It is difficult to overestimate the significance of judgement and decision-making for individuals and societies. Our choices and decisions are often made in risky or uncertain conditions. Almost all decisions contain a degree of uncertainty. This can cause problems with serious consequences, since people generally are not comfortable with uncertainties and often choose the counterproductive ways of ignoring or avoiding them. This project aims to create a computer game facilitating learning to deal with uncertainties and to investigate players' choices and confidence under uncertainty. The project resulted in a "World of Uncertainty" online game providing experiential learning through reflecting on own feeling of certainty, receiving feedback and improving the results. The scoring in the game is based on proper scoring rules which conditions, motivates and assesses player's performance. The game was evaluated for its learning effect and as a research tool. It was shown that it is possible to incorporate proper scoring rules into a game which is: 1) engaging for a wide variety of people - over 500 players participated in the experimental studies (some with external incentives) and over 1200 members of the general public registered and played the game; 2) a flexible research tool allowing collecting data on a large number of people, and designing empirical studies on perception of probability and confidence. In pilot studies and two experiments conducted within this study it was found that players slightly improved their scores over time. It was also found that quiz subjects had higher effect on the performance than individual differences. The game has interesting implications in game design, education, training, and research concerning behaviour under risk and uncertainty.

This research project was a case study investigating the notion of gameplay and the design of an educational game to teach the 051 (Open Systems Interconnect) model within a blended learning course on Computer networking to university students. The aim of the research was to investigate the use of gameplay to guide the design of educational games. A framework that defined the elements of gameplay and their relationships was developed and was used in conjunction with a model, also developed as part of the research, to map the elements of gameplay against pedagogic functions to create a contextually appropriate educational computer game. The 051 model is the major conceptual framework within the computer networking subject, which describes the computer networking process, the elements of that process and the relationship between those elements. The author is a lecturer in computer networking and had noticed over many years of teaching that some students had difficulties in using the 051 model as a conceptual framework to assist their understanding of the subject, despite its prominence and the frequency of its use within the teaching of the subject. Research suggested that problems arose from a failure to link procedural and conceptual knowledge involved in 051. One of the proposed solutions for these difficulties is to use problem solving to create a problem space that helps learners make the linkages between the two knowledge types. Games have been shown to be effective in providing problem spaces for problem solving exercises. One of the current issues highlighted by research is the contextual mismatches in the use of games within the teaching and learning models in which they are employed. The research resulted in the development of a framework of gameplay where gameplay is the term used to describe the components of a game which influence and enable the playing experience within the game. Further research into the theories and guidelines on integrating teaching elements (e.g. games) appropriately into pedagogy resulted in the development of a model to guide such integration. This was then cross referenced against the gameplay model itself to give a mapping for the blended integration of games into the pedagogical context. Using these models, an 051 role playing game was designed and implemented using the TEs: Morrowind Game Toolkit. The game consisted of a series of quests that corresponded to the layers that comprise the 051 model and success depended on the player's ability to know how to reconstruct the elements of a computer network and on their knowledge ofthe 051 model and computer networking. The case study used a grounded theory methodology and examined the effects of the application of the gameplay framework on the learning processes of the players and their perceptions of those processes in relation to the 051 model. The research findings suggest that the narrative component of gameplay has a significant role to play both in learning how to play the game and in the learning of its content. The data also suggested that the character personalisation of the game and its development was important, in combination with the narrative, to the epistemic framing of learning that takes place when playing the game.

Στόχος της εργασίας είναι ο σχεδιασμός, η ανάπτυξη κι η αξιολόγηση ενός πρωτότυπου εκπαιδευτικού παιχνιδιού περιπέτειας για κινητές συσκευές. / Objective of this project is the designing, the development and the evaluation of an educational adventure game for mobile devices.

Les enfants de moins de 6 ans avec asthme présentent des exacerbations fréquentes et sévères conduisant à de nombreuses consultations aux urgences et hospitalisations. Éduquer les parents à prendre en charge précocement les exacerbations d’asthme de leurs enfants pourrait permettre de réduire ces recours aux soins. Les serious games représentent un outil intéressant dans ce cadre du fait de l’apprentissage actif et expérientiel qu’ils promeuvent. L’objectif de cette thèse était de concevoir et développer un serious game permettant aux parents d’enfants de moins de 6 ans avec asthme de s’entraîner à prendre en charge une exacerbation d’asthme débutant à domicile. La revue systématique de la littérature que nous avons menée n’a identifié aucun serious game à destination des parents d’enfants avec asthme. Pourtant nous avons montré que ces parents étaient prêts à utiliser de tels outils. Les comportements des parents au cours d’une exacerbation d’asthme de leur enfant ont été observés au cours d’une étude de simulation, et analysés afin de définir les objectifs pédagogiques et le contenu du serious game. La meilleure manière d’utiliser le futur serious game en temps limité a également fait l’objet d’une étude comparant deux stratégies (répéter trois fois le même scénario d’exacerbation versus utiliser trois scénarios différents). L’ensemble de ces résultats, alliés à ceux de la littérature déjà existante, ont permis de développer le simulation game « Effic’Asthme » selon une approche fondée sur les preuves. La dernière étape correspondra à l’évaluation d’Effic’Asthme via une étude randomisée contrôlée multicentrique. / Asthma in preschool children (5 years or younger) is characterized by severe and frequent exacerbations, leading to high rates of emergency department visits and hospital admissions. Teaching parents the early management of asthma exacerbations at home might reduce healthcare use. Serious games, because they allow active and experiential learning, represent an interesting way to train parents on the management of asthma exacerbations. The objective of this PhD thesis was to design and develop a serious game to teach parents of preschool children the management of asthma exacerbations starting at home. We conducted a systematic review of serious games for asthma education which revealed that no serious game had been developed for parents. Yet, we showed using questionnaires that parents were ready to use serious games for their education. Parents’ behavior during asthma exacerbations of their children were observed during a simulation study using a pediatric high-fidelity manikin, and analyzed to establish the educational objectives and the content of the serious game. Another study compared two different strategies (repeating the same scenario three times or using three different scenarios of asthma exacerbations) to teach the management of asthma exacerbations in a short, 30-minutes training. Altogether, these results combined with those of the literature allowed the development of the simulation game “Effic’Asthme” following an evidence-based approach. The usefulness of “Effic’Asthme” will be evaluated through a multicentric randomized controlled study.

Cette recherche étudie l‘utilisation du jeu vidéo pour l’apprentissage des langues étrangères en classe. L’étude porte sur l’intégration de ce support issu de pratiques informelles au contexte formel de la classe de langue. A la fois ludique et à visée d’apprentissage, le ‘jeu vidéo d’apprentissage’ incarne un oxymore, point de tension entre deux pôles, celui du scolaire et celui du jeu. Ce travail se concentre plus spécifiquement sur la notion de ludique. Comment, par le jeu vidéo d’apprentissage, activer une attitude ludique hypothétiquement porteuse d’une implication accrue de l’apprenant, celle-ci menant possiblement à une augmentation et une complexification des productions / interactions en langue étrangère ? Cette recherche s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet Eveil-3D et elle analyse l’accueil fait par un échantillon d’apprenants à deux jeux vidéo d’apprentissage partageant le même scénario mais conçus selon deux modèles différents. Elle a pour objectif d’aboutir tant à un modèle de conception qu’à un modèle de scénario, pensés spécifiquement pour l’apprentissage des langues médiatisées par le jeu vidéo. / This research examines the use of video games in foreign language classrooms. It investigates the integration of this digital medium, originating as an informal leisure activity, in a formal language learning classroom setting. The ‘learning video game’, which refers to both the act of learning and the act of play, can be seen as an oxymoron encompassing seriousness as well as fun. This work focuses on the fun aspect. This work is motivated by the following research question: how can the use of a learning video game foster a playful attitude, hypothetically conducive to a greater involvement of the learner, while also potentially leading to increaseand complexification in student foreign language production and interaction? As a part of the Eveil 3D-project, this study analyses reception from a sample of learners to two learning games which have the same scenario but were completed according to two different game design models. The findings provide both a game design model and a scenario template in order to support foreign language learning through the use of the video game.