Mini Tracks – Calls for Papers

Language, culture and politics
Games and health
The teacher’s role, identity and presence in game-based learning
Affective issues in games-based learning
Games and higher education

Mini track on Language, culture and politics
Track chair: Tobias Bevc, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany

Language, Culture, and Politics are closely connected areas of knowledge and learning.

The teaching of languages promotes cultural development by providing  learners with insights into cultural differences and with opportunities to relate these to their own experience and to consider different cultural and linguistic traditions, attitudes and behaviours. Effective teaching in languages can make a significant contribution to people’s ability to value diversity and challenge racism. Language teachers already make great use of simulation/gaming methodologies. In recent years the computer game has become an important development in popular culture, during the same period there has been an appreciation that computer games can play a significant role in education.

A second theme to be raised in this mini track would be the question, which impact popular computer games have towards shaping the political identity of its – often adolescent – users. Adolescence is a very crucial phase in building ones identity hence it is obvious to take a closer look at the content the people spend their time with. Questions at hand are if these games support stereotypes (e.g. about race, gender, religion, nationalities etc.) or promote prevailing ideologies without a second thought.

Both themes of this mini track combine the same area of interest from two divergent points of view: how may computer games be best integrated in the education of people. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Corresponding analyzes of games
• Game design proposals for educational purposes in language, culture or politics
• Integration of games into the curriculum

For mini track submission details, see the call for papers page.

Tobias Bevc

Mini track on Games and health
Track co-chairs: David Brown, Nottingham Trent University, UK and Penny Standen, University of Nottingham, UK

A growing body of research is emerging in the use of GBL approaches for people with cognitive impairments. They enable interactivity and learning initiative, can also have a beneficial effect on choice reaction time, decision making and memory. 

Researchers are also addressing the needs of Blind gamers and those with visual impairment, with blind players playing against sighted opponents using auditory navigation. Other researchers combine audio signposts with rumble feedback from the Nintendo Wii Mote Controller to form an effective navigation tool for use in games. Game interaction can also be delivered via the muscles in the forehead or brain waves.

GBL approaches are also being used for rehabilitation and health applications.  Current stroke rehabilitation systems employ relatively sophisticated or expensive hardware and software, and serious games researchers are now investigating whether similar results can be obtained with less sophisticated and affordable systems. 

The Games and Health Track will showcase current research in each of these areas. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

§  GBL approaches for use by people with a cognitive, physical or sensory impairment

§  Approaches to making computer and video games accessible by all

§  GBL approaches for health and rehabilitation applications

§  Using contemporary games controllers to create new opportunities for people with disabilities

§  Mobile games for health, special education and rehabilitation applications

For mini track submission details, see the call for papers page.

David Brown


Penny Standen

Mini track on The teacher’s role, identity and presence in game-based learning
Track chair: Hamish Macleod, University of Edinburgh, UK

Game-based and game-informed approaches to learning are often seen as powerful examples of student-centred and experiential learning.  While this is an important emphasis, there appears a need to clarify the task of the teacher within such settings.  While the teacher is encouraged by the rhetoric of game-based learning to step back from centre stage, quite what role he or she might now be called upon to play is often left unclear.  Should the role be as passive facilitator or active player, and if as a player, what role should the teacher play?

The purpose of this track is to explore some of these issues, and to consider the opportunities and risks that exist for a teacher in playful educational spaces. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

§  the teacher as collaborator and team member

§  the teacher as an orchestrator of experience, Dungeon Master, Puppet Master

§  the teacher as Jester or Agent Provocateur

§  the teacher’s role in surfacing tacit knowledge through play

§  supporting and facilitating reflection in game-based settings

§  the place of assessment in game-based learning

For mini track submission details, see the call for papers page.

Hamish Macleod

Mini track on Affective issues in games-based learning
Track chair: Genaro Rebolledo-Mendez, Serious Games Institute, Coventry University, UK

Monitoring human affective states during the learning with computers, has gained recognition as there is evidence of its important role in the learning process. A prediction from this assumption is that games-based learning environments sensitive to the learner’s affect might enrich learning, particularly when accompanied by confusion, frustration, boredom and flow. The field therefore needs methodologies to explore the connections between affect and complex learning in the context of game-based learning. Theories linking cognition and affect (i.e Ortony, Clore, and Collins (1988) or Kort, Reilly, & Picard (2001)) suppose general links between cognition and affect but do not explain how to predict affective states relevant to learning or how these links work in game-based contexts.  Some affective traits seem to have a more important role in learning than others. This mini-track will focus on those identifying relevant affective states in game-based learning. The main interest of this track is to bring together researchers and practitioners in this field to discuss methodologies, applications and developments that shed some light onto the role of affect in game-based learning.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Contributions of state-of-the-art games-based software addressing affective issues
• Identification of affective states relevant in games-based learning
• Recognition of and reaction to affective states during games-based learning
• Design methodologies for affective reactions in serious games
• Role of affective issues in the design and development of games-based learning software

For mini track submission details, see the call for papers page.

Genaro Rebolledo-Mendez

Mini track on Games and higher education
Track chair: Elias Pimenidis, University of East London, UK

Higher Education has seen considerable changes in the way academics interact with students over the past few years. The rising cost of Higher Education puts strain on institutions in maximizing utilization of resources and improving performance in terms of student results. At the same time students are far more technologically savvy compared to even five years ago. Teaching in higher education through games is an acceptable and fashionable mode of delivery. Lecturers and tutors constantly seek innovative means of attracting and maintaining student interest during class contact hours and games along with virtual worlds appear to be the current winning formula. Yet the games available for such purposes are either too generic or too specific, narrowed down to the individual approaches of their developers. They mostly lack the “fun” factor that’ll make them attractive enough to younger generations or where they achieve that they tend to overstep that, loosing the educational focus. 

This mini track seeks to present innovative ways of developing games that would suit a wider HE audience (within a specific knowledge area) and for researchers / developers to present their approaches and experiences in developing games for HE teaching. Such presentations would prove particularly attractive to the educational community who often looks at developing in-house tools on limited budgets and small and usually understaffed teams.

Finally the mini track would welcome papers presenting innovative approaches of utilizing existing off the shelf games within an HE teaching environment

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Developing computer based educational games
• Managing the development small scale computer games projects for educational purposes
• Delivering professional skills through computer games – a designer’s challenge
• Computer Games for Higher Education students – balancing the fun element
• Using off-the-shelf games in Higher Education teaching

For mini track submission details, see the call for papers page.

Elias Pimenidis