Instructional Design:Thomas L Buck's Learning Games Research Site

My Current Research Agenda
Digital Learning and Instructional Design: focusing on the developmental principles of educational game design and gender role theory. Specifically, I am currently completing a literature review addressing the following general questions:

Player immersion is the holy grail of computer game designers particularly in environments such as those found in first-person shooters. However, little is understood about the processes of immersion and much is assumed. This is certainly the case with sound and its immersive potential. Some theoretical work explores this sonic relationship but little experimental data exist to either confirm or invalidate existing theories and assumptions.

This paper summarizes and reports on the results of a preliminary psychophysiological experiment to measure human arousal and valence in the context of sound and immersion in first-person shooter computer games. It is conducted in the context of a larger set of psychophysiological investigations assessing the nature of the player experience and is the first in a series of systematic experiments investigating the player's relationship to sound in the genre.

In addition to answering questionnaires, participants were required to play a bespoke Half-Life 2 level whilst being measured with electroencephalography, electrocardiography, electromyography, galvanic skin response and eye tracking equipment. We hypothesize that subjective responses correlated with objective measurements provide a more accurate assessment of the player's physical arousal and emotional valence and that changes in these factors may be mapped to subjective states of immersion in first-person shooter computer games.

Study: Championship Manager, Age of Empires, City Trader, and Brain Teasing Games used for Goup Learning Skills study.
November 10, 2008

Beca.org reported that SimCity "worked well for all its learning outcomes". The combination of games software, teacher input and collaborative peers was reported to provide powerful learning experiences. All the games were popular with pupils throughout the ability range, but City Trader was found to be too challenging in the time and context available. Positive side effects of games use were reported, such as increased use of the library, where computers were sited, for borrowing fiction and as a place to do homework. The research findings indicated that most of the games in the study could be used to support the learning outcomes identified in advance by the teachers.

The overriding appeal of the games in lessons was the way in which learning opportunities and skills were presented in the context of a situation attractive to young people. Championship Manager presented opportunities in the context of football, Age of Empires gave children control of cities and armies and The Sims allowed learners to build and furnish their own houses. This combination of interactivity with a familiar and yet novel situation, with clear and agreed aims for learning, seemed to be very effective.

Despite being from different developers, some games can be seen to be part of the same 'family'. For example, real time strategy games (such as Age of Empires) tend to share the same basic control interface and approach to game play. This means that, although there are differences in the graphics, certain controls and aspects of the overall game, the user can begin playing the game without having to read the manual (initially). Learners do not have to relearn a new set of controls each time they use a different game.

Championship Manager was used with Year 7 and 8 pupils. Learning objectives involved interrogating databases and data manipulation. The teacher created a scenario in which a team manager (the teacher) needed the scouts (the pupils) to find suitable players according to a range of criteria. Using the database of players in the game, the pupils found the players by using a variety of filtering options. They recorded their work on team sheets, in keeping with the scenario. An additional feature of the software was an editor function for the database, which could give flexibility for teachers to adapt the database to other learning objectives.

Age of Empires was used to support thinking skills work based around the theme of 'the home' and some ICT skills. The skills addressed included information processing, searching for relevant information within a scenario, and devising processes needed to complete the scenario. Pupils worked in groups to establish and develop villages and cities, exploring how these developed and what resources were needed. Pupils who had used the software before shared their expertise (including cheats) to develop new scenarios. The chat function available was also used for group work involving planning approaches to scenarios as a team, and encouraging socialisation and reasoning with others within the classroom.

City Trader was intended to be used with GNVQ Business Studies students aged 16 and upwards to enable them to explore the issues and effects around trading and economics. The school found the product difficult to use in the lessons and could not easily isolate relevant aspects to explore. As a product, the game was not faulted, but it was felt that it was aimed at an older age group.

Brain Teasing Games was made available on seven networked PCs in the school library during breaks, and for 90 minutes after school as part of the homework club. The games were available to all pupils (Key Stages 3 and 4) in a library supervised by a member of staff. The software was mostly used by boys in Year 7. The main aims were to encourage socialisation and time management by providing an activity that would occupy, interest and engage students at those unstructured times of the day. Pupils took turns to use the software, compared scores and shared expertise

Game Discussion, New York Times, Serious Games, Simulations, Virtual Reality | Tagged: FAA, Matthew Wald, TAMU |

Permalink

Rise of the Giant Simulators October 16, 2008

Imagine an old style simulation designed to train newly hired air traffic controllers. The students gather in a large room, in the center of which is a model airport made of plywood. Different students grab toy planes and begin “flying” them around the room by holding them out at different heights and walking in circles around the airport. Students take turns playing air traffic contoller, shouting out altitude and speed instructions to the airplanes. Occasionally, a plane is ordered to land at the airport. When mistakes are made, the planes “crash,” and students start over again.

Sounds very 20th Century, doesn’t it? Hold your breath: air traffic contollers are still trained that way in 2008. But, things are starting to change as the technology for giant electronic simulators, essentially videogames played out on room-sized screens, matures.

We last discussed the technology back in November, when looking at the s.com/2007/11/17/sailing-the-virtual-seas-at-tamu-galveston/" target=_blank>ship simulator used by the Texas Maritime Academy over at Texas A&M - Galveston. All manner of ships can be programmed for students to pilot into the world’s major harbors, using seven 15 foot screens and tilting floors to help provide the full pitching deck experience during virtual storms.

Now, Matthew Wald at The New York Times brings us an article on the giant air traffic control simulators used by the Federal Aviation Administration Academy in Oklahoma City.

The sophisticated video games are meant to address a serious real-world problem: Nearly two-thirds of the agency’s 15,000 air traffic controllers will no longer be working by 2017 when they reach the mandatory retirement age of 56. … As a result, the agency now must hire and train some 1,700 controllers a year for the next decade, a task the Government Accountability Office described as a major challenge. Experts say that having a high proportion of trainees and rookies in towers and radar rooms may reduce safety. To meet the challenges, the agency is turning to electronic tower simulators, which one instructor described as “a big Xbox.”

Wald reports administrators hope to shave 20-60% training time using the big video games. Six simulators run 18 hours/day training students, though Wald states the old style simulations are still used. When virtual planes crash, though, the resulting fireball lighting up the monitors makes a much more visceral visual impact.

The article concludes with an interesting summation of the videogames used to screen candidates. The games gauge how well a candidate can multitask and deal with distractions. A battery of tests are used, too, requiring mental math computation. Remember those word problems in grade school requiring you to compute the rates and times of two different cars, trains, or airplanes leaving different cities? Well, you get the picture. Finally, students “are also given a hyperactive version of Pac-Man to play in their spare time. The idea is to keep students’ skills sharp, instructors say, and hone their ability to watch several targets at a time.”

References:
Wald, M. L. (2008, October 7). For air traffic trainees, games with a serious purpose. The New York Times. [Online.] Retrieved: October 16, 2008 from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/us/08controller.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&sq=serious%20game&st=cse&scp=1

Game Discussion, New York Times, Serious Games, Simulations, Virtual Reality | Tagged: FAA, Matthew Wald, TAMU | Permalink

Will Older Drivers Pay Lower Insurance by Playing Video Games? October 9, 2008

Insurance giant Allstate (“Are you in good hands?”) is researching to determine if video games help drivers over 50 drive better. CNN reports:

Under a new pilot program called InSight, Allstate will offer specialized computer games to 100,000 customers in Pennsylvania aged 50 to 75. The games’ developer, San Francisco-based Posit Science, will track the total number of hours these drivers play.

Then the group’s accident rates will be compared to a control group of people who do not play the games.

The article goes on to explain the subjects won’t be playing a driving game, but rather one “designed to reverse age-related cognitive decline and improve visual alertness.”

For example, a game called “Jewel Diver” has players keep track of underwater jewels that pop up on the screen for a moment before they are hidden under fish swimming around. When the fish stop moving, players click on the fish hiding the jewel. It’s like Three Card Monte but without the cheating. Over time, the game gets more complicated as more fish appear on the screen.

It seems drivers with the fewest accidents are aged 50-60, but somewhere after 60 accident rates start to climb again. Allstate thinks using brain training video games might fight cognitive decline in older drivers, thus the experiment.

References:
Drivers may get insurance breaks for playing computer games. (2008, October 1). Retrieved October 9, 2001 from: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/10/01/older.drivers.videogames.ap/

Computer games could become part of the school curriculum after researchers found they had significant educational value. The UK study concluded that simulation and adventure games - such as Sim City and RollerCoaster Tycoon, where players create societies or build theme parks, developed children's strategic thinking and planning skills.

We're not advocating arcade, shot-the-baddie type games

Professor Angela McFarlane, Teem Parents and teachers also thought their children's mathematics, reading and spelling improved. The investigation into the habits of 700 children aged seven to 16 also found that, far from being a solitary activity, children preferred to play games in pairs or small groups.

The research from the group Teachers Evaluating Educational Multimedia (Teem) is being studied by the Department for Education.The director of Teem, Professor Angela McFarlane, said there was much to learn from the games industry in terms of developing scenarios that really challenged and engaged children, rather than reproducing text books on the screen.

"Adventure, quest and simulation type games have a lot of benefit - they're quite complex and create a context in which children can develop important skills," said Professor McFarlane.

Teachers often found it difficult to justify the use of simulation or adventure computer games during school time because their content did not map the national curriculum, said Professor McFarlane. But if educational material could be built in, such games could be used in the classroom legitimately, she said.

The researchers found games developed strategic thinking, "For example, you could use an historical event like the Battle of Hastings and - knowing the facts are accurate - get pupils to put themselves in the place of one of the soldiers or generals.

"At the moment though, there's no way of knowing whether the software used in some of the games that involve building and running cities are based on valid economic models," said Professor McFarlane.

The children questioned as part of the research said working in a team was the most important aspect of playing video games.

"Now that's interesting when the stereotype is that children play on the computer exclusively on their own," said Professor McFarlane.

"Teachers and parents then broke that down into skills of negotiation, planning, strategic thinking and decision-making."

The Teem study comes as other researchers argue the multimedia age has put children off reading and has produced a generation which spends too much time playing indoors.

Age of Empires II
Bob the Builder
Championship Manager
City Traders
F1 Championship Racing
Freddi Fish
Lego Alpha Team
Legoland
Micro Racers
Pajama Sam
Putt-Putt Enters the Race
RollerCoaster Tycoon
Sim City 3000
The Sims
The Tweenies
The Settlers
Uno
Worms United

National Research Experts Release Recommendations for Future Video Game Research, Education and Public Policy - July, 10, 2007

The National Institute on Media and the Family and researchers from Iowa State University issue detailed report calling for improving video game ratings, expanding media research and utilizing video games in education

MINNEAPOLIS – Stating progress has been made but additional research is needed, the National Institute on Media and the Family and researchers from Iowa State University today released a detailed report with recommendations from its National Summit on Video Games, Youth and Public Policy. The report’s recommendations on video game research, education and public policy were a result of the collaboration of academic scholars, public health officials, and child health advocates who discussed the health and psychological impact of violent and sexually explicit video games on children and the current rating system.

“This report serves as a ‘best practices’ repository for researchers and policymakers,” said Dr. Craig Anderson of Iowa State University. “The report breaks new academic ground and offers new ideas for policymakers, public health advocates and parents.”

“Future research, including studies regarding the effects of media violence on children, will be well-served by this report,” added Dr. Douglas Gentile of Iowa State University. “The next step is to make these recommendations a reality.”

“These recommendations were designed to protect families from gratuitous violence and sex in video games and assist the ESRB in enhancing its ratings enforcement and educational efforts,” said Dr. David Walsh, president of the National Institute on Media and the Family. “While great strides have been made in improving ratings education and enforcement, more work is needed to address the rise of violence in video games.”

Walsh praised the Entertainment Software Rating Board’s recent decision to issue Take-Two’s Manhunt 2 an “Adults-Only” rating and its crackdown on video game trailers. He said it’s proof that the ESRB has made significant progress in keeping extremely violent and graphic materials out of children’s hands.

The National Summit on Video Games, Youth and Public Policy was held in November 2006. Participants included Patricia Vance of the ESRB, Jeff McIntyre of the American Psychological Association and U.S. Representative Betty McCollum.

The full report, including a full list of summit participants, is available on the National Institute on Media and the Family’s Web site, www.mediafamily.org/videogame2006summit.

The National Institute on Media and the Family is an independent non-partisan, non-sectarian, nonprofit organization. The Institute’s mission is to maximize the benefits and minimize the harm mass media have on children through research and education. For more information, visit www.mediawise.org.