Cette thèse présente ce qui est à notre connaissance le premier jeu vidéo éducatif musical: Pads'n'Swing. Après des années de méfiance vis-à-vis du jeu vidéo, la diversification de ses usages et leur intégration forte à notre culture ouvrent en effet la voie d'applications positives comme les jeux vidéo éducatifs, qui s'appuient sur la mise en relation et la socialisation des joueurs, la simulation de mondes et leur scénarisation. Nous poursuivons cette approche en replaçant le fun au coeur d'une pédagogie de la motivation dont le but serait d'éveiller l'intérêt des apprenants en leur offrant la possibilité d'exercer en jeu des schémas d'action habituellement réservés aux spécialistes. L'application de cette pédagogie au domaine musical se révèle ambitieuse: dans quelles limites peut-on, dans un jeu vidéo, s'affranchir des contraintes instrumentales pour jouer du jazz et improviser ? Pour répondre à cette question, les principales contributions de notre travail de thèse sont: (1) l'exploration du domaine émergent des jeux vidéo éducatifs; (2) la proposition de meilleures pratiques de conception de gameplay fondées sur les théories de la motivation; (3) l'application de cette méthodologie au développement de Pads'n'Swing; et (4) l'évaluation de Pads'n'Swing, qui révèle les modalités d'un fun spécifiquement musical et accessible au plus grand nombre.

Kurzfassung: Sport im Sinne eines regelmäßigen körperlichen Trainings sollte aus gesundheitlichen Gründen nach einer Schwangerschaft empfohlen werden. Jedoch müssen an diese Aktivitäten besondere Ansprüche gestellt werden. Die Beanspruchung sollte moderat und mit geringem Risiko sein. Weiters muss die körperliche Aktivität in den Tagesablauf einer jungen Mutter integrierbar sein. Hierzu könnten digitale Spiele mit Ganzkörperaktivitäten sinnvoll eingesetzt werden. Ziel dieser Trainingsstudie war es, möglichen Einsatz und mögliche Wirkung ausgewählter Übungen der Nintendo Wii Fit Plus bei postnatalen Frauen zu überprüfen. Dabei wurden subjektive Eindrücke wie das Spielerleben und wahrgenommene Beanspruchung erhoben. Die Wirkung auf die aerobe Ausdauerleistungsfähigkeit wurde durch eine 6-wöchige Intervention überprüft. An der Studie nahmen 8 Probandinnen (Alter 29,0 ± 4,6 Jahre, Größe 1,7 ± 0,1 m, Body-Mass-Index [BMI] 25,1 ± 3,1 kg/m², postnatal 6,3 ± 1,9 Wochen) teil. Ergebnisse: Die Probandinnen zeigten nach einmaligem Spielen eine hohe bis sehr hohe Motivation, dieses Spiel noch mal zu spielen. Es wurde als nicht stressig mit mittlerer Spielgeschwindigkeit bei einfacher und übersichtlicher Bedienung bewertet. Über den Beobachtungszeitraum nahmen die Frauen eine moderate (etwas anstrengende) Beanspruchung mit hohem Spaßempfinden wahr. Signifikante Gewichtsreduktionen sowie eine Verbesserung der aeroben Leistungsfähigkeit konnten nicht festgestellt werden. Schlussfolgernd bleibt festzuhalten, dass trotz nicht-signifikanter metabolischer und morphologischer Adaptionen eine hohe Motivation zu erwarten ist, was unter gegebenen Übungsvariationen der Nintendo Wii Fit Plus zu regelmäßigem Training führen kann. Da diese Studie nur Pilotcharakter hatte, wäre unter randomisierten kontrollierten Bedingungen eine Untersuchung mit größerem Probandenumfang durchzuführen. / Exercise after pregnancy should be recommended for health reasons. However, special considerations are necessary in the context of physical training. The intensity should be moderate and the activity itself lowrisk. In addition, the exercise has to be capable of being integrated in the daily routine of a young mother. This could also include digital games that involve whole body movements. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible use and the effects of selected exercises of the Nintendo Wii Fit Plus in postnatal women. Data on the subjective impressions of the game experience was collected as well as the perceived exertion during the activity. Furthermore, the effect on the aerobic performance after 6 weeks intervention was investigated. The study involved 8 female subjects (age 29.0 ± 4.6 years, height 1.7 ± 0.1 m, Body Mass Index 25.1 ± 3.1 kg/m², postnatal 6.3 ± 1.9 weeks). Results: The subjects showed a high to very high motivation to play the Wii Fit Plus again after the first game session. The game was assessed as causing no stress at medium speed with a simple and clear operation. During the observation period, the women showed a moderate (somewhat hard physical exertion) with a high sensation of fun. Significant weight reductions and improvements in aerobic capacity could not be proven. Summing up, using the Wii Fit Plus, a high level of motivation can be expected despite any significant metabolic and morphological adaptations, which may lead to a regular participation in exercise activities. Since this study only had pilot-character, it would be advisable to conduct further research using a larger number of subjects under randomized controlled conditions.

Feedback has been defined as “helpful information or criticism that is given to someone to say what can be done to improve a performance, product, etc.” (Merriam-Webster, 2014) Within the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researchers have shown that language learners acquire languages best when they are provided with feedback (Gass & Selinker, 2008; Loewen, 2012). Because of the importance of feedback to the language learning process, there is an ongoing line of investigation that seeks to determine whether differences in how and when feedback is provided lead to different results in acquisition (Loewen, 2012). To date this research has primarily been focused on comparing the effectiveness of the different types of feedback that naturally occur within language classrooms, as identified by such classic studies as Lyster and Ranta (1997; Bargiela, 2003). However, there are other possible approaches to feedback than those that naturally occur within the language classroom. One of these alternatives is the approach to feedback used in digital games. Similar to what is found in the field of SLA, within the field of digital game research it has been established that feedback is important for successful learning (Schell, 2008). Nevertheless, to date no research has been conducted which compares the SLA approach to feedback and the digital game approach to feedback in order to determine which would lead to better language acquisition within a digital game. Answering this question is the goal of the present dissertation. In order to answer this question I created two versions of a digital game, called “Mundo de Comida” (MuCo) ‘World of Food’, which is designed to help novice Spanish learners acquire food vocabulary. One version of the game employs feedback strategies based on the most commonly employed feedback used in Spanish language classes, while the other uses feedback designed according to the most commonly used feedback mechanisms in commercial digital games. A comparison of the vocabulary gains according to feedback type allows us to see which type of feedback seems to help learners of Spanish acquire vocabulary within the context of MuCo. The findings indicate that MuCo does indeed help participants acquire food vocabulary. However, there is no significant difference in the effectiveness of the two different feedback types, which is likely due to the fact that both feedback types have been refined within their respective environments. Nevertheless, there is evidence to suggest that participants found the game that contained the digital game-style feedback to be more game-like than the other version. It was also found that, for several participants, MuCo did motivate them in the sense that they played more of the game than was required. Finally, there was no significant effect found for the participants’ self-reported gaming habits, personalities, or motivation. These findings suggest that well-designed digital games can help learners acquire Spanish vocabulary, and that the impact of differences among participants is negligible when the game is well designed. / text

Emotions are thought to be one of the key factors that critically influences human decision-making. Emotion regulation can help to mitigate emotion related decision biases and eventually lead to a better decision performance. Serious games emerged as a new angle introducing technological methods to learning emotion regulation, where meaningful biofeedback information communicates player's emotional state. Games are a series of interesting choices, where design of those choices could support an educational platform to learning emotion regulation. Such design could benefit digital serious games as those choices could be informed though player's physiology about emotional states in real time. This thesis explores design and evaluation methods for creating serious games where emotion regulation can be learned and practiced. Design of a digital serious game using physiological measures of emotions was investigated and evaluated. Furthermore, it investigates emotions and the effect of emotion regulation on decision performance in digital serious games. The scope of this thesis was limited to digital serious games for emotion regulation training using psychophysiological methods to communicate player's affective information. Using the psychophysiological methods in design and evaluation of digital serious games, emotions and their underlying neural mechanism have been explored. Effects of emotion regulation have been investigated where decision performance has been measured and analyzed. The proposed metrics for designing and evaluating such affective serious games have been extensively evaluated. The research methods used in this thesis were based on both quantitative and qualitative aspects, with true experiment and evaluation research, respectively. Digital serious games approach to emotion regulation was investigated, player's physiology of emotions informs design of interactions where regulation of those emotions could be practiced. The results suggested that two different emotion regulation strategies, suppression and cognitive reappraisal, are optimal for different decision tasks contexts. With careful design methods, valid serious games for training those different strategies could be produced. Moreover, using psychophysiological methods, underlying emotion neural mechanism could be mapped. This could inform a digital serious game about an optimal level of arousal for a certain task, as evidence suggests that arousal is equally or more important than valence for decision-making. The results suggest that it is possible to design and develop digital serious game applications that provide helpful learning environment where decision makers could practice emotion regulation and subsequently improve their decision-making. If we assume that physiological arousal is more important than physiological valence for learning purposes, results show that digital serious games designed in this thesis elicit high physiological arousal, suitable for use as an educational platform.

Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) may suffer numerous cognitive impairments, including significant problems with executive functioning, language, attention, and memory [40]. It is estimated that two to five percent of children born in the U.S. are affected by FASD [34]. It has been shown that training improvements can be made in working memory and attention in children with ADHD [25]. Computerized training with game elements enhances not only motivation but training efficacy of these interventions [38]. This thesis examines the creation of two suites of serious games, Cognitive Carnival and Caribbean Quest, intended to improve working memory aspects of attention with the assistance of a trained psychology interventionist in a therapeutic setting. A game-based approach is chosen to provide motivation to children for sustained cognitive challenges presented by cognitive exercises built into the gameplay. Cognitive Carnival was shown by interventionists to have positive effects in neuropsychological studies of populations of children with epilepsy and FASD [33, 30]. / Graduate

Technology such as television, computers, and video games are often in the line for reasons of why people lack physical activity and tend to gain weight and become obese. In the case of video games, with the advent of the so called “serious games initiative”, a new breed of video games have come into place. Such games are called “exergames” and they are intended to motivate the user to do physical activity. Although there is some evidence that some types of Exergames are more physically demanding than traditional sedentary games, there is also evidence that suggests that such games are not really providing the intensity of exert that is at the recommended levels for a daily exercise. Currently, most exergames have a passive approach. There is no real tracking of the players progress, there is no assessment of his/her level of exert, no contextual information, and there is no adaptability on the game itself to change the conditions of the game and prompt the desired physiological response on the player. In this thesis we present research work done towards the design and development of an architecture and related systems that support a shift in the exertion game paradigm. The contributions of this work are enablers in the design and development of exertion games with a strict serious game approach. Such games should have “exercising” as the primary goal, and a game engine that has been developed under this scheme should be aware of the exertion context of the player. The game should be aware of the level of exertion of the player and adapt the gaming context (in-game variables and exertion interface settings) so that the player can reach a predefined exertion rate as desired. To support such degree of adaptability in a multimedia, multimodal system, we have proposed a system architecture that lays down the general guidelines for the design and development of such systems.

Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας είναι η αξιοποίηση ενός σοβαρού ηλεκτρονικού παιχνιδιού στη διδακτική πράξη και η διερεύνηση των επιδράσεών του στις επιδόσεις των φοιτητών. Για την αξιολόγηση των παραπάνω σχεδιάστηκε μια online εκπαιδευτική δραστηριότητα, διάρκειας 3 εβδομάδων, σε ειδικά διαμορφωμένο εκπαιδευτικό χώρο, στον εικονικό κόσμο του Second Life. Στην έρευνα συμμετείχαν 222 φοιτητές του Τ.Ε.Ε.Α.Π.Η. Πατρών, που παρακολουθούσαν το υποχρεωτικό μάθημα πρώτου εξαμήνου: ‘Εισαγωγή στις ΤΠΕ’. Αν και όλοι οι φοιτητές συμμετείχαν στις δραστηριότητές, το τελικό δείγμα είναι 174 άτομα, καθώς οι υπόλοιποι δεν ολοκλήρωσαν τη διαδικασία Τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας δείχνουν πως η χρήση του εικονικού περιβάλλοντος Second Life μπορεί να επιφέρει θετικά αποτελέσματα στη μαθησιακή διαδικασία και μπορεί να ανταποκριθεί τόσο στις απαιτήσεις των εκπαιδευτικών, όσο και τον εκπαιδευομένων. Με την ολοκλήρωση και αξιολόγηση της εκπαιδευτικής δραστηριότητας διαπιστώθηκε αύξηση στη μέση επίδοση των συμμετεχόντων και στις δύο θεματικές ενότητες που διερευνήθηκαν. Επιπλέον, η επίδοσή τους δε φαίνεται να επηρεάζεται από εξωτερικούς παράγοντες, όπως η κατεύθυνση που ακολούθησαν στο Λύκειο, η συχνότητα χρήσης ηλεκτρονικού υπολογιστή και διαδικτύου, ή η συχνότητα ενασχόλησης με ηλεκτρονικά παιχνίδια ή παιχνίδια εικονικής πραγματικότητας. / The aim of this study is the exploitation of a serious computer game in the instructive practice and the investigation of its effects on student performance. For this reason an educational space was designed in Second Life, a popular online virtual world. The educational space was active for a period of three weeks and available to 222 students of the University of Patras. The students attended the compulsory first semester course «Introduction to ICT» and had to use the online educational environment in order to perform activities in the frame of a compulsory/ mandatory course project. The final sample size though is 174, which is the number of the students who managed to successfully complete the activity. The results show that the utilization of the virtual environment Second Life can have a positive effect in the learning process and can address both the requirements of teachers and those of learners. After the completion and evaluation of the educational activity an increase was observed in the average performance of participants in the two topics that were investigated. Moreover, their performance does not seem to be influenced by factors such as the specific courses they chose in secondary level education, the frequency of computer and internet use, the level of engagement with computer games or virtual reality games.

This project is part of the Graduate Program in Educational Technology, Development of Educational Technologies and it aims at developing, as a final product, a Serious Game named Super Mario Logic in order to help in the teaching and learning process of logic programming which is essential to the professional future of the area. It is through logic programming that students learn to develop algorithms, which are sequences of steps used to reach a specific result. From the development of algorithms there are the programming stages, in which a significant study of logic programming and algorithms plays a key role for the programmer. This project aims at developing a serious game that challenges students into solving problems in logic programming. Serious games are becoming popular as they help students learn, making them interact and learn in an educational and playful way beyond the traditional teaching pattern. The game is being developed through a methodology called INTERAD, which is used for the development of Educational Interfaces. / Esta dissertação faz parte do Programa de Pós-Graduação Stricto Sensu em Tecnologias Educacionais em Rede, linha de Desenvolvimento de Tecnologias Educacionais em Rede e tem como produto final um Jogo Sério chamado Super Mário Logic, para Lógica de Programação, disciplina esta essencial ao futuro profissional da área. Por meio dela, o estudante aprende a desenvolver algoritmos, que são sequências de passos para chegar a um determinado resultado. A partir do desenvolvimento de algoritmos tem-se a etapa da programação, na qual um significante estudo da Lógica de Programação e de Algoritmos desempenham papel fundamental para o programador. Este trabalho foi elaborado com o objetivo de desenvolver um Jogo Sério para desafiar o aluno a resolver problemas de lógica de programação. Os Jogos Sérios estão se popularizando, pois ajudam na aprendizagem do aluno, envolvendo-o, fazendo-o interagir e gerar resultados de uma forma educativa e lúdica, saindo do padrão de ensino tradicional. Os Jogos Sérios têm por finalidade melhorar aspectos específicos da aprendizagem, com o intuito de reforçar um aprendizado específico. O jogo foi desenvolvido por meio da metodologia INTERAD, utilizada para desenvolvimento de Interfaces Educacionais.

The design of software products or services with good user experience (UX) requires a good understanding of the people the product is intended for. One of the design processes that places emphasis on the needs of the people is the user-centered design process. This study creates a serious game as a tool to learn the user-centered design process in order to create awareness of user-centered design practices among UX and non-UX practitioners. To accomplish this, design science research methodology is adopted to allow creation of the game by describing the problem, defining the game requirements, designing and developing the game and finally demonstrating and evaluating it. The evaluation of the game was conducted in three main areas, one to assess the content of the game, the second to assess the functionality of the game and the third to assess the learning potential of the game. Based on the results of the evaluation conducted it is revealed that the content presented is adequate and the participants are able gain concepts about the user-centered design activities, the roles involved in such a process and the various UX techniques employed.

A motivação é um conceito poderoso e que pode ter grandes influências, positivas ou negativas, no aprendizado de alunos. Todavia, encontrar nas mais variadas salas de aula alunos que se encontram desmotivados com a experiência de aprendizado é uma ocorrência comum, que pode estar associada a fatores das mais diferentes origens. Dentre estas, nos atemos aqui a explorar o foco tradicional das escolas em aulas expositivas com cópia mecânica de conteúdo, uma prática que é frequentemente apontada por pesquisadores por seu impacto indesejável na motivação dos alunos. Fato que se deve a sua grande distância do paradigma das tecnologias digitais, familiar à atual geração de estudantes e parte constante de seus cotidianos. Consequentemente, por entendermos que a integração adequada dessas tecnologias sala de aula possui alto potencial para motivar os alunos, proporcionando-lhes maior envolvimento com o conteúdo e as atividades propostas para ele, buscamos trazer para mais perto da sala de aula uma tecnologia digital com alto grau natural de interação e envolvimento: a tecnologia dos videogames. Dentro deste contexto, descrevemos e avaliamos neste trabalho uma abordagem para o desenvolvimento de um jogo educacional (Serious Game) centrado nos personagens míticos do Folclore Brasileiro, a fim de apresentar estes seres e suas histórias aos alunos. Aumentando seu conhecimento e sua valorização por um tema da cultura nacional que é normalmente negligenciado. Para tanto, construímos um ambiente de jogo que mescla modelos e heurísticas motivacionais ao seu próprio processo de desenvolvimento. O que proporciona aos alunos um ambiente atrativo, capaz de mantê-los atentos e envolvidos à medida que os direciona a exploração de um mundo de jogo que os ensina um conteúdo que, de acordo com professores das turmas de testagem de nossa pesquisa, carecem de material didático de qualquer tipo. / Motivation is a powerful concept, greatly capable of influencing, in a positive or negative manner, the ways of students’ learning. However, to find through the most different classrooms students who are unmotivated with their learning experience is far from uncommon. The reasons for this and its origins are very numerous, but we attain ourselves here to approaching the traditional focus schools place on the use of lectures with the mechanical copy of its contents by students. A practice often pointed by researches for its unwanted impact on the motivation of students due to its distance from the paradigm of digital technologies, which is so familiar to the present generation of students and, a constant part of their daily lives. Consequently, as we understand that the proper integration of these technologies to classrooms has great potential in motivating students – for allowing higher levels of involvement with the subject and its tasks –; we intend to bring classrooms closer to a technology with inherent high levels of interactions and engagement: the videogames. Within this context, we describe and assess in this work an approach to develop educational games ( Serious Games) centered on the mythical characters of Brazilian folklore, as a way to disclose these beings and their tales to students. Enhancing their knowledge and valuing for a theme of national culture that is often neglected. For that, we built a game environment that mixes motivational heuristics and models to its own development process. In turn, this gives students an attractive environment, able to keep them aware and involved at the same time that directs their exploring of a game world that, according to the teachers of the testing groups of this research, lacks all sorts of teaching materials.