Abertay4

Where Computer Games Playing meets learningUniversity of Abertay 17th Feb. 2003

Where computer game playing meets learning - Opportunities for near market research and innovative prototyping

Dr. Derek Nicoll


Games technology

Educational Models

Organisational culture, aims and

objectives

Training

HCI and usability

Learners/Users/Players

Games design, HCI, educational models, organisation and users

Particular training

objective

Software/hardware/internet

Pedagogy

Theories of the organisation


Games technology

Educational Models

Organisational culture, aims and

objectives

Training

HCI and usability

Learners/Users/Players


Software/hardware/internet

Pedagogy

Theories of the organisation

Particular

Learner



—Games for training an learning is pioneering work —Traditional corporate training often employs games-based

exercises and simulations to bridge knowledge and skills gaps between novices and experts

—Construtivist theories of learning ‘ learning by doing’ have gained popularity in education and training - CAI and ITS

—Games, simulations and prototypes inherently offer this opportunity for ‘serious play’ in prototyping

—Learners’ understanding grows as they engage in and continue to engage in new work practices -motivation/scaffolding

—Unitary and modular building blocks in experience design

—Cognitive, cognitive behavioural or behavioural facets


Concrete experience

Observations and reflections

Testing Implications of

concepts in new situations

Formation of abstract concepts

and generalizations

The cycle of experiential learning

after Kolb and Fry (1975)

Experiential learning


Opportunities—Cost - reducing training costs for individuals and firms—Effectiveness - providing more effective training—Motivation -training becoming more effective due to increased

motivation to participate in and/or absorb training?—Relevance - providing training which is more focussed upon the

training need of the individual learner and/or the individual organisation

—Applicability, Convenience, Mobility - Easier, more accessible and immediate training, free of time and space constraints, available at any time, through multiple platforms

—Provide opportunity to radically modify accepted practices and enable entirely new approaches and thus open possibilities for innovation to learning theories and theories of the organisation (learning about learning)


Near market research—Cost - understanding how games can incorporate into existing

training programs or may even replace them (organisational)—Effectiveness - Where do games work best? In which training

areas? Can they be properly benchmarked against live or alternate forms of training? (user-learner research)

—Motivation - Do they enhance participation, level of interest, engagement and immersion? Can they do this equally between subjects or do individual/cultural/generational differences play some role? (user-learner research)

—Hogan et al. Point to the fact that motivation suffers as learners encounter obstacles - bad interfaces, gameplay not only meets learning but new kinds of usability challenge


Cost of training—Deep understanding of the training need as seen from multiple

actors’ perspective (heterogeneity)—Likewise deep understanding of technical and interface needs

from these multiple perspectives (co-design)—Learning to attract and manage feedback from all actors into the

innovation of training materials, game elements and interfaces (evaluation and research)

—Developing models of cost and price with respect to identifying training need, capturing and codifying data? Model of software and media development, man hours? Cost of evaluation?

—Developing a pioneering unitary and modular view to games production - development of suitable generic components using Java, Python??


Prototyping games -problems

—Supply chain management issues - aligning the vision of the various actors, development of open and effective communications (user needs and requirements into engineering requirements )

—The keys to managing prototyping include knowing what you want to learn from the prototype, access to, and understanding of rapid prototyping tools and techniques, and end-user involvement in development of the prototype

—Training and presentation must be cogent with company culture and ways of doing things - knowledge is in part a product of the activity, context and culture in which it is developed and used . . .


Constituency of learningOrganisational

climate

Advance training resource - game

or simulation

Cost vs. benefits

Time required

Nature of learning requiredTraining design

complexity

Individual vs. group

Proactive vs. reactive

Organisational goals

Make-up of workforce

External influences

Organisational structure

Training

Need


Example cost of 1 week live training—Salaries 12 x £425 £5100—Classroom overhead £1479—materials £150—Admin £425—Replacement staff £1950—Instructor £475—Audio-visual £175—Transport £1400—Misc. £425

—TOTAL £12,174 not including accommodation and meals


Cost of games development

— Costs over development/implementation lifecycle

Training need identification and

analysis

cost

Training need Requirements/Game development

Deployment/ evaluation

Time


Cost of games development

— Cost against development

Bespoke- web based - Java,Python

cost

Bespoke - software-based - original

development

Modular- software-

based - off the shelf

Generic - web

based

£££

£,£££,£££


Cost of learning



analysis

cost



Ongoing Support?

Time

iterations

?


Cost of learning



analysis

cost



Ongoing Support?

Time

iterations

Learning £ VALUE

£?COST


Prototyping and learning

Prototype experience

User observations and reflections

Testing iterations in new situations

Formation of abstract concepts

and generalisationsLearning about how

users learn - “learning about learning”

Convert into design requirements

Contextual inquiry,

Usability studies

Observation of the user

action research - iterative design in which build > trial > evaluate > learn > build repeat


Monitoring/evaluation

—Impact upon learners and organisation– Reactions of learners - I.e. quality of interaction, usability

issues, entertainment value etc.– Learning - skills, knowledge and attitudes - have the learning

objectives been met? (tests, exams, quizzes)– Behavioural - Did the learning transfer do the job? (Speed of

completing processes)– Result on organisation - has the training impacted upon

general efficiency (more diffuse, interviews with management)


Threats

—Danger to engage all too readily in training and/or technology as panacea for all a human performance problems

—Prototyping and iterative design have a reputation for being difficult to manage

—Failure to meet deadlines —Failure to gain the trust and co-operation of key actors in the

organisation—Seamless - learning to use the game should not interfere with

training objectives - distinctive need for good usability —Difficult to persuade companies that performing one more

iteration is far less costly than releasing a flawed or incomplete product

—Accurately estimating the size of the implementation challenge


Opportunities

—The research is pioneering so there are inherently vast opportunities to contribute to both training practice and also games design

—Needs to draw upon an awareness of games - their potentials and constraints from a user perspective (generic),

—from a technology/software/media perspective (generic)—from a human and social factors perspective (generic) —from a training perspective (generic) —from the perspective of particular organisation (learning to be

customised and specific)

Abertay4

Documents

Transcript of Abertay4