No caso do IST, “o objectivo não é apenas ensinar Processos de Negócio mas também avaliar até que ponto os alunos aprendem mais e/ou melhor com um jogo sério quando comparado com a forma de leccionar em OGFI baseada em casos de estudo e discussão na aula”, aponta Miguel Mira da Silva, do Departamento de Engenharia Informática do IST. “Caso a experiência seja um sucesso, no próximo ano lectivo pretende-se alargar a utilização de jogos sérios para mais aulas e outras disciplinas”, refere.

Segundo a instituição, o INNOV8 é um simulador “que junta as tecnologias com os processos de negócio para demostrar que os processos são críticos para o sucesso das empresas. Esta simulação permite aos alunos uma melhor percepção do impacto dos processos no negócio, incluindo na gestão da informática”.

Entrevista alargada na Sociedade Civil programa da RTP (http://ww1.rtp.pt/programas-rtp/index.php?c_id=1&dif=tv&idpod=44620&p_id=23283) ao minuto 63:00

http://jocch.acm.org/seriousgames

Deadline: June 15, 2012
ICTs provide powerful tools to build Cultural Heritage applications enabling a better understanding and appreciation of our present and past both by specialists and the general public, supporting the preservation, reproduction, representation and fruition of artifacts, sites and intangible goods in the form of Virtual Heritage. While multimedia archives and the digitization of artefacts and sites offer easy access of cultural content to people regardless of space and time constraints, it is through game mechanics that a much larger public could be motivated to explore such impressive resources. For this reason, games with educational purposes, namely Serious Games (SG), are becoming more and more popular. The target of SGs in the Cultural Heritage domain is to actually spread cultural content at its maximum extent by exploiting this medium’s intrinsic features.
The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers on case studies, perspective applications, technological and methodological issues related to SGs for Cultural Heritage to define the best practices and highlight both the challenges and benefits of SGs in the Cultural Heritage sector. Authors are invited to submit papers on original and unpublished research and practical applications concerning SGs for a range of educational objectives related to tangible and intangible heritage, including history, archaeology, art, cultural awareness, natural/environmental heritage. In particular, we call for contributions on topics including but not limited to:
* Challenges and trends in Serious Games for Cultural Heritage
* User engagement and motivation
* Assessment of the learning impact
* Human-Computer Interaction
* Game mechanics suited for CH education
* Personalization, adaptivity and Artificial Intelligence
* Game architectures
* Psychology and pedagogy
* Best practices in the development and adoption of SGs for CH
* Generation and representation of cultural content in games
* Culturally relevant Non-Player Characters
* Applications and case studies

Accepted papers will be published in the ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage.
See http://www.acm.org/pubs/jocch for further submission instructions.
Guest Editors:
Michela Mortara, CNR-IMATI, Italy michela@ge.imati.cnr.it
Francesco Bellotti, DIBE, University of Genova, Italy franz@elios.unige.it

Serious Games for Healthcare: Applications and Implications
A book edited by

Dr. Sylvester Arnab and Dr. Ian Dunwell
Serious Games Institute, Coventry University, UK

Dr. Kurt Debattista
International Digital Lab, University of Warwick, UK

To be published by IGI Global:

http://www.igi-global.com/authorseditors/authoreditorresources/callforbookchapters/callforchapterdetails.aspx?callforcontentid=74a4f4cf-ccd0-4bb4-83f4-948fecec03c8

Introduction
With advances in technologies and revolutions in patient, trainee, and public expectations, the global healthcare sector is increasingly turning to serious games to solve problems. Developed using computer game technologies more often associated with entertainment, serious games provide a platform for combining high-fidelity graphics and sound with engaging content, novel interfaces, and serious purpose. Though serious games are employed in a range of diverse areas such as e-Learning, defense, marketing, and training, healthcare is rapidly emerging as a leading area for their use.

Across the healthcare sector, there is growing interest in improving and sustaining interaction and engagement using these technologies. Current trends in serious game research and development for healthcare focus on professional training, improving therapeutic outcomes for patients, and promoting awareness of health-related issues to a broader public. Game environments provide a safe and controlled setting within which players can learn in an engaging way, whether exploring new clinical techniques, undergoing rehabilitative activities, or being exposed to health-related issues.

Serious games capitalize on their ability to reach target audiences who are already engaging with interactive, rich graphic games recreationally, allowing them to convey instructional outcomes to audiences more resistant to more formal methods. Novel approaches to game development can potentially enhance learning, engagement and treatment outcomes, though much research is needed to provide the methodologies, frameworks, and development approaches necessary to ensure efficacy.

Objective of the Book
This book introduces the development and application of game technologies for health-related serious games. Furthermore, it provides cutting edge research from academia and industry, informing readers about the current and future advances in the area. Encapsulating the knowledge of commercial and noncommercial researchers, developers, and practitioners in a single volume benefits not only the research and development community within the field, but also serves public health interests by improving awareness and outcomes. This book describes key trends, summarizes existing work, and shares both success stories and critiques,, which will be highly beneficial as a state-of-the-art reference for current practitioners, and serve to encourage potential adopters.

Target Audience
The primary audience of this book is composed of innovative professionals and researchers in healthcare. It includes academic and industrial researchers, game professionals/developers, and health and social services professionals who wish to understand designing, developing and deploying video game technology in healthcare settings, as well as the trends and commercial potential of such an innovative approach.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
Topic 1: Key trends of serious games for health
• Roles and impact of Serious Games in health
• Training in the health sector (Clinical, Service and Management training)
• Games for therapy (counseling, psychotherapy, etc.)
• Games for Rehabilitation (disability, injury, age related illness, obesity etc.)
• Exergaming
• Games for awareness (game-based public health initiatives, treatment adherence, infection control, etc.)
• Use of off-the-shelf games for healthcare purposes
Topic 2: Design and Development
• Design methodologies and frameworks
• Development approaches and case studies
• Deployment strategies and technology acceptance
• Assessment and evaluation techniques
Topic 3: Future trends of serious games for health
• Biofeedback and novel interfaces
• Future deployment of games for health
• Multimodal platforms
• Other relevant topics

Submission Procedure
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before May 15, 2011, a 1-2 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by June 15, 2011 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by August 15, 2011. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.

Publisher
This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group Reference), “Medical Information Science Reference,” “Business Science Reference,” and “Engineering Science Reference” imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2012.

Editorial Advisory Board

Prof. Sara de Freitas, Serious Games Institute, Coventry University, UK
Prof. Pam Kato, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands
Prof. Alan Chalmers, University of Warwick, UK
Prof. Vinesh Raja, University of Warwick, UK

Important Dates
May 15, 2011: Proposal Submission Deadline
June 15, 2011: Notification of Acceptance
August 15, 2011: Full Chapter Submission
October 15, 2011: Review Results Returned
November 15, 2011: Final Chapter Submission
December 15, 2011: Final Deadline

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document) or by mail to:
Dr. Sylvester Arnab
Serious Games Institute
Coventry University
CV1 2TL, UK

Tel.: +44(0)24 7615 8205
E-mail: s.arnab@coventry.ac.uk

Within a scenario of rapidly increasing convergence of digital technologies and integration of media services, the role of the creative content industry is expected to increase accordingly and the video games software industry plays a major role. In this general context, Digital Games use the platforms and techniques of the videogame industry to create products and services and have a potential to further education, health, public policy, government or corporate training, and strategic communication objectives.

Digital Games with useful objectives going beyond the simple fun of playing may serve social purposes like inclusion, health, skilling, learning and other public services, where their action complements more classical approaches. Because of their ludic dynamics, they are usually very welcome to different kind of public (not only youngsters) and this is their strength.

Considering that the video games industry is going through a period of change, including significant transformation in the value chain, Digital ‘Serious’ Games thus offer opportunities not only for the existing actors but also to new entrants with expertise in training, simulation, healthcare and social inclusion.

More Info: http://is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/EAP/eInclusion/games.html#events

Sara de Freitas, University of Coventry, UK

Paul Maharg, Northumbria University, UK

Brief:

Games and simulations have had a new lease of life in the digital revolution. There are remarkable examples of fascinating games that are also tools for learning complex knowledge, and engaging simulations that are used for pleasure and work-related training and education. Their existence raise many research questions: how are they designed? Who plays them? What are the economics of such games for players, providers, others in the market, and how do the economics affect game and simulation production and use? Where are they being used in education and training, and to what effect? Digital Games and Learning (DGL) aims to explore these and many other questions about the design and use of games and simulations in our societies. The series texts will provide:

- Insights into how games and simulations can be used effectively in education

- Appreciation of the multi-disciplinary research base that is emerging in this fast-developing field

- Knowledge of the implementations that can be put to use in different levels of education: school, further education, higher education and workplaces.

More Info: Download Flyer

Journal of Universal Computer Science

Special Issue on

Technology for learning across physical and virtual spaces

Introduction

Nowadays education does not happen exclusively face-to-face, in the physical space. Neither does it happen exclusively through online tools in the virtual space, like Virtual Learning Environments, blogs or wikis. There is a continuous transfer from one space to another: certain activities are done in the classroom, some are accessed on a web virtual learning environment or a 3D world, then the students perform the activities and collaborate ubiquitously either physically or digitally.

This is what has been traditionally understood under the heading of blended learning, but recent technological advances have opened broad opportunities to link these spaces more profoundly, thus enabling the realization of learning activities across spaces that incorporate and coordinate objects from them all. Examples are: the use of augmented reality, that superimposes a digital layer on top of the physical space, providing extra information or linking objects; the use of 3D virtual spaces mirroring the physical space (e.g. showing an image from the physical world coming from a camera); sensors or RFID technology in the physical space that can provide information such as identity or location to digital applications; or tangible computing devices that enable the manipulation of objects in the physical space that have impact on the digital space…

The main different spaces that can be linked to support innovative activities include virtual learning environments, 3D virtual worlds, physical classrooms and open learning spaces that can be integrated with virtual spaces through roomware, mobile and location-aware technologies. New research questions arise in this new technological and learning context: How to design and technologically support innovative learning scenarios across physical and virtual spaces? What are the opportunities and challenges that learning scenarios across spaces pose to the learners’ assessment? Can educational technology specifications offer interoperability solutions to facilitate the transfer between spaces? How can educators orchestrate, adapt, monitor and evaluate the learning process occurring across different virtual and physical spaces?

Topics

Educational scenarios, technological solutions and evaluation studies focused on learning activities happening across spaces, which can include, but are not limited to:

Virtual Learning Environments
3D Virtual Worlds
Roomware and other pervasive devices for the classroom
Mobile and location-aware technologies for open learning space
Transversal topics include, but are not limited to:

Architectures, frameworks, models
Design of activities, assessment
Interoperability, educational technology specifications, data flow, linked data
Orchestration, adaptation, monitoring, evaluation
Related topics include also:

Augmented reality
Augmented virtuality
Mediated reality
Important Dates

Submission deadline: Extended to 10 January 2012
Decision notification after first round of reviews: 15 February 2012
Submission of revised version: 31 March 2012
Final decision: 15 May 2012
Submission of final version: 31 May 2012
Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts should not exceed 20 pages. All submissions must be in English, formatted according to the guidelines of Journal of Universal Computer Science (JUCS), and submitted as pdf-files. The submission guidelines can be found at http://www.jucs.org/ujs/jucs/info/submissions

Manuscripts should be submitted via email to the guest editors. The subject of the submission email should be: “JUCS SI Submission: Technology for learning across physical and virtual spaces”.

Guest Editors

Carlos Delgado-Kloos, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain), cdk at it.uc3m.es

Davinia Hernández-Leo, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona (Spain), davinia.hernandez at upf.edu

Juan I. Asensio-Pérez, Universidad de Valladolid (Spain), juaase at tel.uva.es

The conference committee welcomes contributions on a wide range of topics using a range of scholarly approaches including theoretical and empirical papers employing qualitative, quantitative and critical methods. Action research, case studies and work-in-progress/posters are welcomed approaches. PhD Research, proposals for roundtable discussions, non-academic contributions and product demonstrations based on the main themes are also invited.

Publication opportunity

Papers accepted for the conference will be published in the conference proceedings, subject to author registration and payment. Selected papers will also be considered for publication in a special issue of the Electronic Journal of e-Learning and to the International Journal of Game-Based Learning. The latest issue of the Electronic Journal of e-Learning is available to read online.

The workshop site is http://fdgbl.fdg2012.org/, and includes this abstract:
________________________________________________________
The purpose of this workshop is to bring together researchers and experienced game designers to focus on the foundational, fundamental constructs of digital game-based learning learning. We invite contributions across a range of perspectives from theoretical to conceptual to pragmatic, with a focus on what is applicable across different types, genres, platforms, and purposes of digital games.

Important Dates

Paper submission: 27 February, 2012
Notification to authors: 19 March, 2012
Workshop held: 29 May, 2012
________________________________________________________

From the CFP online I’d just like to make three remarks now:

a) most topics have a very close match with a lot of work that has been done so far by many GaLA partners, which became even more apparent to us all, during the review days at Genoa;

b) FDG workshop publications are usually archived n the ACM Digital Library, which is particularly attractive for many academics worldwide.

c) there’s still over two months before the submission deadline, but let’s not fool ourselves (again…)

In short, I can only strongly encourage everyone in GaLA to prepare and submit (joint) research papers to this highly-rated conference workshop.