Schedule (prospective)

weekly meeting (time and dare tba)

#	Date	Presenter	Topic	Initial Literature	Reviewer
1)	18.04		Introduction
2)	25.04	Stephan Schmoltke	What is a game	Game Design Workshop, Tracy Fullerton, Part I - Chapter 2 – The structure of Games The Art of Game Design, Jesse Schell, Chapter 3 – So what is a Game?	Damir
		Markus Schichtl	What are serious games and why might they be suitable as learning tools?	Developing serious games, Bryan Bergeron, Chapter 2 - Working Context The role of play in Development What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy, James Paul Gee	Damir
3)	02.05	Daniel Schosser	Why do people play?	Game Frame, Aaron Dignan	Barbara
		Anand Kapadia	Emotions in games and serious games	On the Way to Fun, Roberto Dillon, Chapter 1 Creating emotion in games, David Freeman Deep Learning and Emotion in Serious Games, Arthur Graesser, Patrick Chipman, Frank Leeming, and Suzanne Biedenbach GameFlow: A model for Evaluating Player Enjoyment in Games, Penelope Sweetser, P. Wyeth	Barbara & Damir
4)	09.05	Nicolas Corpancho	Game Design	Game Design Workshop, Tracy Fullerton, Part 2 – Chapter 1 – The role of the Game Designer The Art of Game Design, Jesse Schell	Barbara
		Matteo Harutunian	Constructivism and differentiation from Behaviourism and Cognitivism	Pianos not Stereos: Creating Computational Construction Kits Cognition and learning, James G. Greeno, Allan M. Collins	Barbara
5)	16.05	na	Zone of Proximal Development and Social Development Theory	Mind in society, Vygotsky, Zone of Proximal Development: A new Approach + The development of higher mental processes Interaction between learning and development, Vygotsky	Barbara
		Daniel Richter	Scaffolding	Software-Realized Scaffolding to Facilitate Programming for Science Learning, Mark Guzdial	Barbara
6)	23.05		Workshop
7)	30.05	na	Goal Based Scenarios	The design of Goal-Based Scenarios, Roger C. Schank, Andrew Fano, Benjamin Bell, and Menachem Jona Goal-Based Scenarios, Jörg Zumbach	Barbara
		na	Pedagogical Models	Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the Classification of educational goals, Benjamin S. Bloom The 8 Learning Events Model: A Pedagogic Conceptual Framework for the Design of Dedicated Scenarios, D. Verpoorten, M. Poumay, D. Leclercq	Damir
8)	06.06		Intermediate Design Critiques
9)	13.06	Eva Maria Gibtner	Learner Modeling	M. D. Kickmeier-Rust and D. Albert, The ELEKTRA ontology model: A learner-centered approach to resource description, 2008.	Barbara
		Florian Hartmann	Detecting and Classifying Learner Performance	M. D. Kickmeier-Rust, C. Hockemeyer, D. Albert, and T. Augustin, Micro Adaptive, Non-invasive Knowledge Assessment in Educational Games, in Second IEEE International Conference on Digital Games and Intelligent Toys Based Education, 2008 Vicente, A.D., 2003. Towards tutoring systems that detect students; motivation: an investigation. Institute for Communicating and Collaborative Systems School of Informatics University of Edinburg Modritscher, F., 2006. Towards Formalising Adaptive Behaviour Within the Scope of E-Learning. Mödritscher, F., Garcia-Barrios, V.M. & Gutl, C., 2004. The Past, the Present and the Future of adaptive E-Learning. 2004	Damir
10)	20.06	Alexandros Verikios	Serious Games Applications	M. Ulicsak, Games in Education : Serious Games, 2010. D. Ismailović, D. Pagano, and B. Brügge, weMakeWords - An adaptive and collaborative serious game for literacy acquisition, in IADIS International Conference - Game and Entertainment, 2011. M. D. Kickmeier-Rust, D. Schwarz, D. Albert, D. Verpoorten, J. L. Castaigne, and M. Bopp, The ELEKTRA project: Towards a new learning experience, 2006. S. D. Rodriguez, I. Cheng, and A. Basu, âMultimedia Games for Learning and Testing Physics, in International Conference on Multimedia and Expo, 2007 Web: http://fold.it/	Damir
		Aram Messdaghi	Pedagogical Agents	Cognitive Tutors, Kenneth R. Koedinger and Albert Corbett Cognitive Tutors Lessons Learned, John R. Anderson, Albert T. Corbett, Kenneth R. Koedinger, Ray. Pelletier	Damir
11)	27.06	Diana Babiac	Experiments in Educational Settings		Barbara
12)	04.07		Workshop
13)	11.07		Final Design Presentation
14)	18.07		Workshop
15)	25.07		Workshop

To apply

Send an email to Barbara Köhler with:

Name
Email
Matrikel number
Bachelor/Master & Major subject (e.g. Bachelor Computer Science)
Semester
Experiences with games
Experiences with serious games
Short motivation why you want to attend the course

Professor

Prof. Bernd Brügge, Ph.D.

Contact

	Barbara Köhler
	Damir Ismailović