Gamewise Magazine by Fleksibel utdanning Norge

GameWise MAGAZINE

Event! The student group decided to go on another path. Spin a goal tile one time.

- Project based education - Delivering a group project unit - iCamp46 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; no ordinary game - Becoming gamewise - 4 Keys to a Memorable University Experience

Magazine GameWise Magazine is a part of the Leonardo project Gamewise List of contributors: Viden Djurs, Denmark The University of Bournemouth, United Kingdom FuN (Flexible Education Norway), Norway Aarhus Social and Health Care College, Denmark La Salle-Universitat Ramon Llull, Spain HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, The Netherlands List of associated partners Computerspilzonen, Denmark Art Futura, Spain 3D Labs, Spain Dutch Game Garden, Netherlands TIGA, UK Published 2014, Oslo, Norway.

This magazine is licensed under the

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About Hexigo: the GameWise Game

- 4 Keys to a Memorable university Experience

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK:

Hexigo is a collaborative game developed by a third year student team, consisting of game designers, interaction designers and game artists from HKU Games and Interaction. The GameWise project organisation acted as the real world client for the student team.

England & Wales License.

- iCamp46 - no ordinary game

The GameWise project has been

- About project education

funded with support from the European Commission. The articles in this magazine reflect only the views of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information

The goal of Hexigo is to define the deliverables of a student project and execute and finish the project before the deadline catches up. The game is meant to be played by teachers from an educational institution and potential clients together, but it can also be played by teachers and students.

contained herein. http://game-wise.eu/ ISBN-978-82-91766-32-4 Illustrations by HKU University of the

The aim of the game is to give the players insight into the dynamics of a student project, the roles and influence of teachers, students and clients. The game is meant to function as a conversation piece to discuss the possibilities, pitfalls and opportunities of executing a student project with a real world client.

Arts Utrecht, The Netherlands Istock and Ebba Køber, FuN Photo by Istock, Creative Commons and The Contributing Partners AD Ebba Køber, FuN

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- Becoming Gamwise

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You can find more information about the game on the Gamewise website (http://game-wise.eu/gw-game/). If you are interested in playing the game yourself, please contact one of the Gamewise partners.

Wise up your game! By Mikkel Lodahl, Viden Djurs Denmark Welcome to the Official GameWise Europe Magazine! In here you will find inspiring stories from all over Western

The article from La Salle de Ruiz details the emerging field of

Europe to inspire and assist you in bringing the world of

gamification, and how and why the use of priciples from game

education and the world of labour closer to each other.

design can promote engagement and agency in students. The article from HKU details lessons learned from years of working

What is GameWise?

closely with the world of business in an education entirely

The GameWise Europe Project is a project funded by the

based on project work, where students come up with real

Lifelong Learning Programme in the EU. The project involves

solutions to real problems.

bringing teachers from Bournemouth University in the UK and Viden Djurs in Denmark together with teachers at La Salle de

The article from Viden Djurs details the weeklong student

Ruiz in Spain and HKU in Holland to transfer knowledge across

activity iCamp46 – the biggest gamification event in education

borders.

ever, inspired by the practices at La Salle de Ruiz. The article from Bournemouth University shows how an existing course

What knowledge, though? The knowledge needed to

can be adapted to more closely involve the external briefs from

construct courses and educational environments that facilitate

clients for team-based assignments.

a closer corporation between businesses and students to the

Finally, an article detailing the complete re-organisation of

benefit of both sectors.

all courses at Erhvervsakademi Dania in Grenaa – an higher education institution working closely with Viden Djurs – to

The businesses of today and tomorrow require employees

follow the GameWise Europe Model, shows the potential for

who can show initiative and entrepreneurial spirit at all levels.

dissemination of the GameWise Europe Model on a larger scale.

To facilitate this, education needs to focus on instilling a sense of agency in students, rather than a sense of mechanical

Why is it useful?

obedience. Doing what you are asked to do is no longer

This magazine is an invitation for you to begin re-thinking the

enough – you must formulate problems and solutions of your

relationship between business and education. All of the articles

own accord.

are expanded upon and supplemented with tools, sample courses and more at the GameWise Europe website: http://

What will you find here?

game-wise.eu. Even more, we strongly encourage you to

In this magazine, you will find articles detailing the principles

used at La Salle de Ruiz and HKU as well as articles detailing how

move forward towards better cohesion between business and

these principles have been applied in the UK and Denmark.

education.

The column below shows a little playing with the font and positioning of the objects in relation to each other. I have chosen to proceed with the logo at the top - it’s shown in the right column: logo with logotype; logo with logotype and with subtitle. In addition, proposals for how the logo can switch between the main menu items. At the following pages you can see how it could look at the website.

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HKU UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, THE NEDERLANDS

Project based education Each year in January at an event called Showcase about 40 projects from the Creative Design Studios are presented. These projects are the result of the collaboration between fourth year BA and MA student end teachers and researchers from HKU Games and Interaction, Media, and Music and Technology. Together with public, cultural and commercial organisations, HKU develops new ideas and applications for innovative entertainment and creative solutions for issues and questions in society. by Corné van Delft, HKU Games and Interaction corne.vandelft@kmt.hku.nl The projects are focussed on a diversity of relevant socials domains, for example healthcare, cultural heritage, mobility, entertainment and education. Examples of commissioned projects are the Nederlands Openlucht Museum (Dutch Open Air Museum, a historical museum), energy company Nuon, De Efteling (entertainment park), Guerrilla Games, The University Medical Centre Amsterdam, and broadcasting companies such as VPRO. These projects have been very successful both for the students and staff as well as for the clients. One major reason for this succes, is the relevance and the authenticity of the projects. The success is based on two major factors: collaboration with the ‘right’ type of clients who have the right kind of projects, and the preparation and education of our students. At HKU we have been conducting these kind of real-life projects with external organisations for over 15 years. During that time we have built up a network of partners (as we like to call the ‘clients’) and have gathered a vast amount of practical knowledge about the dynamics of executing student projects. The right type of clients…. Building a good relationship with (possible) clients

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is a challenging, yet rewarding experience. Not all organisations are the same, so for each potential client you, as an educational institution, need to find the right opening and common ground to organise student projects. Commencing a first project with a new client requires a serious investment from both the client as well as from the school. Organisations with whom you ideally establish a long lasting partnership are preferred. What type of clients should you not ‘collaborate’ with in student projects? Companies or other organisations who contact your school as a means to commission a design or production opportunity. They reckon that student projects are a cheap way of acquiring a game, film, interface or….(fill in your own area of expertise). These kinds of clients are usually willing to pay, but it is rare that they are willing to pay current market prices. Working with this type of clients is a bad idea. Mainly because you will spoil the market for your alumni and thus underme your education, but also because the projects are usually not suited for the educational needs of your students. These kind of organisations tend to behave like clients: they formulate an assignment (such as “develop a serious game for teaching math to third graders”) and then expect your students to deliver a polished full version Mario-like game that has been tested and

HKU UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, THE NEDERLANDS

Glimpses from Showcase 2014

validated. In the meantime you will only hear from them if they are disappointed about the final product, as their expectations did not match the result they hoped for. This is of course an exaggerated scenario, but based on first hand experiences. What type of clients should you collaborate with in student projects? Clients who have questions in your relevant domains, who are looking for new solutions to emerging challenges and problems. Organisations who are willing to invest in a collaboration with your school and students. In short you are looking for partners to develop projects with. This often means that you have to ‘educate’ them, to make them understand what it is like to work with students, what they can and what they cannot expect. This also means they need to be willing to commit themselves to the partnership in terms of time investment and knowledge (and preferably also money) to make working with students successful. …with the right kind of projects… After establishing a promising contact with a new partner, defining the right type of project is essential. The most interesting projects are those were all parties benefit. The clients will be motivated by working with a (design) school that can help them address challenging

questions and problems which clients do not have the time or knowledge to tackle alone. The school and students benefit from the partnership as students work with real clients wich provides them the opportunity to design and develop a product for potential use in the real world. The scope of the project needs to fit into the curriculum. Although this may sound obvious, defining the right scope can be difficult. Depending on the experience of the student team and the availability of representatives from the clients, a project may need more time than foreseen. Defining a spectrum of minimum and optimum requirements might help in this respect. The requirements of the project also have to fit the students’ skills and knowledge. This does not mean that all needed skills have to be acquired before the project starts! On the contrary, a good project is a project that students actually can learn from. The project has to have enough challenges for the students to stimulate them to learn new things. This also means that regular input and feedback from the client and teachers are needed. Such a way of working allows students to experiment, research and try out different things. Depending on the team of students and the way the team was formed,

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HKU UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, THE NEDERLANDS

Glimpses from Showcase 2014

getting to know each other, planning, and group dynamics may also take time. Working with students also means that a project may fail. A client needs to take this into account. Outcomes can be innovative and an ideal way of illustrating the future possibilities in the sector. However they can also fail in terms of outcomes and still be a good learning experience for the students. Depending on the learning goals it might even mean they will still receive a passing mark for the project. For a client a project that fails is not desirable, however it can be a possible outcome. One could minimize this risk by having multiple student teams working on the same assignment. An ideal project remains somewhat open and formulated more as a question than as a production assignment. There a two good reasons for this. First this will give the students the opportunity to come up with their own ideas. Of course the client determines the boundaries and requirements of the project. Preferably together with teachers one or more research questions are defined . These might be more or less academic or theoretical, but can also be more practical, technical or commercial in nature. For the client, defining a more open question will usually First year

Second year

Individual/ small teams Simple assignments Short period (1 – 4 weeks) Small outside influence

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result in a pleasant surprise: creative students often come up with solutions and designs that you would not think of beforehand. … in the right kind of educational environment … For students to be successful in large interdisciplinary projects in their fourth year, they have to be prepared and trained throughout their curriculum. Working in teams for a real client is not an easy task. Not only do students have to apply their design and development knowledge and skills, but they also have to collaborate in an effective way. Students also have to effectively plan and execute a project and work together with students from other disciplines who might use different methods and jargon. The HKU Games and Interaction curriculum is set up as a project-based curriculum from the first until the last year. It allows students to learn diverse professional skills such as: working in groups, coping with group dynamics, planning and executing a project, and to presenting their results to clients. Working in projects helps to motivate the students, especially if the projects are realistic and cater to the interests of the students. Project-based work makes their education more meaningful and prepares them for a business environment. Third year

Fourth year

Larger teams (up to +/- 12 students) Complex assignments Long period (full semester) Large outside influence/client involvment

HKU UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, THE NEDERLANDS .. that supports students in developing skills and knowledge… Learning is most effective if students have the opportunity to experiment, make mistakes, reflect, learn from their experiences and celebrate their successes. We carefully define the projects from the first to the last year, so they become increasingly challenging. First year students are introduced to project-based work with small-scale projects: both in duration as well as number of students working on a project. Students start with an individual project that lasts one week: the design and development of their own portfolio site. Following this they start an art project with small groups (usually three students) that lasts three weeks. This incremental project-based learning continues throughout their education building up to client-based projects in the final two years that can range from one to who semesters. The way teams are formed also changes. Students begin working with mono-disciplinary teams in the first year. Starting in the second year, we involve students from other schools (HKU Art and Economics, and later HKU Music and Technology). The projects in the fourth year consist of interdisciplinary teams where students from different schools work together as they would in a design and research studio. By practicing working in teams and projects students build up experience and confidence. They develop their own methods of working and learn from mistakes. Especially developing collaboration skills and dealing with group dynamics is an important aspect of projectbased learning. We try to provide as much variation as possible in the way the teams are formed. In the beginning teams are formed randomly. Later teams are formed based on the individual skills and specialisations of the students as well as their own preference. During the projects the students are supported by teachers. Each group has an individual teacher who acts as a coach and mentor. He or she is mainly focussed on group process: planning, defining deliverables and group dynamics. We developed several methods and tools1 to support the teachers in this process. The projects are supported by classes, lectures and workshops that help them develop necessary skills and knowledge. These classes are organised around four learning strands: 1) design & research, 2) art, 3) 1 You can find some of these tools on the GameWise website http://game-wise.eu/tools/)

development and 4) management & entrepreneurship. Teachers create assignments that are tailor-made to project-based working, so that skills learned during the lessons can be applied to the projects. Assignments are separately graded by each teacher. For example, the graphic design teachers creates an assignment to design the layout of a menu system and grades that. The research teacher assigns the students to do interviews with the target audience and develop personas. The development teacher teaches classes in processing and unity and grades the code of the final result, etc. … and celebrate the results. Each project starts with a kick-off. Here the project assignment and the challenges are introduced. At the end of the project we organise a Post Mortem. During Post Mortem, students present their results and reflect on the process and the outcomes. Several teachers from different disciplines grade the projects. If possible people from the industry and/or people from the target audience are invited. This helps to motivate the students as the projects become more meaningful because they are not only doing the work for their grades or teachers. The audience can provide useful feedback the students learn from. The Post Mortems are also a way to celebrate their successes.

HKU Games and Interaction, one of the eight schools of HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, offers a four year BA programme in Interaction Design, Game Design and Game Art. In collaboration with The Open University UK, HKU also offers a MA programme called Creative Design for Digital Cultures. HKU was the first institution in the world offering a full time BA degree in Interaction Design since 1989. Later, degrees in Game Design (2001) and Game Art (2008) were added to the curriculum. Alumni from HKU play a major role in the development of the Dutch creative (game) industry. About one third of the alumni start their own company. HKU University of the Arts Utrecht http://www.hku.nl/ Photographs by Lea Groeliker http://www.leagroeliker.com/ More about showcase http://www.hku.nl/web/English/HKUUniversityOfTheArtsUtrecht/NewsAndEvents/ShowcaseHKU.htm

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BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY, UNITED KINGDOM

Delivering a Group Project unit with the use of Project-Based Learning and External Client Involvement in UK Higher Education by Dr Christos Gatzidis cgatzidis@bournemouth.ac.uk, Bournemouth University, UK Bournemouth University, based in the South West coast of the UK, recently ran a pilot unit which was informed by the EU Leonardo Transfer of Innovation GameWise project findings. This was on a 2nd year unit which is part of both the BSc Games Technology and BSc Music and Audio Technology undergraduate degree curriculums, both in turn part of the Creative Technology framework of degrees in the Faculty of Science and Technology, formerly School of Design, Engineering and Computing. These two degrees, whilst, as is obvious from their names, are very different in nature, share a number of common units across the three years that they run for. The aim of this particular magazine article is to provide details of a case study for this process which can, subsequently, inform other educators attempting to undertake a similar exercise, focusing on the methodology undertaken, the lessons learned, the issues faced and, finally, thoughts on taking this forward in the future. 1. So, What is Group Project? The aforementioned unit, titled Group Project, existed before this trial. This is in fact the second year it was running, its first was originally during academic year 20122013 though it was completely redesigned from the ground up in terms of content to accommodate the GameWise approach. The first term of the unit, from early October 2013 to mid-December 2013, focused on a team-based assignment. There were 11 groups for this and ~50 students in total, typically in groups of 4 or 5, which were, similarly to what was observed during the January 2013 GameWise HKU Netherlands workshop, derived from different-for-

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each-group live client briefs, thus adopting the projectbased learning approach HKU is also using very successfully for a number of years now (and one that we felt we/our students could benefit considerably from). There were two clients attached to this providing specific and multiple project briefs; the Bovington Tank Regiment and the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust/Odstock Medical Limited. Both of the clients found this a very interesting premise and were extremely enthusiastic throughout the process. As a result of this, there were two clear themes to the briefs, a) cultural heritage and b) medical. The 11 project briefs were all completely different to each other. See list below; 3 were from the former client - Projects 1 to 3 - and 8 from the latter - Projects 4 to 11-. The three cultural heritage briefs were reconstruction-oriented being World War 1 (WWI) tank actions of famous historical engagements. WWI it should be noted, was the first war where tanks were used. As for the medical ones, they were all focused on stroke rehabilitation with the use of computer and video gaming. This is a subject of significant interest to researchers today for a variety of reasons, including the cost efficiency games can offer to what is a very arduous and expensive process for most, if not all, European national health services. 2. Detailing the Assignment Briefs It is of interest to discuss the briefs in a little bit more detail since this can showcase the variety, diversity but also depth of the work undertaken, as well as the interaction with the clients and the students across the few months that Group Project ran with this approach. During the second lecture the students were presented with the following briefs. They were subsequently asked to put themselves in teams,

BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY, UNITED KINGDOM Figure 1. one of the WWI tank action reconstruction student projects

identify a role within the team for themselves, i.e. one of artist, designer, programmer or audio expert, and then provide a list of preferences, maximum 3, as to which one of these projects they wanted, collectively in their newly formed group, to undertake. They were also finally asked to pick a representative person who would liaise both with the teaching team and also the client. The projects presented in that second session were the following; Project 1. Reconstructing the battle/tank actions of Flers Courcelette in September 1916, in the form of an interactive, multi-camera (switchable) walkthrough Project 2. Reconstructing the battle/tank actions of Cambrai in November 1917, in the form of an interactive, multi-camera (switchable) walkthrough Project 3. Reconstructing the battle/tank actions of Cambrai in November 1917, in the form of an interactive, multi-camera (switchable) walkthrough. Since this was a larger engagement than Project 1, Project 3 had a distinctly different part of this particular engagement to cover as opposed to Project 2 Project 4. Fine Motor Control Game - Finger Piano, a game or app which can facilitate a large number of repetitive movements in the fingers, with the goal of improving dexterity and co-ordination, ideally on a tablet device Project 5. Fine Motor Control App - a platform game integrating writing practice, the game would be set in a traditional platform-type game format

whereby a player is directed through a 2D world using small iterative movements performed utilising a stylus Project 6. Pinching App Game, a game that can provide patients with grasping/pinching practice, ideally this would be tablet-based, whereby the participants would pinch targets on screen (easy: larger targets - > hard: smaller targets) Project 7. Gross Motor Control Game - Motion controlled Crossword/Sudoku, a game which is Sudoku or Crossword-like in nature using Kinect, or similar, control technology Project 8. Gross Motor Control - Daily Exercises for Stroke, a simplified ‘exergame’ using motion capture technology, such as Kinect, that includes a number of exercises such as arm raises and stretches in appropriately designed ‘sets’ and repetitions set to music, complete with a scoring system Project 9. Stroke Beat, a game where the player synchronises key presses which could be guitar/drums or any input controller with easier rhythm targets Project 10. Bowling Cues, a bowling simulation game that matches four movements to an auditory and visual cue, namely; a) lowering the arm with the ball b) lifting the ball back c) swinging the ball forward and, finally, d) releasing Project 11. Walking obstacles, a game which would intend to provide practice for the patient in dealing with unexpected interruptions while walking or stepping on the spot. This is an experience that is likely to induce a freeze

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BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY, UNITED KINGDOM The students were also at that stage introduced to the clients and the contact names of individuals in these two organisations were given to them, with also express instructions for the students to be as professional as possible in their dealings with them. Bovington Tank Regiment visited, onsite, the students quite early on to clarify the three cultural heritage reconstruction briefs. Research material for the students was also provided. This was particularly useful because of the historical nature of these projects. Additionally, mid-term, a visit to the Bovington Tank Museum was organised by us where students working on these three briefs were invited to attend for research purposes (such as inspecting a real WWI tank etc.). Similarly, mid-term, a visit from Odstock Medical Limited was also organised at Bournemouth University where clarifications were again provided about the nature, intention and vision behind all the medical project briefs. 3. What Were the Outcomes of the Approach? The first part of this unit, worth 50% of the final mark for it, concluded on the 10th of January 2014 where all the team-based assignments were handed in for marking. This was all via online submission. These consisted of a game design document (as a report), a website (the students were asked to present themselves as a company and create a brand and logo for the purposes of this), a resultant prototype and, finally, a step-by-step diary of development (as another report). Other techniques such as individual and group assessment (i.e. self and peer) were also used and formed part of the hand-in. In fact this was made compulsory so that students were incentivised to carry it out and include it with everything else. The finalised games/prototypes created by the students, was envisaged at that stage would be showcased on the GameWise project site.

Figure 2. one of the external projects interpreted as a food preparation game by the students

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Figure 3. the Bowling Cues student game

The three best games/applications, at least in terms of marks received, are shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4. These were all medical briefs. It is felt that the students in their majority enjoyed the unit and, more importantly, the approach it was carried out with, i.e. assignmentcentric and distinctly problem-based focused, as well as the fact that they worked in teams and to an external clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s demands. It should be mentioned that the unit was on purpose almost completely platform-agnostic, i.e. students were asked to pick the game engine or end device they wanted to work with/for, a very different and less restrictive approach to most of the other units in their degrees. This was praised and worked really well with some exciting results; many of the groups used the game engine Unity for example at the core of their development. This is surprising as we do not teach Unity on the course at all. Another very pleasing result relates to the interpretation of the actual briefs. This, again, was left to the students to a significant extent. While the briefs had a specific direction and goal, they were carefully put together with external client collaboration and agreement in order to offer a good measure of freedom of implementation and flexibility. A great example of this is the best in marks achieved assignment which is Project 11 (see Figure 4, the game is called Steady Service) where the students fused Kinect with virtual reality technology, namely the very new at the time Oculus Rift device/ headset, now more recently purchased by Facebook and making headlines about its future direction. This was in order to produce a game based in a restaurant where the player, as a waiter, was asked to move plates from one side of the room to the other whilst dodging people walking towards him/her. This was not imagined at all when we put the brief together and to see it executed in a prototype, based on the inspiration and imagination of the students was immensely rewarding, both for the

BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY, UNITED KINGDOM

Figure 4. the Steady Service game

members of staff involved and, of course, the students who relished the freedom and creative stimulation afforded by this approach. 4. Reflecting on the Issues and Concluding What didn’t go well? The team-based approach to working towards a problem presented some, to an extent, predictable issues such as members within a team not working so well with each other and also students dropping out from the course and subsequently leaving a team with one member short. On one occasion this was shortly before the deadline of submission. These issues were dealt on an individual basis by the teaching team with careful consideration on both the existing team dynamics but also the nature of the project the team in question was eventually allocated. Another issue which was encountered was the mixing of Games Technology and Music and Audio Technology students. It was stipulated to the students from the second week that, because of both student numbers across the two courses and the nature of all the projects, there would be one Music and Audio Technology student per each one of the 11 teams. While this worked well on some of the teams, the collaboration of students from different disciplines was not quite as smooth as it was originally thought it would be, with many of the students not having met before and resultant communication issues. Another issue highlighted by some of the students, including some who did really well in the unit, is the fact that a few months to work on these often complex and demanding prototypes was not as much as they would have liked. It was stated that this unit was so enjoyable yet challenging that they would have preferred the whole year to work towards a brief rather than just one term. To conclude, applying the approach of GameWise, as

highlighted by the existing practices of other partners, was a great experience for both most students and all involved staff on the Creative Technology framework and the Group Project unit itself. It showed clearly the benefits of a project-based learning approach for games development, team-based projects and the significant potential this has by mimicking the real world far more than a more regimented and sterile approach, as typically used elsewhere in the courses, admittedly for very good educational reasons. Whilst it may entail more work from members of staff in organisation and more open-mindedness from students who are initially perplexed by the newness of the approach itself compared to the rest of their assessed coursework, the rewards are not to be underestimated. For example, recently a session was organised on-site where the projects in Figures 2,3 and 4 were showcased to three visitors from Odstock Medical Limited, leading to some very positive comments and talks of possible student placements. It would finally be of interest to see the Group Project GameWise approach moulded to other units on the Games Technology course in the future. This pertains to other years too, not just the second one. Figure 5 showcases a final student app/game prototype, the Stroke Beat game, from the unit.

Figure 5. the Stroke Beat game

Acknowledgements The author of this article would like to thank all the students involved with Group Project and in particular those providing images of their work to be used in the Figures displayed here. Owen O’ Neil is also thanked for his invaluable contribution and support as is Professor Ian Swain, Vicky Parry and Lt Col Gareth Davies.

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DANIA GAMES, DENMARK

Becoming GameWise Thinking of making your entire institution GameWise? Don’t worry, we’ve already tried it!

By Mikkel Lodahl, milo@eadania.dk Assistant Professor at Erhvervsakademi Dania

In Grenaa, there is a burgeoning ecosystem of video game-related education. Where Viden Djurs offers several educations at the upper secondary schoollevel, Erhvervsakademi Dania runs a higher education institution called Dania Games that offers Applied Science educations also targeting the video game sector. Since Viden Djurs and Dania Games work closely together, the opportunity to try out the Game Wise Europe Model (GWEM) at the HE level in Denmark was too good to pass up. Dania Games is a small institution with only nine workers, who all function as both educators and in administrative functions. At the beginning of the implementation of the GWEM, around 150 students attended the educations offered at the school. The implementation period for the GWEM at Dania Games began in June 2013 and the new pedagogical strategy went into effect in September 2013. What any organisation should ask themselves when undertaking such a profound change is: Why? and How? and never forget to plan for a way to answer the crucial question of How did it go? Why? Dania Games is a VET school at the HE level that features two distinct educations: one five-semester

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education in programming (AP Graduate in Computer Science) and one four-semester education in communications design (AP Graduate in Multimedia Design and Communication). Both are focused on making computer games and the processes involved both in producing and marketing them. Typically, each semester was structured around theoretically founded subjects related to making computer games. They ran concurrently, with one subject Monday, another Tuesday and soon. They concluded in a period of producing a game and an academic report detailing this process. This was often done in concert with a client from the outside world, and all students have an internship, typically in their fourth semester. As such, much of the structure already in place as well as a lot of the discourse at Dania Games was centred on partnerships with the world of business. However, the pedagogical strategy has continuously taken its departure point from a classic, declarative point. This severely reduced the motivation of the students both in participating in the teaching acitivities as well as in the end-of-term projects. Thus, the specific main purpose of implementing the GWEM at Dania Games was to design a pedagogy that can further support the orientation towards working with business

DANIA GAMES, DENMARK

One of the talks given by industry experts at Dania Games Expo 2014

to ensure consistency in the value generated by and for students. How? In implementing any change in education, two groups must be motivated to take part in the change: educators and students. Motivating educators In education, you should be mindful that the individual educators are the most important part of the entire organisation; they are the ones delivering the core service. Since the implementation of GWEM will most likely be a profound change for everyone involved, it is thus important that the educators are all on board. If the GWEM is seen as a structure forced upon the educators, it will become an untimely interference in the work of the educators. This will create loss in job satisfaction and may ultimately make it impossible to implement the GWEM. Therefore, it is desirable to facilitate conversations stressing openness and the need for acceptance from all members of the faculty when implementing the GWEM. Not only should the educators all participate in the conversation about the principles of the GWEM but also – and crucially – be the active factor in planning both

the specific structure of the GWEM at their institution, and in their day-to-day teaching. This achieves a sense of ownership over the GWEM among the educators, which is essential to the success of the model. This was achievable at Dania Games in discussions with the entire organisation. At larger organisations, the same effect can presumably be achieved by dividing the involved individuals into groups that send representatives to a central committee. This will, however, slow down the process to at least half the speed of the process at Dania Games. The model is welcomed by the teachers. Says Kenneth Røjkjær Andersen, who teaches programming: “The intense courses in GameWise help me engage more thoroughly with the curriculum. It is much easier to re-use the same material for different classes.” He adds: “The students have an easier time remembering the curriculum from day-to-day than they had when a week passed. The inclusion of projects where they use what they have learned immediately also helps them a lot. The practicality of this approach will help them in the world of business.” An AP graduate in programming from Dania Games himself, Andersen, who has worked on a handful of video game productions, has no doubts as to how he would like to have been taught: “If I had to choose, I

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DANIA GAMES, DENMARK

Students demonstrating their games at Dania Games Expo 2014

would definitely want this new way of education rather than the way I was taught.â&#x20AC;? Motivating students One of the challenges identified by the faculty at Dania Games in implementing the GWEM was that basing all courses on PBL would be a very different way of working for most students, compared to the pedagogy of the Danish primary and secondary educations. While PBL in some variation has been a part of the pedagogical method in most levels of the Danish education system for many years, it has rarely taken centre stage. Similarly to the inclusive way the implementation had been planned and executed on a faculty level, the cards should be on the table with the students. However, since the whole concept would feel alien, the students went through an intense, one-week project before the GWEM was explained. After the project, an educator gave a lecture explaining the reasoning behind and all plans for the GWEM to the students. This lecture was given after the students had formally evaluated the first project, so they could vent any frustrations. The openness led to further formal and informal comments all through-out the semester from the students, indicating a sense of agency and ownership.

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How did it go? While the complete evaluation results are available on the website, at the time of this writing the most relevant results are in the final evaluation of the entire first semester of the AP in programming under the Dania Games GWEM. The evaluation was conducted as a series of statements where the students were asked to reply whether they disagreed strongly, disagreed, agreed, or agreed wholeheartedly with the statements. 50 respondents replied, which represents an 83% response rate. The answers indicated a 90% overall approval rating for the education, and a full 98% of students are looking forward to the second semester. 70 % of the students find that they are better equipped for working in the world of business already after the first semester, which is a good indication that the GWEM is working. All in all, the GWEM has been declared a success at Dania Games and a continually modified and updated version of the model will be the basis of the educations there going forward. Where do we go from here? At the time of this writing, we just wrapped up end-of-

DANIA GAMES, DENMARK

Erhvervsakademi Dania, Denmark

term projects for the students on the second semester of the AP in programming. Here, a wide variety of external clients have participated, from the charitable organization Lions Club and video game company Kong Orange to the Danish University Extension in Aarhus. Overall, these partnerships promise to generate value for both students and clients alike. Says Marie Kruse Larsen of the Danish University Extension in Aarhus: “The University Extension has gained a valuable partner and has benefited from fresh eyes looking at how the University Extension can be marketed.” She goes on: “We have gained new insights in the possibilities of video games as a medium. We would recommend other institutions and businesses to participate in a similar project.” The students have also gained a lot from following the GWEM, not the least of which is a substantially better grade compared to their predecessors. The Danish grading system is a seven point range from -3 to 12, and the average grades for the recent exam jumped from 5,6 to 7,7 after GameWise was employed. This roughly corresponds to an increase from 2,35 to 3,15 on the ECTS grading scale. Even more encouraging, the dropout rate has dropped dramatically from 43,75 % under the classical model to 7,7% under the GWEM.

The projects – as well as the more than 200 games produced by students in the first two semesters under the GWEM were presented at the Dania Games Expo 2014, where politicians, representatives from the world of business and the students’ families all came see the amazing results of becoming GameWise. This final presentation is crucial in building upon the model and will be repeated annually from now on. As well as being a presentation opportunity for the students, it is supplemented by free talks from industry experts to reward the students for a job well done.

Dania Games is a companion higher education to the game related educations at Viden Djurs. It is run by the Dania Academy of Higher Education. They implemented a variant of the GameWise Model mostly based on the experiences from HKU. Detailed lesson-plans as well as some materials are available om the GameWise website. More information on Dania Games can be gained at www.spildatamatiker. dk or www.eadania.dk .

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VIDEN DJURS, DENMARK

iCamp46 – no ordinary game How do you implement a gamification model for education at the largest game-oriented education in Denmark? By doing the largest gamification event ever, obviously! By Mikkel Lodahl Project Worker Viden Djurs, Denmark milo@videndjurs.dk

In the week running from the 11th to the 15th of November, Viden Djurs’ two upper secondary schools – the higher commercial and the higher technical examinations – got together and played a game. Even if this had been an ordinary game, it would have been a bit of a special occurrence, since it involved 472 students. But this was no ordinary game. The game – iCamp46 – was designed to facilitate an innovative process, where the students from the two secondary schools worked together across multiple subjects to deliver a solution to a problem posed by the municipality of Grenaa. The problem: how do we make our town a more attractive place for the many young students living and studying here?

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iCamp46 was then designed to simulate a microcosm of innovative businesses competing against each other to come up with the best solution to the problem. Over the five days of the game, the 472 students made 80 different fictional companies and followed a series of milestones to develop ideas and present them to the municipality. Based on a company’s performance at each milestone, they earned a portion of the centrally controlled fictional currency “VIDe penge”, which acted as points for a ranking system as well as being currency to buy services from the competing companies and teachers acting as expert consultants. At the end of the game, the company that collected the largest amount of “VIDe penge” won a prize and

VIDEN DJURS, DENMARK

The students of Viden Djurs are briefed on the rules of the iCamp46 game

representatives from the municipality selected six projects to work on further in their project. The final projects stretched from outdoor parkour ranges to an elaborate lighting show demonstrated in a virtual simulation of the City of Grenaa. And that’s basically it. But you probably have some more questions. A lot of answers are in the documentation of the rules on the website, but here are a couple of frequently asked ones. Milestones? What milestones?

Milestones are goals that are reached along the way towards the final goal, and in iCamp46 these milestones generally took the form of presentations of the different

solutions to panels of experts as well as the other groups. Criteria for an assessment of the product at each milestone were told to both the presenters and the assessors in advance. This created a sense of transparency and agency as the students could navigate the treacherous sea of assessment more easily, knowing and actively using the criteria for assessment. Based on whether the student presentations lived up to the criteria, an amount of “VIDe penge” was earned. Originally this amount was simply set by the assessors as a group inside a specific range for each milestone, but due to attempts to “game the system” an algorithm organized schematically was set up and can be seen on the website.

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VIDEN DJURS, DENMARK

GameMaster Anders Vang Pedersen, Emiliano Labrador of La Salle-Universitat Ramon Llull and Daniëlle Krabshuis of PlayPaca listen to student feedback on iCamp 46

How do 472 students make 80 companies? With great difficulty, you would suspect. But actually, the process went rather well. Before the start of the game, each student had taken a personality test to indicate that student’s style of working. Each student was then given a badge to display the results of the personality test. Companies formed with a diverse set of personality types – as well as companies with participants from both the technical and commercial schools – received a bonus to their start capital. The process of forming the companies took place in a great hall, where the students could mingle and talk and then report their selected companies to tacher standing ready to send them to the classrooms that would be their home incubation-environments for the week. Their “cubas”. How was it received by students? By teachers? There was a clear unity in the evaluations by both teachers and students: the rules needed to be

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communicated more clearly. While there were ways to get the economy going and exchanging “VIDe penge” for services, these were not immediately obvious to the students and this aspect of the game was not working that well. Similarly, while the rules for assessment were communicated to the assessors, they needed to be clearer. The students also felt that the milestones were too alike and did not allow for different skill sets. The teachers echoed the sentiments of the students and added that more opportunities for the usage of “VIDe penge” could easily be added to stimulate response. They also felt a little lost as to the workings of the rules from time to time, which could be solved with more timely communication of them to the teachers. However, both students and teachers overall counted the game as a success, especially as a motivator for learning about innovative business in practice, although there is definite room for improvement in the design.

VIDEN DJURS, DENMARK

This physical board was regularly updated with the point total, so the students could track their progress in iCamp 46.

What is the relationship with the GameWise Europemodel? iCamp46 was designed explicitly with reference to the materials presented at the workshop at La Salle, developed at the design workshop in Spain and was observed while running by representatives from both La Salle and HKU. These observers contributed valuable feedback for the next version of the game. Crucially, the involvement of an external client in a gamified learning environment was an idea that could only come about through the GameWise Europe project. The design of the game as a fictional economy with fictional businesses as groups was also result of discussions primarily at the workshop in La Salle. Suffice it to say that without the GameWise Europe project, the iCamp46 game would never have existed.

Will you do it again? Yes! iCamp46 has been integrated into the planning of the next academic year and will incorporate the feedback from both participants and observers. Viden Djurs is a conglomerate of a variety of educations at the upper secondary school and VET level, including both technical and business educations. Among the educations are the only two video game focused educations at the upper secondary school level in Denmark, GameIT College and GameIT Biz. All told, around 2500 students attend Viden Djurs educations all over the region of Djursland and in the city of Aarhus, making Viden Djurs the primary educational institution in the area, as well as a national player in retail education. Around 200 people are employed at Viden Djurs. For more information on iCamp 46 please feel free to contact Anders Vang Pedersen, the lead designer of the game, at avpe@videndjurs.dk

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LA SALLE-UNIVERSITAT RAMON LLULL, SPAIN

Four Keys to a Memorable University Experience By Mr. Emiliano Labrador eruiz@salle.url.edu and Dr. Oscar García Pañella oscargp@enti.cat

Abstract The work described below is part of a project based on the application of gamification techniques in a first-year subject of the Degree in Multimedia Engineering at La Salle-Universitat Ramon Llull. The work discusses the advantages of the application of immersive gamification techniques in the acquisition of role-based learning. For that purpose, we have worked together the UX and the gamification departments. In order to understand this concept, the first part of the article explains what gamification is and its usefulness. KEYWORDS Gamification, immersion, game characters, teaching, fun experience, knowledge. “Onboarding” tutorial: Start 0 XPs (Experience points). We will start with the “graphics.” Slideshare is a social network which enables users to share presentations. An example of pure altruism where knowledge is uploaded, shared, appreciated and where it consequently gains popularity and status. Quid pro quo. If you have downloaded the application

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to your portal, you may occasionally receive emails from this service which brighten your day. An email from Slideshare to inform and congratulate you on the fact that one of your presentations has been seen by 100 people with a voucher attached offering special discounts if you subscribe to the service as a Premium user. In a nutshell, a powerful intrinsic motivator which appeals to your personal values and which furthermore comes out of the blue, like a kiss! (the fact that X number of people have taken the time to open and watch your presentation as they apparently find it interesting), followed by a small and less original extrinsic motivating factor (the discount voucher) which offers you the possibility to continue using their services for at a lower price. You may fall in love with the first factor. You will probably forget the second. Welcome to serious games and gamification. 50 XPs. Since the first eye-opening infographics created by Knewton (“The Gamification of Education Infographic”) or the BigDoor (“Gamification Goes Mainstream”) experts predicted that the world would be gamified by the year 2015. And it looks like they hit the

LA SALLE-UNIVERSITAT RAMON LLULL, SPAIN

Scheme of the FED methodology

nail on the head. But, what is “Gamification” and “Serious Games” all about? Is it some kind of “underground” network that does not actually have much to do with the day-to-day lives of the users (Players) and the companies (Game masters)…or is it just the opposite and a fine example of rigor and efficiency? We would plump for the second option. Not in vain have scientists such as Kühn, Gleich et al, published an article in the prestigious scientific journal “Nature,” which explains how a commercial video-game such as Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros can induce structural brain plasticity. First Level: Introduction and definitions 125 XPs. Let’s start with “Serious Games”. Is this a suitable term? Or not really? The point is that the games are serious but not boring. This is the key. Serious games are applications based on the design theory of games which have not been created with the same objective as games designed for pure entertainment. Fortunately, there are other general terms such as “Applied games” and “Evergames” (games associated with the army, or to recoveries in Physiotherapy and from Sports injuries), “Newsgames” (associated with Journalism, the news and

the media), “Games for Health (related to Medicine and Health), “Edugames” (related to Education and Training), “Advergames” (related to Advertising), “ARGs” (Alternative reality games applicable to workshops for example) among others. Why are there so many names for what is essentially one thing? It must be important. 200 XPs. And, gamification? Well, here we are before two sister species. In the case of Gamification, we apply the laws of “Game Design” and we apply “Motivation” to the design of user experiences which involve “Engagement” or motivation. The objective is to persuade the final users (we are all players) to use our product and then to consequently create a kind of brand loyalty with these users. This is viable if the process is carried out properly and user experience is positive. Our objective is not to simply programme the users as if they were robots playing a fruit machine. It is quite the opposite. We want to give them an interesting experience, packed with interesting options to choose from, which enables them to cover many of their personal needs and enjoy the “unwritten script” which they themselves create. As human beings, we love the pleasures in life, even though

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LA SALLE-UNIVERSITAT RAMON LLULL, SPAIN we quite often forget about them. 400 XPs. You might remember those wonderful books named “Choose your own adventure.” These books provide us with an excellent example of how to foster the habit of reading because, unlike standard books or novels, they gave the reader the chance to choose the storyline and eventual ending of the book. When readers reached a certain point in the book, especially in the case of a fantasy novel, we were given options to choose from, and according to the decisions that we took, the outcome of main character, “our player,” and the story continued on one page or another. It was the perfect example of a “non-linear plot”, which is just what gamification offers us. We cannot predict what is going to happen in every game and the fact that we are bombarded with interesting decisions to take, motivates us. And it encouraged us to keep reading. In other words, it was a video game on paper! Many of those who said, “I don’t really like reading” entered a world and never came out. Second level: What some experts say 700 XPs. According to Jesse Schell of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University, games are “...an activity related to problem-solving which follows a methodology that is clearly based on a fun approach”. In fact, as Marshall McLuhan said: “Anyone who thinks that there is a difference between learning and having fun has no idea of either the first or second.” 1000 XPs. Melinda Jackson claims that the use of this type of tool enables us to learn faster (knowledge content is directly transferred to our brains) since we are capable of extracting significance from a set of complex data and then of further manipulating and touching this data. According to game designer Ian Schreiber, the rules of creating enjoyable learning – aka “fun stuff”– are the creation of the chance to explore (in our virtual world), the guarantee that the games is played in a social context, the existence of an inventory (collection of objects which serve a specific purpose), the opportunity to physically feel something, jigsaw puzzle-solving (active learning, brain stimulation) as well as the chance to compete (we like to stand out) and to upgrade our patrimony (albeit virtually). While Kurt Squire claims that different game experiences with different “playabilities” enable the players (users/students) to learn how to manage complexity. Little wonder did Clark Aldrich

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create the first leadership simulator (Virtual Leader) in the world as an essentially educational tool. The rules of playability are not necessarily linear and depend on the decisions of each user and on when these decisions are taken. Games are played in real-time, thus facilitating the creation of groups and the customization of content. This ensures that the users, or should I say the players?, take on the knowledge content as they play. “Learning by doing” in its essence. Third Level: Methodology development and Case study 1500 XPs. Design and Usability is a core subject for all students studying ICT engineering degrees at La SalleURL (Barcelona). It is a subject which is less demanding than others when it comes to technical knowledge, but more demanding when it comes to creativity. The content of the subject is applicable to all areas of knowledge and it is of great use in the professional development of the student. However, students do not share this vision and feel that it should be easy to pass without any great effort. In this academic year (2013/14), we have included a layer of gamification as part of the course content and the results have been outstanding – an increase of over 10% in the number of students with a mark of “excellent” and a drop of 40% in the number of students who fail in some of the course practicals. The methodology which is being developed with the area of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is called Fun Experience Design (FED). This facilitates the monitoring of the improvement and the practical application of course content is based on game mechanics in the classroom. Furthermore, this methodology provides information on user satisfaction levels, obtained from the feedback extracted from the surveys and questionnaires which the students have to submit. 1700 XPs. The FED has 4 stages (or rather 4 sub-levels) which form an interactive process (just like the learning process of any game): Exploration phase: To know the objective and specific information from users is needed in order to plan the best strategy to be implemented. Data Analysis: Both user perception and emotions are analyzed in order to design the most appropriate strategy. Creation of the gamified system: Design the best strategy to achieve the objectives. The re-designing of the FED stage: After the

LA SALLE-UNIVERSITAT RAMON LLULL, SPAIN

Students’ dashboard at the end of the course

implementation of the strategy, it turns to make an exploration phase, where information is extracted to improve the system. +500 XPs. If you read the details on pictures on the top. The study concluded that a numerical mark is not enough and so the different knowledges to be gained throughout the subject had to be specified, and therefore the roles that can be acquired in the industry. The integration of gamification is justified by raising students’ awareness of what they will learn with each practice and the level at which they are achieiving it. It was sought an increase of intrinsic motivation, thus students would study more if they understand the need to acquire these areas of knowledge. The system created categorizes each practice and exercise, and specifies the area of knowledge acquired and its level from the mark obtained. A system of clans, accessed from the badges obtained in each assignment, specified the acquisition of knowledge. The mechanisms to increase intrinsic motivation were: time pressure, challenges, clans, badges...

Besides intrinsic motivation, the most important one, it was added a mechanism to increase extrinsic motivation as well. Points were gained according to the mark of each assessment. After a certain amount of points, students did not have to take the final test, as it is understood that they acquired the knowledge necessary to pass the course already. 2000 XPs. After applying gamification to the subject, the average mark increased significantly. Taking as an example the Design assignment, the percentage of excellent marks (9 or greater out of 10) in the previous two years was low or very low; while this year, with the gamification system applied, it has risen over 12% of students. Also, the number of students failing (less than 5 out of 10) was more than half of the class, with a peak of over 64% last year. This year, just 20% of the students have failed.

Final level: GAME OVER (No! THE SHOW MUST GO ON)

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FLEXIBLE EDUCATION NORWAY

GameWise