Players’ Experience in a Sport Geocaching Game

Author(s):  
Pirita Ihamäki ◽  
Mika Luimula

Geocaching is a multiplayer outdoor sports game. There is a lack of extensive research on this game, and there is a need for more academic research on this game and its application to other contexts worldwide. There are about 5 million people participating in the geocaching game in 220 different countries worldwide. The geocaching game is interesting because the players create it. The players’ role in game design increases its value in human-centred design research. Digital games are a prevalent form of entertainment in which the purpose of the design is to engage the players. This case study was carried out with 52 Finnish geocachers as an Internet survey. The purpose of this conceptual analysis is to investigate how the geocaching sports game might inform game design by looking at player experiences, devices, and techniques that support problem solving within complex environments. Specifically, this analysis presents a brief overview of the geocaching sports game, its role in popular adventure game design, and an analysis of the underlying players’ experiences and enjoyment as a structure to be used in game design.

Author(s):  
Jan-Paul van Staalduinen

As of yet, there is no clear relationship between game elements and deep learning. This chapter used a literature review to create an overview of 25 game elements that contribute to learning. The TOPSIM game, by TATA Interactive Systems, was used in a case study to delve into the educational impact of 16 of these game elements. Using pre-game and post-game tests, it was concluded that the students learned from the game, and that they considered the following elements to contribute to their learning: ‘action-domain-link’, ‘adaptation’, ‘debriefing’, ‘conflict’, ‘control’, ‘fantasy’, ‘goals/objectives’, ‘mystery’, and ‘safety’. These results will be used in the construction of a game-based learning model that also incorporates theory on education game design, research on educational elements and principles in games, and theory on core elements that make up all games, whether educational or entertaining.


Author(s):  
Melanie SARANTOU ◽  
Satu MIETTINEN

This paper addresses the fields of social and service design in development contexts, practice-based and constructive design research. A framework for social design for services will be explored through the survey of existing literature, specifically by drawing on eight doctoral theses that were produced by the World Design research group. The work of World Design researcher-designers was guided by a strong ethos of social and service design for development in marginalised communities. The paper also draws on a case study in Namibia and South Africa titled ‘My Dream World’. This case study presents a good example of how the social design for services framework functions in practice during experimentation and research in the field. The social design for services framework transfers the World Design group’s research results into practical action, providing a tool for the facilitation of design and research processes for sustainable development in marginal contexts.


Author(s):  
Santiago DE FRANCISCO ◽  
Diego MAZO

Universities and corporates, in Europe and the United States, have come to a win-win relationship to accomplish goals that serve research and industry. However, this is not a common situation in Latin America. Knowledge exchange and the co-creation of new projects by applying academic research to solve company problems does not happen naturally.To bridge this gap, the Design School of Universidad de los Andes, together with Avianca, are exploring new formats to understand the knowledge transfer impact in an open innovation network aiming to create fluid channels between different stakeholders. The primary goal was to help Avianca to strengthen their innovation department by apply design methodologies. First, allowing design students to proposed novel solutions for the traveller experience. Then, engaging Avianca employees to learn the design process. These explorations gave the opportunity to the university to apply design research and academic findings in a professional and commercial environment.After one year of collaboration and ten prototypes tested at the airport, we can say that Avianca’s innovation mindset has evolved by implementing a user-centric perspective in the customer experience touch points, building prototypes and quickly iterate. Furthermore, this partnership helped Avianca’s employees to experience a design environment in which they were actively interacting in the innovation process.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyung Yoon

UNSTRUCTURED This paper is a case study on the design of an educational game for the prevention of cyberbullying and an analysis of its educational effect. I selected a game titled “Angry Daddy,” which was developed based on the request of Korean government authority and analyzed the mode of development of the game and its educational effect. For this research, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. Moreover, advice regarding the game design was obtained from many experts belonging to various fields. Based on the analysis of the game design and its educational effect, it was confirmed that the following factors are important to design an educational game meant for the prevention of cyberbullying and to enhance its educational effect: First, cooperation between content experts and game development experts is essential to develop an educational game. Second, it should be verified whether the contents and the format of the game are appropriate by analyzing the play test results of the target audience. Third, it is essential to prepare a manual to guide teachers to apply the game to the field. Fourth, it was confirmed that educating students on sensitive topics like cyberbullying is very effective when educational games that make them feel and experience the outcomes of bullying are utilized. This research is expected to be helpful for future design of educational games and the research and development of the format of cyberbullying prevention education.


Author(s):  
Birgit Pepin ◽  
Zeger-jan Kock

AbstractIn this study we use a case study approach to investigate what kinds of resources were self-reported to have been selected by students working on their Challenge-Based bachelor end projects, and how they used and orchestrated these resources. In a previous study, we had explored students’ use of resources and their Actual Student Study Paths in Calculus and Linear Algebra courses (Pepin and Kock 2019); in this study we turned to students working on their Challenge-Based bachelor end projects. Results show that the students working on Challenge-Based projects used resources outside the realm of curriculum resources offered to them in traditional courses, and the Actual Student Study Paths were iterative. We contend that ‘linear’ study paths (found e.g. in traditionally taught Linear Algebra courses) appeared to have been beneficial for students for studying particular mathematical content, which they needed for solving open challenges. In the Challenge-Based projects, the crucial resource emerged to be the tutor. We claim that this has implications for the introduction of a more Challenge-Based curriculum, where such projects would be the norm, both in terms of the professionalization of university teachers (who coach students through such projects), and for the education of students who opt for such projects: teachers have to be supported to develop as appropriate coaches in such complex environments; students have to become self-directed learners, and need to be supported with challenged-based trained coaches and teachers, in addition to be provided with suitable curricular, technological, and social resources.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-333
Author(s):  
Alena Pfoser ◽  
Sara de Jong

Artist–academic collaborations are fuelled by increasing institutional pressures to show the impact of academic research. This article departs from the celebratory accounts of collaborative work and pragmatic toolkits for successful partnerships, which are dominant in existing scholarship, arguing for the need to critically interrogate the structural conditions under which collaborations take place. Based on a reflexive case study of a project developed in the context of Tate Exchange, one of the UK’s highest-profile platforms for knowledge exchange, we reveal three sets of (unequal) pressures, which mark artist–academic collaborations in the contemporary neoliberal academy: asymmetric funding and remuneration structures; uneven pressures of audit cultures; acceleration and temporal asymmetries. Innovations at the level of individual projects or partners can only mitigate the negative effects to a limited extent. Instead this article offers a systemic critique of the political economy of artist–academic collaborations and shifts the research agenda to developing a collective response.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lwando Mdleleni

Purpose This paper aims to explore the role of university in promoting, generating and sustaining social innovation (SI). It aimed to understand how higher education institutions have extended their contribution beyond the traditional function of teaching and research to perform in socio-economic problem-solving. It looks at the kinds of contributions which universities potentially make to SI processes, and the effects that this has on the direction and magnitude of SI, and by implication social development. This was done by drawing lessons from a SI project that the University of the Western Cape has been involved in, i.e. Zenzeleni Networks Project. Design/methodology/approach To address the research question with this framework, the author adopted an exploratory research design using a case study. This research is qualitative, exploratory and descriptive, based on a case study built with secondary data. Findings This paper submits that universities can potentially function as key role players in promoting SI initiatives and fostering social transformations. Universities contribute with different kinds of resources and inputs to foster new SI ideas. Originality/value The paper suggests that socially innovative university projects may contribute to community social sustainability maintaining social cohesion by increasing social capital and providing resources for the empowerment of the marginalised communities. In so doing, they contribute to overcome social exclusion and promote more sustainable forms of development at community level. More research is needed on how universities can build community networks with local community partners, who can use the insights of academic research to replicate interventions and move to scale.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soo Hyeon Kim ◽  
Heather Toomey Zimmerman

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how families’ sociomaterial experiences in engineering programs held in libraries and a museum influence their creative engineering practices and the creativity expressed in their products derived from their inquiry-driven engineering activities. Design/methodology/approach This research project takes a naturalistic inquiry using qualitative and quantitative analyses based on video records from activities of 31 parent–child pairs and on creativity assessment of products that used littleBits as prototyping tools. Findings Families engaged in two sociomaterial experiences related to engineering – collaborative idea exchange and ongoing generative tinkering with materials – which supported the emergence of novel ideas and feasible solutions during the informal engineering programs. Families in the high novelty score group experienced multiple instances of collaborative idea exchange and ongoing generative tinkering with materials, co-constructed through parent-child collaboration, that were expansive toward further idea and solution generation. Families in the low novelty score group experienced brief collaborative idea exchange and material tinkering with specific idea suggestions and high involvement from the parent. An in-depth case study of one family further illustrated that equal engagement by the parent and child as they tinkered with the technology supported families’ creative engineering practices. Originality/value This analysis adds to the information sciences and learning sciences literatures with an account that integrates methodologies from sociocultural and engineering design research to understand the relationship between families’ engagement in creative engineering practices and their products. Implications for practitioners include suggestions for designing spaces to support families’ collaborative idea exchange and ongoing generative tinkering to facilitate the development of creative engineering practices during short-term engineering programs.


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