Open Access Peer-reviewed Research Article

Content manager for serious games: Theoretical framework and digital platform

Article Sidebar

System overview
Download PDF
Submitted   Jan 13, 2022
Published   Feb 18, 2022
Issue    Vol 2 No 1 (2022)
DOI   10.25082/AMLER.2022.01.009

Views

3719

Downloads

1411

Citations

PlumX Metrics

Main Article Content

Anastasios Kristofer Barianos corresponding author
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Crete, Greece
Alexandros Papadakis
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Crete, Greece
Nikolas Vidakis
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Crete, Greece

Abstract

In education, digital or traditional, the material studied by students is the basis from which they will achieve knowledge. For this reason, schoolbooks have been meticulously designed to be scientifically correct and pedagogically sound. With the digitization and growth of education, and the shift to adaptive learning methods, educational content is no longer centrally decided and distributed; instead, many professionals are allowed to create and distribute material within their area of expertise, and educators often develop material for their classes. Still, educational games and their material are designed and developed similarly to books, where introducing new material by third parties is not an option. Even though techniques that could assist in the creation of adaptable, customizable gameplay and content are available and are often used in commercial games, their utilization requires technical knowledge that does not allow wide use by educators to create educational material. In this paper, we introduce a framework that will allow educators to create and manage educational content for serious games and create customized versions to cover the needs of their students and unlock the potential of adaptive learning. Towards this goal, we developed a pilot implementation of the framework that provides all the necessary tools to game developers to create adaptable games and retrieve game customizations from a server. Furthermore, a web platform has been developed where educators can browse for customizable games and custom sessions. These games and sessions have educators’ custom created educational content. With our framework and supportive tools and platform, we will elevate the educational value of serious games by including educators in content creation, content manipulation, game customization and thus gameplay personalization.

Keywords
adaptive serious games, customizable games, adaptable educational content, serious games, game-based learning, Unity3D

Article Details

How to Cite
Barianos, A. K., Papadakis, A., & Vidakis, N. (2022). Content manager for serious games: Theoretical framework and digital platform. Advances in Mobile Learning Educational Research, 2(1), 251-262. https://doi.org/10.25082/AMLER.2022.01.009
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

References

  1. Abt, C. C. (1970). Serious Games. https://doi.org/10.1109/VS-GAMES.2009.8
  2. Akkoyunlu, B., & Soylu, M. Y. (2008). A study of student’s perceptions in a blended learning environment based on different learning styles. Educational Technology and Society, 11(1), 183-193. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-010-1351-2
  3. Alshammari, M., Anane, R., & Hendle, R. J. (2015). An E-learning investigation into learning style adaptivity. Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2015- March, 11-20. https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2015.13
  4. Arnab, S., Lim, T., Carvalho, M. B., Bellotti, F., de Freitas, S., Louchart, S., Suttie, N., Berta, R., & de Gloria, A. (2015). Mapping learning and game mechanics for serious games analysis. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(2), 391-411. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12113
  5. Bellotti, F., Kapralos, B., Lee, K., Moreno-Ger, P., & Berta, R. (2013). Assessment in and of serious games: An overview. Advances in Human-Computer Interaction, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/136864
  6. Breuer, J., & Bente, G. (2010). Why so serious? On the relation of serious games and learning. Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture, 4(1), 7-24.
  7. Brusilovsky, P. (2012). Adaptive hypermedia for education and training. Adaptive Technologies for Training and Education, 46-66. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139049580.006
  8. Connolly, T. M., Boyle, E. A., Macarthur, E., Hainey, T., & Boyle, J. M. (2012). A systematic literature review of empirical evidence on computer games and serious games. Computers & Education, 59(2), 661-686. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.03.004
  9. Daconceicao, R., Locke, C., Cooper, K., & Longstreet, C. S. (2013). Semi-automated serious educational game generation: A component-based game engineering approach. Proceedings of CGAMES 2013 USA - 18th International Conference on Computer Games: AI, Animation, Mobile, Interactive Multimedia, Educational and Serious Games, 222-227. https://doi.org/10.1109/CGames.2013.6632637
  10. Dagnino, F. M., Ott, M., Pozzi, F., & Yilmaz, E. (2015). Serious Games Design: Reflections from an Experience in the Field of Intangible Heritage Education. The 11th International Scientific Conference ELearning and Software for Education, 2015, 57-64. https://doi.org/10.12753/2066-026X-13-131
  11. Downes, S. (2001). Learning Objects: Resources For Distance Education Worldwide The Need for and Nature of Learning Objects. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 2(1), 1-35. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v2i1.32
  12. Frakes, W. B., & Kang, K. (2005). Software reuse research: Status and future. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 31(7), 529-536. https://doi.org/10.1109/TSE.2005.85
  13. Frakes, W., & Terry, C. (1996). Software reuse: metrics and models. ACM Computing Surveys, 28(2), 415-435. https://doi.org/10.1145/234528.234531
  14. GALA. (2014). Roadmap on Serious Games. 1-33. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/358152
  15. Georgiev, A., Grigorov, A., Bontchev, B., Boytchev, P., Stefanov, K., Bahreini, K., Nyamsuren, E., van der Vegt, W., Westera, W., Prada, R., Hollins, P., & Moreno, P. (2016). The RAGE Software Asset Model and Metadata Model, 191-203. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45841-0_18
  16. Hurtado, C., Licea, G., & Garcia-Valdez, M. (2018). Integrating Learning Styles in an Adaptive Hypermedia System with Adaptive Resources. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, 143, 49-67. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74060-7_3
  17. Huynh-kim-bang, B., Wisdom, J., & Labat, J. (2010). Design Patterns in Serious Games: A Blue Print for Combining Fun and Learning Introduction: Making Learning Fun. Journal for Computer Game Culture, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142569880090306
  18. Kalogiannakis, M., & Papadakis, S. (2019). Evaluating pre-service kindergarten teachers’ intention to adopt and use tablets into teaching practice for natural sciences. International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation, 13(1), 113. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMLO.2019.096479
  19. Kalogiannakis, M., Papadakis, S., & Zourmpakis, A.-I. (2021). Gamification in Science Education. A Systematic Review of the Literature. Education Sciences, 11(1), 22. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11010022
  20. Karagiannidis, C., Sampson, D., & Cardinali, F. (2001). Integrating adaptive educational content into different courses and curricula. Educational Technology and Society, 4(3), 37-44.
  21. Karakose, T., Polat, H., & Papadakis, S. (2021). Examining Teachers’ Perspectives on School Principals’ Digital Leadership Roles and Technology Capabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Sustainability, 13(23), 13448. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313448
  22. Katsaris, I., & Vidakis, N. (2021). Adaptive e-learning systems through learning styles: A review of the literature. Advances in Mobile Learning Educational Research, 1(2), 124-145. https://doi.org/10.25082/AMLER.2021.02.007
  23. Mulwa, C., Lawless, S., Sharp, M., Arnedillo-Sanchez, I., & Wade, V. (2010). Adaptive educational hypermedia systems in technology enhanced learning. Proceedings of the 2010 ACM Conference on Information Technology Education - SIGITE ’10, 73. https://doi.org/10.1145/1867651.1867672
  24. Papadakis, S., Kalogiannakis, M., & Zaranis, N. (2018). Educational apps from the Android Google Play for Greek preschoolers: A systematic review. Computers & Education, 116, 139-160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.09.007
  25. Papadakis, S., Trampas, A., Barianos, A., Kalogiannakis, M., & Vidakis, N. (2020). Evaluating the Learning Process: The “ThimelEdu” Educational Game Case Study. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 290-298. https://doi.org/10.5220/0009379902900298
  26. Peirce, N., Conlan, O., & Wade, V. (2008). Adaptive educational games: Providing non-invasive personalized learning experiences. Proceedings - 2nd IEEE International Conference on Digital Game and Intelligent Toy Enhanced Learning, DIGITEL 2008, 28-35. https://doi.org/10.1109/DIGITEL.2008.30
  27. Poultsakis, S., Papadakis, S., Kalogiannakis, M., & Psycharis, S. (2021). The management of Digital Learning Objects of Natural Sciences and Digital Experiment Simulation Tools by teachers. Advances in Mobile Learning Educational Research, 1(2), 58-71. https://doi.org/10.25082/AMLER.2021.02.002
  28. Reis, R. (n.d.). TriLib 2. https://ricardoreis.net/trilib-2
  29. Serious Game Society. (n.d.-a). GLEANER. Retrieved January 27, 2018. https://e-ucm.github.io/gleaner
  30. Serious Game Society. (n.d.-b). Serious Game Society. Retrieved January 25, 2019, https://seriousgamessociety.org/about
  31. Serious Game Society. (n.d.-c). SGREF. Retrieved January 27, 2019, http://www.sgref.com
  32. Stewart, J., Lizzy, I., Looy, J. van, Mari¨en, I., All, A., Schurmans, D., Willaert, K., Grove, F. de, Jacobs, A., & Misuraca, G. (2013). The Potential of Digital Games for Empowerment and Social Inclusion of Groups at Risk of Social and Economic Exclusion: Evidence and Opportunity for Policy. https://doi.org/10.2791/88148
  33. Technologies, U. (n.d.). Unity 3D Real-Time Development Platform. Retrieved May 16, 2020, https://unity.com
  34. Troussas, C., Krouska, A., & Sgouropoulou, C. (2020). Collaboration and fuzzy-modeled personalization for mobile game-based learning in higher education. Computers & Education, 144, 103698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103698
  35. Unity3D. (n.d.). Unity Scripting Reference. Retrieved May 18, 2021, https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/index.html
  36. van der Vegt, W., Nyamsuren, E., & Westera, W. (2016). RAGE Reusable Game Software Components and Their Integration into Serious Game Engines (pp. 165-180). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-35122-3_12
  37. van der Vegt, W., Westera, W., Nyamsuren, E., Georgiev, A., & Ortiz, I. M. (2016). RAGE Architecture for Reusable Serious Gaming Technology Components. International Journal of Computer Games Technology, 2016, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/5680526
  38. Vidakis, N., Barianos, A., Trampas, A., Papadakis, S., Kalogiannakis, M., & Vassilakis, K. (2019). Generating Education in-Game Data: The Case of an Ancient Theatre Serious Game. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 36-43. https://doi.org/10.5220/0007810800360043
  39. Vidakis, N., & Charitakis, S. (2018). Designing the Learning Process. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Subject-Oriented Business Process Management - S-BPM One ’18, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1145/3178248.3178254
  40. Zeeman, M. (2014). Factors that Influence Computer Science Students’ Attitude towards Serious Games in the Classroom. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n21p413