Máté Köles

Socio-cognitive gamification: general framework for educational games

Gamification of learning material has received much interest from researchers in the past years. This paper aims to further improve such learning experience by applying socio-cognitive gamification to educational games. Dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA) is a well-known tool in optimizing gaming experience. It is a process to control the parameters in a video game automatically based on user experience in real-time. This method can be extended by using a biofeedback-approach, where certain aspects of the player’s ability is estimated based on physiological measurement (e.g. eye tracking, ECG, EEG). Here, we outline the design of a biofeedback-based framework that supports dynamic difficulty adjustment in educational games. It has a universal architecture, so the concept can be employed to engage users in non-game contexts as well. The framework accepts input from the games, from the physiological sensors and from the so-called supervisor unit. This special unit empowers a new social aspect by enabling another user to observe or intervene during the interaction. To explain the game-user interaction itself in educational games we propose a hybrid model.

Iterative design of a collaborative 3D virtual information management environment

The goal of this paper is to describe the design of a collaborative 3D immersive virtual information management environment. This environment was developed in order to study collaborative information retrieval behavior by users. In the first phase of research we designed and developed this environment in the Virtual Collaboration Arena (VirCA) collaborative space.

Cooperation in Real-Time Using a Virtual Environment

Effective team interaction over great distances are already supported by many digital tools. However, cooperative manipulation of common objects is limited and most non-verbal information (gaze direction, facial expressions) can be transmitted only partially or are missing completely. The inclusion of these additional information sources can enrich cooperative problems solving situations. In our demonstration we highlight the capabilities of the Virtual Collaboration Arena to support such interactions. With the help of a volunteer from the audience in Bamberg we will present parts of an information management task solved cooperatively with another user seated in Budapest.