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Dive into the research topics where Mireia Usart is active.

Publication


Featured researches published by Mireia Usart.


Procedia Computer Science | 2012

Designing a Course for Stimulating Entrepreneurship in Higher Education through Serious Games

Francesco Bellotti; Riccardo Berta; A. De Gloria; Elisa Lavagnino; Francesca Maria Dagnino; Michela Ott; Margarida Romero; Mireia Usart; Igor Mayer

Enhancing the offer for entrepreneurship education is an important challenge for the nowadays knowledge societies. The eSG project is addressing this issue by analysing the added value that could be contributed by employing serious games (SGs) as a tool for allowing students – in particular technology students - to become familiar, mainly through practice, with basic concepts of entrepreneurship and company management. This paper presents the main requirements for the course and SGs obtained by surveying literature, entrepreneurs, students and teachers. We represented the requirements in a table template keeping into account usability, pedagogy, the entrepreneurship skills expressed by state of the art models and three major axes for entrepreneurship education at universities. These table descriptors were then used to assess validity of SGs and choose an appropriate mix for the courses. We have also defined a set of metrics to evaluate the advancement of students during the course. Based on these tools and knowledge, the next steps of the project will involve extensive user testing in the actual courses that are being performed in Genoa, Delft and Barcelona.


Games and Culture | 2015

Can Serious Games Contribute to Developing and Sustaining 21st Century Skills

Margarida Romero; Mireia Usart; Michela Ott

Serious games (SG) are innovative tools that are widely recognized as having considerable potential to foster and support active learning. This article addresses the question of whether and how SG can contribute to the development of the so-called “21st century skills” in education. This article starts by characterizing the current need for 21st century skills and the identification of these core skills. Thereafter, it reports on a literature review of studies analyzing SG impact on the development of one or more 21st century skills; and finally, it analyzes which, among the most relevant game characteristics, are those that could facilitate 21st century skills development. This study offers a multifold perspective on the use of SG to support 21st century skills development that may be helpful for both teachers and SG designers.


serious games development and applications | 2013

Serious Games Integration in an Entrepreneurship Massive Online Open Course (MOOC)

Margarida Romero; Mireia Usart

The current crisis in Europe has raised the need to increase the entrepreneurship orientation of students and adult citizens. At the same time, Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) has appeared as a disruptive innovation that permits to engage a large number of persons in an online open course available through Internet to anyone aiming to enrol. MOOC has been deployed based on basic technologies such text-based materials, video-lectures and forum based interactions. In this study we introduce the design of a MOOC for Entrepreneurship education that aims to go one step further by integrating the use of Serious Games as a key part of the methodology for teaching and learning entrepreneurship basics in the context of a MOOC.


Entertainment Computing | 2014

Serious games and the development of an entrepreneurial mindset in higher education engineering students

Francesco Bellotti; Riccardo Berta; A. De Gloria; Elisa Lavagnino; Alessandra Antonaci; Francesca Maria Dagnino; Michela Ott; Margarida Romero; Mireia Usart; Igor Mayer

Abstract The paper discusses adoption of Serious Games (SGs) for supporting development of an entrepreneurial mindset in university students of technical and scientific universities. The paper relies on the authors experience in the eSG project, which aims at introducing students, mainly through practice, to basic concepts of entrepreneurship and company management. In the framework of the project, courses have been designed and carried out in three different countries: Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. The paper discusses the main requirements for the courses and presents a table template, based on state of the art models for entrepreneurship education, that we have used for the scouting of the most suited SGs and defining the most appropriate mix for their use in the courses, keeping into account targeted competences and skills, usability and pedagogical effectiveness. Using the template, the paper draws a comprehensive overview of relevant SGs available on the market and identifies, through an expert analysis, key benefits and issues concerning their adoption in teaching entrepreneurship for the target students. Finally, the paper critically analyzes the state of the art, indicating directions for future research that should lead to development of more effective SGs for entrepreneurship education.


Procedia Computer Science | 2012

Hot Issues in Game Enhanced Learning: The GEL Viewpoint☆

Sara de Freitas; Jeffrey Earp; Michela Ott; Kristian Kiili; Muriel Ney; Maria Popescu; Margarida Romero; Mireia Usart; Ioana Andreea Stanescu

Abstract The territory of Game Based Learning has been widely explored, yet much has still to be done in the field. Both the methodological and the empirical aspects of adopting games for educational purposes require further in-depth investigation. What are, then, the current hot issues in the field? What relevant research questions are still to be answered? This is the a rea that this paper showcases, encapsulating in a nutshell the efforts of the GEL Theme Team, a working group on Game Enhanced Learning active in the framework of the STELLAR European Network of Excellence.


serious games development and applications | 2012

Interdisciplinary and international adaption and personalization of the metavals serious games

Margarida Romero; Mireia Usart; Maria Popescu; Elizabeth Boyle

Serious Games (SG) in Higher Education should be able to be adapted to particular learning needs and different university contexts in a sustainable way. In this respect, this study aims to describe the adaptation and personalization mechanism through the analysis of a case study developed in three countries and learning contexts. The adaptation is analyzed through the perspective of the perceived usability, utility and ease of use of the game in Spain, the UK and Romania. First results point to a positive evaluation by users of adaptable games, in the particular field of SGs for adult formal education. Future releases of the MetaVals game will be addressed towards the implementation of a complete and multi-language management interface, together with an improvement of the present static design.


Computers in Human Behavior | 2014

Supporting Human Capital development with Serious Games: An analysis of three experiences

Jeffrey Earp; Michela Ott; Maria Popescu; Margarida Romero; Mireia Usart

Serious Games (SGs) are increasingly being used in formal educational settings and it is almost universally acknowledged that they have strong potential for bringing innovation to education and for enhancing learning, this way also contributing to the development of Human Capital. This paper proposes some reflections on the usefulness and effectiveness of SGs when used in formal learning contexts. The considerations are derived from a set of SG-based educational experiences carried out in three European countries: Italy, Spain and Romania. The paper briefly summarizes the key aspects of the three research experiences and, by referring to the main lessons learnt, it also draws some general conclusions as to the potential of SGs to support the development of Human Capital both from the cognitive and from the affective/behavioural standpoint.


Procedia Computer Science | 2012

Measuring the Knowledge Convergence Process in the Collaborative Game MetaVals

Ariadna Padrós; Margarida Romero; Mireia Usart

Abstract This paper aims to advance in the characterization and implementation of the students’ prior knowledge and knowledge convergence in the context of computer-supported collaborative game-based learning in a university context.


Computers in Human Behavior | 2015

A gamified collaborative course in entrepreneurship

Alessandra Antonaci; Francesca Maria Dagnino; Michela Ott; Francesco Bellotti; Riccardo Berta; Alessandro De Gloria; Elisa Lavagnino; Margarida Romero; Mireia Usart; Igor Mayer

The paper deals with three gamified collaborative courses for entrepreneurship education (EE).A theoretical model for EE, developed on purpose, guided the identification of the objectives.The Serious Games (SGs) to be adopted during the courses have been selected based on the model.Courses outcomes and knowledge acquired could lead to developing of more effective SGs for (EE). The paper deals with the hot issue of entrepreneurship education and describes the rationale behind the gamified and collaborative courses for university students conceived, developed and deployed in the framework of the eSG (stimulating entrepreneurship through Serious Games) project, funded under the EU lifelong learning (LLP) Programme. The project aims to help students becoming familiar, mainly through practice, with basic concepts of entrepreneurship and company management and to stimulate the emergence of their entrepreneurial attitudes. In the framework of the project specific courses mainly grounded on the concepts of gamification and collaboration were designed and carried out in three different partner countries: Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. The main objectives of the courses are presented in this paper and a theoretical model supporting the choice of Serious Games is shown which keeps into account usability, pedagogy and the entrepreneurship skills expressed by state of the art models.


serious games development and applications | 2014

Measuring the commercial outcomes of serious games in companies: a review

Johann Christian Karl Henry Riedel; Yanan Feng; Aida Azadegan; Margarida Romero; Mireia Usart; Jannicke Baaslrud Hauge

The objective of this paper is to review the work on the measurement of the commercial outcomes of serious games in companies and to provide a framework for their measurement in companies. The literature on the evaluation of training and in particular serious games is presented. A systematic literature review of studies of the impacts of business games in companies was undertaken. The paper summarises the existing studies on measuring the effectiveness of serious games in companies. A search of the grey literature was also conducted to establish what kinds of commercial outcomes have been measured and how. Finally, the paper presents some examples of measuring the commercial outcomes. It also provides some advice on how to measure commercial outcomes.

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Michela Ott

National Research Council

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Jeffrey Earp

National Research Council

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Igor Mayer

Delft University of Technology

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