Special Issue on "Game based learning for 21st century transferable skills: challenges and opportunities"
It is broadly acknowledged that digital serious games offer a high potential to foster and support learning in educational and training settings. A number of significant research studies have been carried out to analyze, from different perspectives, the relationship among types of games, learning objectives, and target groups. For instance, such studies have considered which kind of games better support fulfilment of specific learning objectives, and how this can be done in given contexts and with a certain target population.
This special issue focuses on how digital serious games can contribute to the present knowledge society requirements that put a higher demand towards acquiring transferable skills. Transversal skills are important in enhancing more global and sustainable learning as they span across multiple scientific disciplines and subjects. Examples of transferable skills include: collaboration, critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving, reasoning abilities, learning to learn or decision taking. This special issue intends to explore what new opportunities do digital games in general - and digital serious games in particular - offer to meet these new demands.
Two main and complementary perspectives are considered: how games can be used to foster learning of transferable skills and how games can be effectively designed and developed towards this aim.
The first perspective refers to the fact that learning processes cannot be understood by merely looking at the specific characteristics of the technology enhanced educational application (e.g., a digital serious game), but that it is also necessary to consider the complete learning environment in which this game is integrated (including goals, tools, tasks, methodologies and context of use). Educational researchers become increasingly aware of this integrated perspective and of the necessity to address not only how the digital game has been implemented, but also how the activities that can be accomplished thanks to technology mediation to achieve the given learning goals have been designed and evaluated in order to achieve the given learning goals.
The second perspective concerns methodologies and techniques that are applied in the design and development of serious games. A key aspect, for effective serious game design, is the development of modules and tools able to support an effective user assessment in the game. Breakthroughs in this aspect of serious games design are mostly expected on issues such as: (a) user feedback mechanisms, (b) effective user data gathering and management, (c) sensor data fusion and integration, (d) data analysis methods, and (e) an efficient and easy-to-use user interface.
We think that the interplay of these two perspectives (i.e., design and use of games for education) will be crucial for the future of game based learning. The intention of the special issue is to stimulate a fruitful dialogue between researchers working along these two perspectives.
We invite authors to submit original research work that describes new developments in the area of game based learning for 21st century transferable skills, including devices, hardware/software tools, design and development methodologies, educational applications, evaluation and assessment studies or case studies of exemplary use.
Summarizing, potential topics include, but are not limited to:
· Methodologies and best practices of digital games deployment in formal education and in training
· Expert evaluation of serious game deployment
· Learning evaluation in digital game-based learning
· Assessment of learners' performance in digital educational games
· Metrics for measuring learning outcomes facilitated by digital educational games
· Feedback to learners digital game-based learning
· User modeling and profiling in digital educational games
· Advanced user interaction in digital educational games
Important dates
Submissions due: 30 November 2012
First decision: 1 February 2013
Revised manuscripts due: 1 April 2013
Feedback on revised manuscripts: 1 June 2013
Final manuscript due by the authors: 30 July 2013
Final manuscript sent to the publishers: 30 September 2013
Special Issue Publication January 2014 (Volume 17 Issue 1)
Special Issue Guest Editors
Dr. Francesco Bellotti
Department of Naval, Electrical, Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering (DITEN)
University of Genoa
Genoa, Italy
e-mail: franz@elios.unige.it
Dr. Rosa Maria Bottino
Institute for Educational Technology (ITD)
Italian National Research Council (CNR)
Genova, Italy
e-mail: bottino@itd.cnr.it
Dr. Rob Nadolski
Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies
Open University of the Netherlands
Heerlen, Netherlands
Prof. Baltasar Fernández-Manjón
Department of Ingenieria del Software e Inteligencia Artificial
Complutense University of Madrid
Madrid, Spain
e-mail: balta@fdi.ucm.es
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