Searching for "game based"

elearning market in decline

Global E-Learning Market in Steep Decline, Report Says

By Richard Chang

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/09/01/global-elearning-market-in-steep-decline.aspx

a recent report released by Ambient Insight Research, a Washington state-based market research firm.

Revenues for self-paced e-learning in 2016 are heavily concentrated in two countries — the United States and China. The growth rate in the U.S. is at -5.3 percent, representing a $4.9 billion drop in revenues by 2021, while in China, the rate is at -8.8 percent, representing a $1.9 billion drop by 2021. The e-learning market in China has deteriorated rapidly in just the last 18 months, the report said.

  • Of the 122 countries tracked by Ambient Insight, 15 have growth rates for self-paced e-learning over 15 percent during the next five years. These countries are heavily concentrated in Asia and Africa, with the two outliers being Slovakia and Lithuania.
  • Eleven of the top 15 growth countries will generate less than $20 million by 2021. Of the top 15, Slovakia and Lithuania are anticipated to generate the highest revenues for self-paced products by 2021, at $55.4 million and $36.5 million, respectively.
  • The growth rates are negative in every region except Africa, where the growth is flat at 0.9 percent. The steepest declines are in Asia and Latin America at -11.7 percent and -10.8 percent, respectively. The economic meltdowns in Brazil and Venezuela are major inhibitors in Latin America.
  • There are 77 countries with flat-to-negative growth rates. The countries with the lowest growth rates are Yemen (-18.7 percent), Brazil (-19.8 percent), Qatar (-23.5 percent) and Venezuela (-26.8 percent).

Self-paced e-learning products include online courses, managed education services, managed training, e-books and learning management systems, according to the report. The author does not consider mobile and game-based learning, which are growing, to be in the self-paced e-learning category.

The news on the self-paced e-learning industry is so bad, Ambient Insight will no longer publish commercial syndicated reports on the industry, the firm says on its website and in the report.

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more on elearning in this IMS blog

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=elearning

gradecraft is lms plus gaming

An LMS to Support ‘Gameful’ Learning

Seeking to bring the qualities of well-designed games to pedagogical assessment, the University of Michigan created a learning management system that uses gaming elements such as competition, badges and unlocks to provide students with a personalized pathway through their courses.

By David Raths 08/24/16

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/08/24/an-lms-to-support-gameful-learning.aspx

UM School of Information and School of Education

a new type of learning management system called GradeCraft. GradeCraft borrows game elements such as badges and unlocks to govern students’ progress through a course. With unlocks, for example, you have to complete a task before moving to the next level.

Written in Ruby on Rails and hosted on Amazon Web Services, GradeCraft was created by a small team of students and faculty with additional software support from Ann Arbor-based developer Alfa Jango. Their work received support from UM’s Office of Digital Education and Innovation and the Office of the Provost. GradeCraft can work as a stand-alone platform or in conjunction with a traditional LMS via the LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) protocol.

Here is how it works: Instructors create a course shell within GradeCraft (similar to the process with any LMS). Students use a tool called the “Grade Predictor” to plan a personalized pathway through the course, making predictions about both what they will do and how they will perform. When assignments are graded, predictions turn into progress; students are then nudged to revisit their semester plan, reassessing what work is available and how well they need to do to succeed overall. Students are able to independently choose an assessment pathway that matches their interests within the framework of learning objectives for the course.

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more on LMS in this blog

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=gaming

more on gaming in this blog

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=lms

more on badges in this blog

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=badges

Ethical Considerations For Using Virtual Reality

Five Ethical Considerations For Using Virtual Reality with Children and Adolescents

Five Ethical Considerations For Using Virtual Reality with Children and Adolescents

G+ link https://plus.google.com/+TessPajaron/posts/8YYgjoPrQvq

In an address to the VRX conference in San Francisco, noted game developer and tech wizard, Jesse Schell predicted that over 8 million VR gamer headsets will be sold in 2016. Facebook purchased Oculus Rift, presumably laying the groundwork for a future where friends and family will interact in rich virtual spaces. All the major players, including Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, Google and an HTC and Valve partnership are jostling for the consumer headset market.

Experimenting with VR in his classes as part of a project piloted by Seattle-based foundry10, a privately funded research organization that creates partnerships with educators to implement, research and explore the various intersections of emerging technologies and learning, including VR..

And the technology’s potential for good is vast. It has already been used to help with autism, improve personal financial management, treat PTSD and manage pain. More and more news outlets, including the New York Times, are adopting immersive journalism, where news stories can be experienced through VR.

As an educational tool, VR might prove transformative. Google Expeditions allows students to take over 100 virtual journeys from ancient Rome to the surface of Mars. It might also have a big impact on social emotional learning (SEL), as VR’s unique ability to produce empathy recently led Wired magazine to explore its potential as “the ultimate empathy machine”. Addressing a persistent anxiety, Suter used Samsung Gear’s Public Speaking Simulator to successfully prepare a few nervous students for class presentations, reporting they felt “much more calm” during the live delivery.

Ethical Considerations

In a recently published article, researchers Michael Madary and Thomas K. Metzinger from Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany review a series of ethical considerations when implementing VR. The illusion of embodiment may provide VR’s greatest value to education, but also lies at the heart of its ethical implementation. Madary and Metzinger believe that VR is not just an evolution from television and video game screens, but a revolution that will have an enormous social impact. In their paper, they claim that:

VR technology will eventually change not only our general image of humanity but also our understanding of deeply entrenched notions, such as “conscious experience,” “selfhood,” “authenticity,” or “realness.”

It’s important to remember that many current VR uses in schools, like Google Expeditions, are not interactive VR, but simply 360-degree video experiences. In these cases, students experience immersive 3D pictures or panoramas, but do not deeply interact with the content. The illusion of embodiment is a product of interactive content and motion tracking, where users can alter and affect their environment and engage with others who share their virtual space. Headsets like the Vive and Occulus Rift fall under this latter category, but it won’t be long before most, if not all, consumer oriented VR technology will be completely immersive and interactive.

1. Long-Term Effects and Prolonged Exposure

2. The Impact of Environment on Agency and Behavior

3. Aggravating Preexisting Psychological or Emotional Issues

4. (Un)Reality and Diminished Real World Interactions

5. Privacy and Data Gathering

 

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more on virtual reality in this IMS blog

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=virtual+reality

LRS drone

REPORT

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), AKA drones

August 15, 2016

Sources:

  • This report is based on a DVD “Drones on Campus. UAS Issues for the Higher Education Community” of February 2, 2016. The DVD contains a PDF file and flattened media file with a voice-narrated PPT based on the information from the PDF.
  • The report takes into consideration the opulence of materials gathered during the last 4-5 years in the IMS blog: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=drones

Narrative / synopsis:

The DVD is a commercial product for sale for the Higher Ed. It is the recoding of a commercial seminar for Higher Ed, led by a lawyer (Lisa Ellman, lisa.ellman@hoganlovells.com, Twitter handle @leelellman) from the legal practice Hogan Lovells and by employee from FAA.

The information below represents the main points from the PDF / PPT presentation, as well as additional information with clarifications, which I added while working with the PDF and PPT files.

Discussion topics:

  1. How and when UAS can be approved for flying at SCSU
  2. The effect on SCSU of the domestic UAS legal framework
  3. Protection against rogue drones on campus
  4. Policymaking around UAS

FAA Modernization and Reform Act (P.L. 112-095) Reports and Plans Integration of Civil Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the National Airspace System (NAS) Roadmap https://www.faa.gov/about/plans_reports/modernization/media/Sec.332(a).pdf
Unmanned Aircraft Systems Comprehensive Plan (Section 332 (a)(5))
https://www.faa.gov/about/plans_reports/modernization/media/Sec.332(a)(5)2.pdf
Unmanned Aircraft Systems Privacy Requirements (Section 332 (a)(5))
https://www.faa.gov/about/plans_reports/modernization/media/Sec.332(a)(5).pdf
section 333 exemptions
http://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/fly_for_work_business/beyond_the_basics/section_333/333_authorizations/
Small UAS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)
http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/media/021515_suas_summary.pdf
The term “unmanned aircraft system” means an unmanned aircraft and associated elements (including communication links and components that control the unmanned aircraft) that are required for the pilot in command to operate safely and efficiently in the national airspace system.
Federal Gov’t UAS Policymaking. FAA Reauthorization Act of 2012, FAA Rulemaking process, Federal Interagency Process, Agency-Specific Processes
UAS categorization:

  • Model aircraft
  • Public – UAS owned and operated by government agencies and organizations, such as public university
    a public COA (certificate of waiver of authorization) is issued by the FAA to a public agency/organization for public aircraft operations
    most aspects of public aircraft operations are not subject to FAA oversight
    If we are a public university… can we operate UAS under a public COA?
    in order to operate under a public COA< the UAS must be operated by the university for a “core governmental function, which is defined as:
    “… and activity undertaken by a government, such as national defense, intelligence missions, firefighting, search and rescue, law enforcement (including transport of prisoners, detainees, and illegal aliens), aeronautical research, or biological or geological resource management.
    In an FAA Office, it was clarified that “aeronautical research” must be focused on the development and testing of the UAS itself, rather than the thing being observed and monitored using the UAS.
  • Civil
  • Any private sector (non-governmental) operation of a drone for purposes other than recreation or hobby is considered a “civil” operation
  • This category covers all commercial use of UAS, including use by private universities and colleges

Summary Grant Exemption / Blanket COA conditions and COA conditions and limitations:

  • Below 200 feet
  • Within visual line-of-sight of the pilot and visual observer
  • At least 500 feet from nonparticipating persons, vessels, vehicles, or structures, unless certain conditions met
  • Over private or controlled access property with consent
  • Visual observer required
  • Pilot must have an FAA issues pilot certificate and a medical certificate or DL
  • Mussed give a way to all manned aircraft

SCSU must apply for section 333 exemption – FAA has granted 3.129 out of 4500 applications. FAA current goal: 50+ exemption grants per week

QA regarding exemption / blanket COA requirements

Small UAS Rule: June 2016 (IMS blog)

  • Must be < 55 lbs
  • Max altitude speed 500 feet / 100 mph
  • Minimum visibility 3 miles
  • UAS always yield right-of-way to other aircraft
  • UAS cannot be operated recklessly
  • Registration and marking required
  • Hobbyist operators: December 21, 2015
  • All UAS >.55 pounds and less than 55 pounds must be registered either using the new online system or the FAAs existing paper-based registration system before the UAS can be operated outdoors
  • UAS within that right range purchased prior to December 21, 2015 must be registered by February 19, 2016
  • Hobbies required to submit basic contact info, such as name, address email. Costs $5 to register hobbyist owner’s entire fleet of UAS. The FAA will issue a single CAR (certificate of aircraft registration) with one registration number that can be used for and should be put on each UAS. Every 3 years, renewal.

Boggs v Meredith. How high do airspace rights extend over private property

  • Up to 83 feet in the air
  • Other legal liability issues:
    • Trespass
    • Nuisance

Mitigating UAS Legal Liabilities

  • When hiring a UAS server provider
    • Seek to shift and limit liability through contract
    • Vendors operating UAS on university property should sing a written agreement
    • Ensure the UAS service provider has adequate insurance
  • When selecting a UAS model:

Who is in charge

  • University should have a UAS operations manual with policies and procedures
    • Permission to fly on campus (who, how and when)
    • UAS operation, maintenance and inspection procedures
    • Emergency procedures, accident / incident notification, reporting
    • FAA recordkeeping requirements
      • UAS flight activity (when, where, duration)
      • Incidents/accidents involving personal injury or property damage
      • Lost-link events (AKA fly-aways)
      • UAS maintenance and inspection
      • UAS flight crew training / qualifications
      • Participant / property owner consent
    • Faculty/staff/student qualifications and training
    • Privacy policies, data management, retention
    • Consent and notification requirements for operating near people and structures

 

Outline of immediate tasks:

Based on the information above:

  • SCSU, LRS in particular, must decide what drone’s certificate to apply for: a. model; b. public; c.civil; or d. hobbies
  • After selection of certificate type, SCSU, LRS in particular, must register the drone[s].
  • SCSU, LRS in particular, must develop policies for service, operation and maintenance.
  • SCSU, LRS in particular, must assign person[s] in charge of the training, maintenance and operation.

Suggestions and recommendations:

  • Hosting a drone in the library.
    If to adhere to the ALA call for the librarians to be the forefront of technology on campus, LRS can use the drone purchased in April 2014 to train and lend the drone for research on campus.
    If LRS continues the policy of the previous dean, further suggestions below can be waved off.
  • Training, maintenance and operation
    Shall LRS keep the drone, the best person to conduct the training and service of the drone will be an IMS faculty. As per email correspondence attached below, please have again the rational:
    – hosting the drone with Circulation (staff) does not provide the adequate academic/research services. It is expected that the foremost users will be faculty, students and then staff and the foremost use will be academic and then leisure activities. While IMS faculty can meet the “leisure activities” for all three constituency, as it has been provided by the Circulation staff until this point, the IMS faculty can also provide the research and academic service, which Circulation staff is not educated neither trained for. With that said, the point made is not against staff not participating in the effort to train and service campus with the drone; it just makes the point that charging staff with that task is limited and against the best interest of the faculty and students on campus.
    – blocking the effort of IMS faculty to lead technology-oriented services on campus, LRS in particular.
    Upon hiring of a “technology” librarian, previous dean Mark Vargas blocked any technology-related activities by IMS faculty: e.g. 3d printer AKA makerspace, gaming and gamification, drones, etc.
    If I am to understand well, the “technology” librarian’s charge must be toward automated library systems and similar, rather than educational use of multimedia and interactivity. Blocking IMS faculty to do what they do best by freezing any of their efforts and reserving “technology” for [unknown] future leadership of the “technology” librarian is a waste of IMS faculty expertise and knowledge.
    Gaming and Gamification (https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2015/03/19/recommendations-for-games-and-gaming-at-lrs/) charge by previous dean Mark Vargas to the first-year “technology” librarian revealed as obvious that giving the preference to junior faculty to “lead” an effort can become a dangerous tool in the hands of the administration to manipulate and slow down efforts of educational trends of time-sensitive character. While, as from the beginning, the collaboration of the “technology” librarian has been welcomed and appreciated, it does not make sense from any cultural or institutional perspective, to put in charge a new faculty, who does not have the knowledge and networking of the campus, less the experience and knowledge with multimedia and interactive tools as the rest of the seasoned IMS faculty. Decision and consequent refusal of the “technology” librarian to work with the IMS faculty did not contribute to improvement of the situation.
    A very important point, which goes against the “consensus” efforts of the previous dean, is the fact that now the library faculty is using the newly-hired “technology” librarian to hinder further the integration of the IMS faculty as part of LRS by using her as a focal point for any technology initiative in LRS, thus further excluding the IMS faculty from LRS activities. It will help: 1. delineate the expertise parameters of the “technology” librarian and 2. have the librarian faculty think about their work with the IMS faculty, which has been a thorny issue for more than 10 years now (pretty much since the hire of the bulk of the reference librarians).

If there are questions, or the need of more information, please do not hesitate to request.

Plamen Miltenoff, Ph.D., MLIS
Professor

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From: Miltenoff, Plamen
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2016 9:44 AM
To: Banaian, King <kbanaian@stcloudstate.edu>
Subject: request to release the library drone

 

Dr. Banaian,

 

My name is Plamen Miltenoff and I am faculty with the InforMedia Services of the SCSU Library. I have worked in the last 15+ years with faculty, students and staff on educational technology and instructional design. I hold two doctoral degrees in education and four master’s degrees in history and Library and Information Science.
I have extensive background in new educational technologies, which is amply reflected in the following blog: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/. Shall more proof of my abilities is needed, here is detailed information about publications, presentations and projects, which I have accomplished: http://web.stcloudstate.edu/pmiltenoff/faculty/

In the spring of 2014, Mark Vargas purchased a drone. As per my job description and long experience working with faculty across campus with other technologies, I immediately alerted SCSU faculty who have strong interest in applying drone’s technology in their studies, research and teaching, assuming that the newly-appointed library director (Mark Vargas) will support my years-long efforts.

Due to complications with FAA regulations the drones across the country were grounded.

Mark Vargas “stationed” it with the library Access Services, a unit, which is comprised of staff only. When I approached the library staff from Access Services, they chose to not collaborate with me, but rather deflect me to Mark Vargas.
As per my email to Mark Vargas of July 21, 2015 (attachment 1), I requested an explanation and shared my feeling that SCSU faculty are being left in disadvantage after I witness the drone being used. I also asked my immediate supervisor Mark Vargas about the policies and release conditions. Unfortunately, my repeated requests remained unanswered.

As of yesterday, FAA has finally released the last version of the regulations:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2016/06/22/faa-final-rules-drones/

Here is extensive information on how drones can be used in education, which I collected through the years: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=drones

I am turning to you as the appointed administrator-in-charge of the library (attachment 2), with the request that you share the amounted paperwork regarding the drone. Mark Vargas did not share that information, despite numerous requests, e.g., if the drone is registered, etc.

I am seeking your administrative approval to pursue the completion of the paperwork and secure immediate usability of the drone, so it is available also to all interested SCSU faculty with or without my participation (as per regulations). The request is timely, since such technologies are aging quickly. Besides the depreciation of the technology, SCSU students and faculty deserves being kept with the times and explore a technology, which is rapidly becoming a mainstream, rather than novelty.

Please consider that I am the only library member with terminal degrees in education as well as extensive experience with technologies in general and educational technologies in particular.  I am also the only library member with extensive network among faculty across campus. I am perceived by colleagues across campus more often as a peer, collaborator and research partner, then merely a service provider, as most of the library staff and faculty consider themselves. I am the only library member, who sits on theses and doctoral committees and the invitations to these committees are greatly based on my experience in educational technologies and my research and publishing skills. Leaving the drone in the Access Services, as appointed by the previous administrator, will result in a dormancy of technology as it has happened with numerous other technologies on this campus. It is a waste of equipment, which this university cannot afford in the respective financial times. Letting me take the lead of the drone project will secure active promotion and better application of this technology and possibly other venues (e.g. grants) to pursue further endeavors.

Thank you and looking forward to your approval.

 

Plamen Miltenoff, Ph.D., MLIS

Professor

320-308-3072

pmiltenoff@stcloudstate.edu

http://web.stcloudstate.edu/pmiltenoff/faculty/

 

Attachment 1

 

From: Miltenoff, Plamen
Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2015 5:09 PM
To: Vargas, Mark A. <mavargas@stcloudstate.edu>
Cc: Quinlan, Jennifer M. <jmquinlan@stcloudstate.edu>; Prescott, Melissa K. <mkprescott@stcloudstate.edu>; Hergert, Thomas R. <trhergert@stcloudstate.edu>
Subject: LRS drones

 

Mark,

Last week LRS staff was handling the LRS drones.

Did I miss email correspondence informing about the change in regulations? If so, I would like to have a copy of it.

If not, I would like to know your rational for your selective choice releasing this technology.

Per the IMS blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=drones&submit=Search

and direct oral and written communication with you, I have expressed strong academic interest in research of this technology for educational purposes. I have the educational background and experience for the aforementioned request.

I am asking you for access to this technology since early summer of 2014.

I would like to be informed what your plan for this technology is and when it will be open to the LRS faculty. I also would like to know when preference to LRS staff is given when technology is concerned, so I can plan accordingly.

Thank you and looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Plamen

—————-

Plamen Miltenoff, Ph.D., MLIS

 

Attachment 2

From: lrs_l-bounces@lists.stcloudstate.edu [mailto:lrs_l-bounces@lists.stcloudstate.edu] On Behalf Of Vaidya, Ashish K.
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2016 2:08 PM
To: lrs_l@stcloudstate.edu <lrs_l@lists.stcloudstate.edu>
Subject: [LRS_l] Interim Leadership for LRS

Dear LRS Faculty and Staff,

As you are aware, Mark Vargas has submitted his resignation as Dean of Learning Resources Services. Mark’s last day on campus was Friday, June 10, 2016.

I want to assure you that any decision about interim leadership will be made after careful consideration of the needs of the Library and the University. I will continue conversations with various individuals, including the President, to ensure we have strategic alignment in both support and oversight for LRS.  LRS is committed to providing excellent services to our students, faculty, and staff, creating opportunities for knowledge, and serving the public good. I look forward to working together with you to accomplish these goals.

I expect to identify an interim dean shortly and to begin a national search this fall with an appointment to begin July 1, 2017.  I have asked Greta to schedule a time for me to visit with faculty and staff in Learning Resource Service next week. In the meantime, Dean King Banaian will serve as the administrator-in-charge of LRS until June 30, 2016.

Sincerely yours,

Ashish

 

 

Pokemon for students

Penn State Program Intros Teens to Software Behind Pokémon Go

By Dian Schaffhauser 08/04/16

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/08/04/summer-program-intros-teens-to-software-behind-pokemon-go.aspx

A summer-time enrichment experience for high schoolers at Penn State has taken on a heightened level of excitement with the use of the same development toolset behind the global phenom Pokémon Go.

Besides Unity, the platform used by Niantic to create Pokémon Go and other popular games, the course also introduces students to AutoDesk’s Maya, a program used for 3D animation, modeling, simulation and rendering.

problem-based learning, which brings the students together for team problem-solving.

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More on Pokemon Go in this IMS blog

Pokemon Go

more on badges

Badging: Not Quite the Next Big Thing

While badging and digital credentialing are gaining acceptance in the business world and, to some extent, higher education, K-12 educators — and even students — are slower to see the value.

By Michael Hart 07/20/16

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/07/20/badging-not-quite-the-next-big-thing.aspx

That’s when the MacArthur Foundation highlighted the winning projects of its Badges for Lifelong Learning competition at the Digital Media and Learning Conference in Chicago. The competition, co-sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Mozilla Foundation, had attracted nearly 100 competitors a year earlier. The winners shared $2 million worth of development grants.

Evidence of Lifelong Learning

A digital badge or credential is a validation, via technology, that a person has earned an accomplishment, learned a skill or gained command of specific content. Typically, it is an interactive image posted on a web page and connected to a certain body of information that communicates the badge earner’s competency.

Credly is a company that offers off-the-shelf credentialing and badging for organizations, companies and educational institutions. One of its projects, BadgeStack, which has since been renamed BadgeOS, was a winner in the 2013 MacArthur competition. Virtually any individual or organization can use its platform to determine criteria for digital credentials and then award them, often taking advantage of an open-source tool like WordPress. The credential recipient can then use the BadgeOS platform to manage the use of the credential, choosing to display badges on social media profiles or uploading achievements to a digital resume, for instance.

Finkelstein and others see, with the persistently growing interest in competency-based education (CBE), that badging is a way to assess and document competency.

Colorado Education Initiative, (see webinar report in this IMS blog https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2016/06/20/colorados-digital-badging-initiative/)

There are obstacles, though, to universal acceptance of digital credentialing.
For one, not every community, company or organization sees a badge as something of value.

When a player earns points for his or her success in a game, those points have no value outside of the environment in which the game is played. For points, badges, credentials — however you want to define them — to be perceived as evidence of competency, they have to have portability and be viewed with value outside of their own environment.

 

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More on badges in this IMS blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=badges

gamification position

Tenure Track Position in Gamification Tampere University of Technology

http://www.computeroxy.com/announcement,a2945.html

Tampere University of Technology (TUT) is an active scientific community of 2,000 employees and more than 10,000 students. The University operates in the form of a foundation and has a long-standing tradition of collaboration with other research institutions and business life. Many of the fields of research and study represented at the University play a key role in addressing global challenges. Internationality is an inherent part of all the University’s activities. Welcome to join us at TUT!

The University of Turku is a world-class multidisciplinary research university which offers interesting challenges and a unique vantage point to national and international research and education.

Tenure track (Gamification)

The tenure track position is shared between Tampere University of Technology and the University of Turku. It supports the co-operation in teaching and research in the area of gamification between the two universities.

The professorship is especially associated with the TUT Game Lab (Pori Department, TUT) and the Digital Culture research group of the Cultural Production and Landscape Studies degree programme (School of History, Culture and Arts Studies, UTU). These research groups currently have five on-going research projects related to games and playing.

The TUT Game Lab brings together learning scientists, developers and humanists to conduct research and develop new ways of utilizing games in learning. The aim is to develop and study high-impact digital games that address real world challenges.

The main research objectives of TUT Game Lab are:
– Developing scientifically justified games to demonstrate and conduct research
– Studying the impact of educational games
– Exploring ways to combine learning and assessment in games
– Studying and modelling the playing experience

The Digital Culture research group (UTU) has three research focuses:
– cultural appropriation of technologies
– social media
– game cultures.

The Digital Culture research group specializes in the study of the cultural history of digital games and the uses of digital game histories in contemporary culture (so-called “history culture”). Furthermore, the research group has participated in various digital game exhibition projects as well as practical game design and gamification projects combining digital and non-digital elements. Digital Culture is a part of the Cultural Production and Landscape Studies degree programme which also incorporates two other major subjects: Cultural Heritage Studies and Landscape Studies.

Job description:

We invite applications for one (1) tenure track position in the area of Gamification.

The area of gamification covers:
– research of games and gamification
– games and playing as a cultural phenomenon
– game mechanisms, edugames and pervasive playing
– utilization of games in business, e.g. in new products and services

The emphasis of the position can be tailored according to the specific expertise of the candidate. Suitable educational and research backgrounds for the position include e.g. media studies, cultural studies, information technology and business and management.

The successful candidate is expected to:
– pursue and supervise scientific research in the field
– lead, conduct and develop education in the field
– participate in the activities of the national and international scientific communities
– acquire external funding
– interact with society
– commit to the strategies of TUT and UTU.

The successful candidate will participate in teaching both in the master’s degree programme in Management and Information Technology (TUT) as well as the subject of Digital Culture (UTU) by integrating the gamification theme into the existing course selection, in particular. Supervising theses and conducting doctoral seminars are also essential areas of responsibility.

The position will be filled at the level of Associate Professor.

The successful candidate will be employed by TUT. For more information on TUT’s tenure track career system, please refer to tut.fi/openpositions – Tenure track.

Requirements:

All candidates considered for a tenure track position are expected to:
– hold an applicable doctoral degree
– demonstrate a record of achievement in research that meets high international standards in the field of gamification
– demonstrate the capacity for independent scholarly activity
– possess the teaching skills required for the successful performance of their duties and
– have the ability to co-operate in a multidisciplinary university environment and with industry.

We appreciate experience and a track record in acquiring research funding, along with collaboration and leadership positions in research networks and industry.

For more information on the criteria for each level of TUT’s tenure track, please refer to tut.fi/openpositions – Tenure track.

We offer:

Both TUT and UTU have ambitious and challenging goals in effective, high-quality research, education and social influence. We offer an active research community with a good team spirit, intense cooperation with industry and business, public organizations and students, and opportunities for growth and advancement in academia. Our international cooperation is active and recognized, both in research and education.

We offer the successful candidate an opportunity to contribute to the creation of a new research area that combines gamification with areas such as cultural studies, information technology and business.

TUT offers a wide range of staff benefits, such as occupational health care. Since 2014, TUT has held the European Commission HR Excellence in Research recognition.

For more information, please visit tut.fi/en – About TUT – Careers at TUT
(http://www.tut.fi/en/about-tut/careers-at-tut/index.htm)
(http://www.tut.fi/en/about-tut/quality-assurance/hr-excellence-in-research)

Salary:

The salary will be based on both the job demands and the employee’s personal performance in accordance with the Finnish University Salary System (YPJ).

The advertised position is typically placed on the job demand level 7 (Associate Professor). In addition, the employees receive performance-based salary and they are covered by TUT’s bonus system.

Trial period:

The appointment is subject to the satisfactory completion of a trial period of four months.

Other:

The position will be filled for a fixed-term period of four years. The appointment is expected to begin on 1 December 2016 or as mutually agreed.

The duties are mainly located on the Pori campus in close co-operation with the main campuses in Tampere and Turku.

For the candidates with the most potential for the position, the selection process will involve an external assessment, individual interviews, aptitude assessments and a trial lecture.

For more information, please contact:

Director of University Consortium of Pori, Professor Jari Multisilta, e-mail: jari.multisilta@tut.fi, tel. +358 40 826 2910. Best availability for enquiries: 7 July–15 July and 1 August- 10 August.

In questions concerning the recruitment process, please contact HR Specialist
Eveliina Nurmi, e-mail. eveliina.nurmi@tut.fi, tel. +358 50 3015253. Best availability for enquiries: 15 June – 8 July and 8 August-10 August.

How to apply:

Applications must be submitted through TUT’s online employment system. The closing date for applications is 10 August 2016 (10:00 pm UTC). All applications and supporting documents must be submitted in English.

The applications must include the following documents prepared according to TUT’s instructions:
1. Curriculum Vitae (.doc or .pdf)
2. Research plan
3. List of publications
4. Teaching portfolio
5. References

Additional information on TUT’s tenure track system and attachments to applications.

thatcamp

http://twincities2016.thatcamp.org/

virtual scatchnoting sharing

confluence as a service.

notability versus evernote http://www.gingerlabs.com/

Virtual Reality

put the horse before the cart.

immersive augmented (elements 4D, comes with iPAD) reality. MS Hololens

Google imcardboard.com
HTC Vive (comes with two handheld controllers), Oculus (special relation in front of user), OSVR, laser towers, spacial awareness in the room,

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=holo

what is available now and what will be available.

how do you distinguish VR from gaming and gamification: when the latter lets us be in control and try again and again

and when it is digital storytelling.

hearts and minds. immersive environment. based on PTSD ethnography

virtual reality as recreating lost reality. whereas CL is more of creating new reality.

MS Hololens incorporates Skype

Rise of the Videogame Zinesters: How Freaks … – Seven Stories Press

Agisoft PhotoScan

cheating in virtual environment versus cheating in real environment.

computer archaeology. just a tool, but not something will solve all problems.

gen z coming to campus

Survey: What Gen Z Thinks About Ed Tech in College

A report on digital natives sheds light on their learning preferences.
Like the millennials before them, Generation Z grew up as digital natives, with devices a fixture in the learning experience. According to the survey results, these students want “engaging, interactive learning experiences” and want to be “empowered to make their own decisions.” In addition, the students “expect technology to play an instrumental role in their educational experience.”
to cater to the digital appetites of tomorrow’s higher education learners, technology in education will need to play a bit of catch-up, states the New Media Consortium’s 2015 Course Apps report. According to NMC’s analysts, digital-textbook adoption was one of the leading trends helping to reinvent how higher education students learn. But publishers have not captured the innovations happening elsewhere in the digital marketplace.

The Generation Z report ranked the effectiveness of 11 education technology tools:

  1. Smartboards
  2. Do-It-Yourself Learning
  3. Digital Textbooks
  4. Websites with Study Materials
  5. Online Videos
  6. Game-Based Learning Systems
  7. Textbook
  8. Social Media
  9. Skype
  10. Podcasts
  11. DVD/Movies
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

more on Gen Z in this blog:

Generation Z bibliography

 

PaGamO free gamification

PaGamO Offers Free Gamification for Teachers

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/03/29/pagamo-offers-free-gamification-for-teachers.aspx

By Joshua Bolkan,  03/29/16

The first-ever online social gaming platform for education, PaGamO is based on the principles of classic board games like Risk and Settlers of Catan.

Teachers can create assignments, assessments and homework within the platform. Assignments can be delivered to custom groups of students according to their needs, and the platform provides statistics offering insight into student abilities and areas in need of additional work.

more on gamification in education in this blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=gamification&submit=Search

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