The effects of individualized feedback in digital educational games.

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D.; Marte, B.; Linek, S. B.; Lalonde, T.; Albert, D.

19/08/2008

Proceedings Article

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., Marte, B., Linek, S. B., Lalonde, T., & Albert, D. (2008). The effects of individualized feedback in digital educational games. In T. Conolly & M. Stansfield (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd European Conference on Games Based Learning (pp. 227-236), October 16-17, 2008, Barcelona, Spain. Reading, UK: Academic Publishing Limited.

A crucial factor for successful digital educational games, particularly for older children and adolescents, is an appropriate balance; balance between learning and gaming and balance between challenge and ability. These factors are important to maintain fun, immersion, flow experience, and motivation – the motivation to play and therefore to learn. Moreover, it is important to realize a gaming experience that can compete with that of commercial, non-educational games. A special challenge in this context arises from the need for pedagogical support during learning -and therefore during gaming. At many staves of the learning ladder, from a psych-pedagogical perspective, support and feedback is necessary in order to ensure successful, effective, and complacent learning. Considering the importance of not destroying immersion with the game, the assessment of the learning progress and psycho-pedagogical feedback must occur in a non-invasive way. This, however, requires an intelligent system that is capable of assessing individual competencies and learning progress by observing and interpreting the learner’s behaviour in the learning situations within the game. In ELEKTRA, a project funded by the European Commission and aiming at developing a sound psycho¬pedagogical framework for immersive educational games, we developed a formal cognitive framework for the non-invasive assessment and interventions within complex learning situations, that is, micro adaptivity. Attuned to the assessed competencies or lack of competencies, meaningful feedback, for example hints, suggestions, reminders, critical questions, or praise, can be triggered, without destroying the gaming experience. Two questions arise with respect to feedback. First, does feedback, although designed to be non-invasive, on educational issues impair gaming experience? Second, can feedback in gaming situations facilitate the learning progress or does it increase the learner’s cognitive load, which was suggested be several researchers. In the context of the ELEKTRA project, we implemented the theoretical framework of micro adaptivity in the game demonstrator. This demonstrator is a state-of-the art 3D adventure game teaching physics in relation to national school curricula for the age group of 12 o 14 years. For evaluation purposes, log files of the gaming sessions were recorded and, in addition, questionnaires and performance tests were presented. In this work, we present results from an evaluation session. The results indicate that (micro) adaptive interventions (i.e., appropriate and meaningful interventions/feedback for an individual learner, his/her knowledge and learning progress) are superior to neutral (i.e., non-individualized but semantically correct interventions) and inappropriate interventions (i.e., non-individualized, unsuited interventions) in terms of learning and gaming measures. In addition, we analysed the relationships between learning progress and socio-emotional variables. The results indicate that adaptive feedback not only facilitates learning but also attitude and immersion.

80Days: Melding Adaptive Educational Technology and Adaptive and Interactive Storytelling in Digital Educational Games.

Michael D. Kickmeier-Rust, Stefan Göbel, and Dietrich Albert.

31/12/2007

Proceedings Article

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., Marte, B., Linek, S. B., Lalonde, T., & Albert, D. (2008). The effects of individualized feedback in digital educational games. In T. Conolly & Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., Göbel, S., & Albert, D. (2008). 80Days: Melding adaptive educational technology and adaptive and interactive storytelling in digital educational games. In R. Klamma, N. Sharda, B. Fernández-Manjòn, H. Kosch, & M. Spaniol (Eds.), Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Story-Telling and Educational Games (STEG'08) - The power of narration and imagination in technology enhanced learning, September 18-19, 2008, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

The present paper introduces the 80Days project, an inter¬disciplinary European research project endeavoring after pushing the state-of¬the-art in digital educational games. The main objectives of the project are enabling curriculum-related education with competitive computer games, realizing non-invasive and educationally meaningful support of the learner, and combining adaptive tutoring with interactive digital storytelling. 80Days’ solution to those challenges is an ontology-based linkage between so-called knowledge spaces and atomic narrative elements. On this basis, an intelligent adaptation of storyline, story pace, and game play to the learning progress and the preferences of the learner can be achieved.

80Days: Immersive digital educational games with adaptive storytelling.

Law, E. L.-C.; Kickmeier-Rust, M. D.

01/01/2008

Proceedings Article

Law, E. L.-C., & Kickmeier-Rust, M. D. (2008). 80Days: Immersive digital educational games with adaptive storytelling. In R. Klamma, N. Sharda, B. Fernández-Manjòn, H. Kosch, & M. Spaniol (Eds.), Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Story-Telling and Educational Games (STEG'08) - The power of narration and imagination in technology enhanced learning, September 18-19, 2008, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Three major challenges for developing and evaluating immersive digital educational games (DEGs) are identified, including (i) improving adaptive technologies, especially digital storytelling, to shape learning experience; (ii) providing technological approaches to reduce developments costs for DEGs, and (iii) developing robust evaluation methodologies for DEGs. We address these challenges in our R&D project that aims to develop cost-effectively a geography game prototype with pedagogically sound methodological frameworks and advanced technologies, which will be validated with empirical data. In this paper our focus is set on the first two challenges – advances in adaptive digital storytelling and reusability of learning

Learning with computer games: Micro level feedback and interventions.

Michael D. Kickmeier-Rust, Birgit Marte, Stephanie Linek, Tiphaine Lalonde, Dietrich Albert

01/01/2008

Proceedings Article

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., Marte, B., Linek, S. B., Lalonde, T., & Albert, D. (2008). Learning with computer games: Micro level feedback and interventions. In M. E. Auer (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Interactive Computer Aided Learning (ICL), September 24-27, 2008, Villach, Austria. Kassel: Kassel University Press.

The idea of utilizing computer games for educational purposes is not new and grounds on the simple fact that playing is one of the most natural forms of learning. Advantages of digital games are that they offer a meaningful context, rich visualizations, and interactivity. Successful educational games, however, require a subtle balance between learning and gaming as well as challenge and ability. Thus, an AI is required that can assess knowledge, learning progress, and motivational¬emotional states without compromising the flow of the game. Moreover, non-invasive interventions and feedback is necessary to support and guide the learner. The present paper describes the effects, based on empirical research, of such individualized guidance and feedback on problem solving and learning behaviour.

Micro Adaptive, Non-Invasive Knowledge Assessment in Educational Games.

Michael D. Kickmeier-Rust, Cord Hockemeyer, Dietrich Albert, and Thomas Augustin.

01/01/2008

Proceedings Article

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., Hockemeyer, C., Albert, D., & Augustin, T. (2008). Micro adaptive, non-invassive assessment in educational games. In M. Eisenberg, Kinshuk, M. Chang, & R. McGreal (Eds.), Proceedings of the second IEEE International Conference on Digital Game and Intelligent Toy Enhanced Learning (pp. 135-138), November 17-19, 2008, Banff, Canada.

Most existing educational games cannot compete with their non-educational counterparts in terms of visual and narrative quality, gameplay, or adaptability. Amongst the most advanced approaches is ELEKTRA, a European project that developed a framework for intelligent educational personalization, enabling games to adapt learning and gaming activities to individual learning progress and pedagogical strategies. In this context, a crucial aspect is an individualized assessment of knowledge and learning progress. The ELEKTRA methodology enables an integrated and individualized assessment by monitoring and interpreting the learner’s behavior within the game in a non-invasive way. The present paper summarizes the theoretical background from the perspective of cognitive science.

Adaptive Educational Games: Providing Non-invasive Personalised Learning Experiences.

Peirce, Neil; Conlan, Owen; Wade, Vincent.

01/01/2008

Proceedings

Peirce N., Conlan O., Wade V. (2008). Adaptive Educational Games: Providing Non-invasive Personalised Learning Experiences. In: Digital Games and Intelligent Toys Based Education, 2008 Second IEEE International Conference on (2008), pp. 28-35.

Educational games have the potential to provide intrinsically motivating learning experiences that immerse and engage the learner. However, the much heralded benefits of educational games seldom consider the one-size-fits-all approach to education they typically embody. The potential presented by adaptive educational games heralds an era of motivating personalised learning experiences. Such an advance nevertheless must overcome the conflicts exposed by adapting a gaming experience for educational gain. This paper proposes a novel approach for non-invasively adapting a game to enable a personalised learning experience. This is achieved in an innovative, generic and reusable manner, without mitigating the motivational features of gaming. An implementation of this approach in the form of the ALIGN (Adaptive Learning In Games through Non-invasion) system is detailed and the results of an authentic evaluation are discussed.

Challenges in the development and evaluation of immersive digital educational games.

Steiner, C.M., Kickmeier, M.D., & Albert, D.

01/01/2010

Book Chapter

Law, E. L.-C., Kickmeier-Rust, M., Albert, D., & Holzinger, A. (2008). Challenges in the development and evaluation of immersive digital educational games. In A. Holzinger (Ed.), HCI and Usability for Education and Work. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 5289. Berlin: Springer.

In this paper, we describe a conceptual framework and address the related issues and solutions in the identification of three major challenges for the development and evaluation of Immersive Digital Educational Games (IDEGs). These challenges are (i) advancing adaptive educational technologies to shape learning experience, ensuring the individualization of learning experiences, adaptation to personal aims, needs, abilities and prerequisites; (ii) providing technological approaches to reduce the development costs for IDEGs; by enabling the creation of entirely different stories and games for a variety of different learning domains, each based, more or less, on the same pool of story units; patterns and structures; (iii) developing robust evaluation methodologies for IDEGs by the extension of ISO 9241 to include user atisfaction, motivation and learning progress and other User Experience (UX) attributes. While our research and development is by no means concluded, we believe that we have arrived at a stage where conclusions may be drawn, which will be of considerable use to other researchers in this domain.

Realtime Knowledge Space Skill Assessment for Personalized Digital Educational Games.

Conlan, O.; Hampson, C.; Peirce, N.; Kickmeier-Rust, M.D.

08/12/2009

Proceedings Article

Conlan, O., Hampson, C., Peirce, N., & Kickmeier-Rust, M. D. (2008). Realtime Knowledge Space Skill Assessment for Personalized Digital Educational Games. In Proceedings of the Ninth IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT'09), July 14-18, 2009, Riga, Latvia.

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Little Big Difference: Gender Aspects and Gender-based Adaptation in Educational Games.

Steiner, C.M., Kickmeier, M.D., & Albert, D.

08/12/2009

Proceedings Article

Steiner, C.M., Kickmeier, M.D., & Albert, D. (2009). Little big difference: Gender aspects and gender-based adaptation in educational games. Paper acccepted for presentation at the 4th International Conference on E-Learning and Games (EDUTAINMENT 2009), August 9-11, Banff, Canada.

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Digital Game-Based Learning: New Horizons of Educational Technology.

Steiner, C.M., Kickmeier, M.D., & Albert, D.

31/12/2009

Book Chapter

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D.; Mattheiss, E.; Steiner, C. M., & Albert, D. (in press). Digital game-based learning: New horizons of educational technology. In M. Schiefner & M. Ebner (Eds.), Looking Toward the Future of Technology Enhanced Education: Ubiquitous Learning and the Digital Native. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

80Days: Adaptive Digital Storytelling for Digital Educational Games

Göbel, S., Mehm, F., Radke, S., Steinmetz, R.

30/12/2009

Göbel, S., Mehm, F., Radke, S.,& Steinmetz, R. (2009). 80Days: Adaptive Digital Storytelling for Digital Educational Games. Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Story-Telling and Educational Games (STEG'09)

Around an Inspiring Virtual Learning World in Eighty Days

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D.

31/12/2009

Scientific Journal Article

APA Style: Kickmeier-Rust, M. D. (2009). Around an Inspiring Virtual Learning World in Eighty Days. IEEE Learning Technology Newsletter, 11(1+2), 10-12.

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Gender and Cultural Differences in Perceiving Game Characters of Digital Educational Games

Law, Effie L-C., Gamble, T., & Schwarz, D.

31/12/2009

Proceedings Article

Law, E. L.-C., Gamble, T., & Schwarz, D. (2009). Gender and cultural differences in perceiving game characters of digital educational games. In Proceedings of INTERACT 2009 (pp. 24-29), August 24-28, 2009, Uppsala, Sweden.

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80Days: around an inspiring virtual learning world in eighty days

Gamble, T.

31/12/2009

Other

Gamble, T. (2009). 80Days: around an inspiring virtual learning world in eighty days. Inspiring Computer Science (iCS), Department of Computer Science, University of Leicester.

80Days: around an inspiring virtual learning world in eighty days

Gamble, T.

31/12/2009

Other

Gamble, T. (2009). 80Days: around an inspiring virtual learning world in eighty days. Inspiring Computer Science (iCS), Department of Computer Science, University of Leicester.

Emergent design: Serendipity in digital educational games

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D.; Albert, D.

31/12/2009

Proceedings Article

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., & Albert, D. (2009). Emergent design: Serendipity in digital educational games. In R. Shumaker (Ed.), Virtual and Mixed Reality, Lecture Notes in Computer Science (pp 206-215). Berlin: Springer.

3D Gaming and Cartography - Design Considerations for game-based generation of Virtual Terrain Environments

Oleggini, L., Nova, S., Hurni, L.

21/11/2009

Oleggini, L., Nova, S., Hurni, L. (2009). 3D Gaming and Cartography - Design Considerations for game-based generation of Virtual Terrain Environments. Proceedings of the 24th International Cartography Conference, Santiago, Chile, 15.-21.11.2009

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Undercover: Non-invasive, adaptive interventions in educational games.

Steiner, C. M., Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., Mattheiss, E., Albert, D.

14/10/2009

Proceedings Article

Steiner, C. M., Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., Mattheiss, E., & Albert, D. (2009). Undercover: Non-invasive, adaptive interventions in educational games. In M. D. Kickmeier-Rust (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1st international open workshop on intelligent personalization and adaptation in digital educational games (pp. 55-66). October 14, 2009, Graz, Austria.

A mixed-method approach on digital educational games for K12: Gender, attitudes and performance.

Law, E. L.-C., Gamble, T., Schwarz, D., Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., Holzinger, A.

15/09/2009

Scientific Journal Article

Law, E. L.-C., Gamble, T., Schwarz, D., Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., & Holzinger, A. (2009). A mixed-method approach on digital educational games for K12: Gender, attitudes and performance. In A. Holzinger (Ed.), HCI and Usability for Education and Work. Proceedings of the 4th Symposium of the Workgroup Human-Computer Interaction and Usability Engineering of the Austrian Computer Society, USAB 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, LNCS 5298 (pp. 19–30). Berlin: Springer.

Emergence in digital educational games: A world of incidents in a universe of rules.

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., Albert, D.

13/10/2009

Proceedings Article

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., & Albert, D. (2009). Emergence in digital educational games: A world of incidents in a universe of rules. In M. Pivec (Ed.), Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Games-based Learning (ECGBL), October 12-13, 2009, Graz, Austria.

Non-invasive assessment and adaptive interventions in learning games.

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., Steiner, C. M., Albert, D.

06/01/2009

Proceedings Article

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., Steiner, C. M., & Albert, D. (2009). Non-invasive assessment and adaptive interventions in learning games. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Networking and Collaborative Systems (INCoS), November 4-6, 2009, Barcelona, Spain.

Talking digital educational games.

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D.

14/10/2009

Proceedings

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D. (2009). Talking digital educational games. In M. D. Kickmeier-Rust (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1st international open workshop on intelligent personalization and adaptation in digital educational games (pp. 55-66). October 14, 2009, Graz, Austria.

Rendering Geographic Datasets with 3D Game Engine - Dealing with Compatibility Issues

Oleggini, L., Nova, S., Hurni, L.

14/10/2009

Proceedings

Oleggini, L., Nova, S. & Hurni, L.. (2009). Rendering Geographic Datasets with 3D Game Engine - Dealing with Compatibility Issues. In M. D. Kickmeier-Rust (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1st international open workshop on intelligent personalization and adaptation in digital educational games (pp. 27-33). October 14, 2009, Graz, Austria.

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Authoring Environment for Story-based Digital Educational Games

Mehm, F.;Göbel, S.;Radke, S.;Steinmetz, R.

01/01/1970

Proceedings Article

Mehm, F., Göbel, S., Radke, S., & Steinmetz, R. (2009). Authoring Environment for Story-based Digital Educational Games. Proceedings of the 1st International Open Workshop on Intelligent Personalization and Adaptation in Digital Educational Games, 113-124. October 14, 2009, Graz, Austria.

Narrative Game-based Learning Objects for Story-based Digital Educational Games

Göbel, S., de Carvalho Rodrigues, A., Mehm, F., Steinmetz, R.

14/10/2010

Proceedings Article

Göbel, S., de Carvalho Rodrigues, A., Mehm, F.,& Steinmetz, R. (2009). Narrative Game-based Learning Objects for Story-based Digital Educational Games. Proceedings of the 1st International Open Workshop on Intelligent Personalization and Adaptation in Digital Educational Games, 113-124. October 14, 2009, Graz, Austria.

Motivation in game-based learning: It’s more than ‘flow’.

Mattheiss, E., Kickmeier-Rust, M., Steiner, C., & Albert, D.

31/12/2009

Proceedings Article

Mattheiss, E., Kickmeier-Rust, M., Steiner, C., & Albert, D. (2009). Motivation in game-based learning: It’s more than ‘flow’. In Proceedings of 3. Workshop Game-based Learning , DeLFI 2009.

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An Educational guide to planet earth: Adaptation and personalization in immersive educational Games.

Kickmeier-Rust, M.D., Mattheiss, E., & Albert, D.

31/12/2009

Proceedings Article

Kickmeier-Rust, M.D., Mattheiss, E., & Albert, D. (2009). An Educational guide to planet earth: Adaptation and personalization in immersive educational games. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Story-Telling and Educational Games (STEG09), ICWL 2009.

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Interactive instruction

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D.

31/12/2009

General Journal Article

Kickmeier-Rust, M. D. (2009). Interactive instruction. Public Service Review: Science & Technology, 4, 97.

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