This explorative case study investigates a game-based approach to the professional development of in-service teachers in Self-Regulated Learning. The impact of this approach was assessed in terms of acceptance of the game, knowledge gain and changes in teachers' beliefs concerning the importance of nine design principles that can be adopted to foster the development of students' SRL skills. Our findings suggest that the game-based approach adopted in this study was well-accepted, with Wilcoxon tests revealing that the mean rating is significantly different from the median point of the scale for all items measured after game use. As for teachers' learning gains and changes in beliefs, a questionnaire submitted to participants before and after the gameplay showed significant changes in knowledge and a more varied but generally positive trend in terms of changes in beliefs. Thus, the study's findings advocate for increased dedication to researching and experimenting with the incorporation of games in teacher professional development, potentially extending these efforts to other educational domains.

This paper deals with the Ludoteca del Registro .it a project implemented by the Registro .it (the Registry of .it Internet domains) of the Institute of Informatics and Telematics of the CNR (National Research Council) in Pisa, aimed to help the students to develop a more responsible use of the Internet, with a focus on cybersecurity topics

This contribution analyzes the impact of factors related to story structure, meaningfulness, and concentration in the design of Serious Games. To explore them, the authors carried out an experimental evaluation aiming to identify relevant aspects affecting the cognitive-emotional impact of immersive Virtual Reality (VR), specifically Educational Environmental Narrative (EEN) Games. The experiment was designed around three main research questions: if passive or active interaction is preferable for factual and spatial knowledge acquisition; whether meaningfulness is a relevant experience in a serious game (SG) context; and if concentration impacts knowledge acquisition and engagement also in VR educational games. The findings highlight that passive interaction should only be encouraged for factual knowledge acquisition, that meaningfulness is a relevant experience and should be included in serious game design, and, finally, that concentration is a factor that impacts the experience in immersive games. The authors discuss potential design paths to improve both factual and spatial knowledge acquisition, such as abstract concept-oriented design, concluding that SGs should contain game mechanics explicitly supporting players’ moments of reflection, and story structures explicitly aligned to educational facts.

Il presente documento illustra la progettazione e la realizzazione di un avatar per il serious game previsto nell'ambito del progetto « SMILER » - Serious gaMes as emerging e-health Interventions for young people with neurologicaL or rEspiratory disoRders. Dopo una breve introduzione del progetto, verranno descritte le tecniche e gli strumenti utilizzati per la modellazione 3D dell'avatar.

Higher education has to cope with current trends in digital technologies, in particular in the field of industrial engineering, where digital competencies are required more and more. Digital technologies, combined with serious gaming, offer new opportunities for teaching engineering in higher education, with a twofold objective: 1) offering students a rich and realistic experience exploiting advanced digital tools; 2) supporting and complementing traditional education schemes by increasing participation and involvement via serious gaming, enhanced by digital/virtual technologies. Herein, we present a framework for the design of serious games in engineering education, with a specific focus on the definition of intended learning outcomes and the development of the corresponding game activities. This framework was applied to develop a serious game application for the design and analysis of manufacturing systems. The approach was tested thanks to the cooperation of 60 bachelor engineering students and the results extensively analyzed in both quantitative and qualitative terms.

This paper describes the preliminary stages and the theoretical and methodological inspiration for the design of UrbanCraft, a gamified activity based on Kevin Lynch's mental maps and aiming at enhancing youth participation and inclusion in urban co-design and governance. This activity draws on previous local experiences on participation and social inclusion, held in the Southern Italian city of Palermo, in an attempt to mix urban studies, serious games and artificial intelligence methodologies. In this experiment, we designed a gamified activity conceived for nine- to twelve-year-old primary and secondary school children, due to our previous cooperation with several primary and secondary schools in Palermo. Overall, the goal of this proposal is to adapt Lynch's notions of imageability and public images to a serious game and lead the players to an enhanced spatial awareness of their neighborhood and the entire city. Although UrbanCraft is still in its early design stages, the existing network of public institutions, research centers and schools provides a fertile ground for developing the project.

It is a great pleasure for us to introduce this issue of the IJSG, which is dedicated to the Games and Learning Alliance Conference (GaLA Conf) that was held in Athens, November 27-29, 2019. Almost 70 participants converged in this beautiful, historic city in order to share knowledge and experiences related to serious games and gamification, their techniques and their application. A number of the best conference papers were selected, and the authors were invited to extend their paper with at least one-third new content, and to submit their paper to IJSG for a regular peer-review process.

Although healthcare providers are actively involved in offering education, information, and interventions for asthmatic patients, medication and therapeutic adherence remain low in the pediatric population, with estimates suggesting that adherence rates hover below 50%. A range of available digital health interventions has been explored in pediatric asthma with promising but variable results, limiting their widespread adoption in clinical practice. They include emerging technologies that yield the advantage of tracking asthma symptoms and medications, setting drug reminders, improving inhaler technique, and delivering asthma education, such as serious games (video games designed for medical or health-related purposes), electronic monitoring devices, speech recognition calls, text messaging, mobile apps, and interactive websites. Some of the proposed digital interventions have used multiple components, including educational and behavioral strategies and interactions with medical professionals. Overall, the implementation of such interventions may offer the opportunity to improve adherence and asthma control. In a state of emergency as the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine can also play a central role in supporting physicians in managing children with asthma. This review evaluates the published literature examining digital health interventions for pediatric asthma and explores the most relevant issues affecting their implementation in practice and the associated evidence gaps, research limitations, and future research perspectives.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Games and Learning Alliance, GALA 2019, held in Athens, Greece, in November 2019. The 38 regular papers presented together with 19 poster papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 76 submissions. The papers cover the following topics: serious game design and pedagogical foundations; AI and technology for SG; gamification; applications and case studies; and posters.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Games and Learning Alliance, GALA 2018, held in Palermo, Italy, in December 2018. The 38 revised regular papers presented together with 9 poster papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 68 submissions. The papers cover the following topics: games for skills training; game design; methods and tools; gamification and innovative game approaches.

Deliverable di progetto PON MISE Arkaevision (OR2). Sintesi dell' stato dell'arte dell'utilizzo di Digital storytelling e gaming applications per il Patrimonio culturale.

It is a great pleasure for us to have the opportunity to introduce this issue of the IJSG, which is dedicated to the Games and Learning Alliance Conference (GaLA Conf) that was held in Palermo, December 5-7, 2018. Almost70 participants converged in this all beautiful, historic, and modern city for a lively workshop and for sharing knowledge and experiences related to serious games, their techniques and their application. A number of the best conference papers were selected, and the authors were invited to extend their paper with at least one-third new content and to submit their paper to IJSG with a regular review process. This issue contains seven selected articles, which gives an overview of the rich field of serious games. So among the topics covered in this issue, there are: -gamification of learning experiences, -serious games in everyday life, -artificial intelligence as a means to significantly increase the effects of serious games, -understanding the effect of learner characteristics on the effects of serious games, -assessing the learning outcomes of serious games systematically, and -games as objects of generative learning approaches.

Background: Worldwide, 6 people out of 10 have no access to treatment, or are not encouraged to follow it. Air pollution alone kills 7 million people yearly, reduces our life expectancy by 20 months, and costs 6% the gross world product. Devices to assess lung capacity remain often unavailable in low / middle income countries. Actions: We co-create inclusive, open science knowledge: open source breath and air quality controllers, and libre / gratis education to reduce risks and make care fun. Learnings: Awareness: breath as a way to feel life, from childhood. Universal health: mutualizing resources to end poverty. Partnership: reducing barriers with remote participation.

This paper explores the relationship between digital games and learning along the continuum from formal to informal learning. Games are an increasingly important component of our learning ecologies but their potential can prove difficult to fully harness due to the downsides of gaming in informal contexts and to the limitations games can present when adopted in formal learning contexts. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of games for learning, and to gather stakeholder recommendations for the main actors in the field. The adopted research approach is qualitative and participatory, involving players, teachers, parents, researchers and developers. Data from 25 interviews and 11 focus groups yielded insights into the educational, psychological and ethical aspects of play. Results suggest that gameplay influences individuals in a very personal manner, and that its effects cover a wide range of skills, extending to identity development. Hence, to harness this potential, all actors in the ecology need strong awareness of both the affordances and the risks of games, and deep respect for individuals' LEs. The study has implications for a wide range of actors, including educators, players, researchers, parents, game developers and policymakers.

Il progetto Gaming Horizons è un progetto finanziato nell'ambito del programma europeo H2020 iniziato a Dicembre 2016 e conclusosi a Gennaio 2018. Il progetto ha studiato il ruolo dei videogiochi e della gamification nella società, per evidenziarne potenzialità e punti critici e formulare proposte in merito alle future politiche della Comunità Europea nel settore dei giochi. A tal fine, il progetto ha adottato un approccio in linea con i principi della Ricerca e Innovazione Responsabile, che prevede metodi partecipativi ossia che comportano il coinvolgimento di tutti i soggetti direttamente interessati sia in fase di analisi sia in fase di formulazione di nuove proposte. il progetto ha messo in discussione alcune convinzioni diffuse come il potere motivazionale incondizionato dei videogiochi, la disposizione positiva dei ragazzi nel loro uso in contesto scolastico, l'opportunità di finanziare esclusivamente giochi esplicitamente finalizzati a scopi "seri"; ha inoltre proposto di incoraggiare politiche volte a promuovere una industria dei giochi più libera e creativa, capace di sviluppare giochi che tocchino le corde della sensibilità individuale, sociale, etica ed artistica degli individui e della collettività.

An exploratory study aimed at testing CREC, a training programme designed for people with cognitive impairments caused by a stroke, is reported. The goal of the programme is to improve flexibility in thinking through a creative approach based on everyday problems. The programme includes two Serious Games (SGs) developed ad hoc, dealing with the transfer of the learned strategies to the home environment. The training was applied to six patients to test if it could bring beneficial effects to them. Before and after the training, patients' neuropsychological functioning, emotional state and level of creativity were assessed. Results showed improvements in memory, logical reasoning and praxic skills. Improvements in quality of life and in creativity emerged as well. At the end of the training, the patients perceived themselves as more efficient in problem solving and recognised that the SGs led them to reflect critically on some aspects of their daily life that they usually took for granted.

This paper arises from some remarks within the field of Serious Games about the lacks of an effective and suitable framework for supporting both the design and the analysis of serious games. Such an absence recurs as the leading argument against the use of serious games as useful educational tools. The main aim of the paper is to define a methodological framework able to support designers and educators in the designing and analysing Serious Games starting from the assignment of an actional value to the key notion of Game Mechanic (GM). While GMs are often approached as elements at the same level of the others, as components too rigid to be effectively used in a real scenario, we propose to treat GMs as the main element involved in the game design process since it can be closely linked to the learning constructs of game experiences. In order to highlight this actional value of GMs, we propose: (a) to conceive GMs as what a player do or can do in a gaming/learning context, and (b) to represent this set of playable actions as verbs (natural lexical representatives of actions). Treating GMs as verbs, as they are described in Frame Semantics, makes available the exploitation of the cognitive and linguistic knowledge about verbs for providing a strong framework that allows a specific characterization of both GMs and learning constructs linked to them. Assuming this parallelism and starting from the FrameNet project as a data source, the paper describes a prototype of a tool able: (a) to track, during a process of game analysis, the learning paths implemented by GMs of a serious game, and (b) to guide developers both in the exploration and construction of general and specific game/learning domains within a context of game design. Such a tool, generating a navigable network of real scenarios of use for GMs, allows connecting in a whole coherent knowledge, and through different relations, the learning experiences emerging from the gaming processes.

Design and development of a training protocol to improve creative thinking in elderlies with cognitive impairments in order to help them facing everyday life.

This paper describes the design of a training program for adults with cognitive impairments associated to brain damages. The goal is to improve flexibility through a creative thinking approach inspired to everyday problems and challenges with the innovative support of technology. The training is grounded on the three fundamental components of creativity: widening, connecting, and reorganizing. It consists of 5 units, each of them scheduled across 4 steps. Units 2 and 5 include a fifth step consisting of two serious games based on the technological support of a laptop. The training program has been implemented in a pilot study, whose outcomes will be the base for future improvements of the whole training.