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The Serious Games Institute is Europe’s first institute of its kind. Established in 2007, the SGI is part of the Coventry University, and currently has 14 projects, 8 of which are European Union and European Regional Development funded.
The SGI Research & Development Group is providing leading edge research and development in support of a wide range of serious games applications and virtual world technologies. Current research is focusing upon applications in the areas of health, education and the environment and scientific contributions have included research on traditional and game-based learning approaches, integration of artificial life technologies, modelling and visualization work, new uses for games technologies and testing new multimodal interfaces. SGI has a range of current funded EU projects, including :the e-Vita (European Life Experiences) project and the mEducator, Multi-type Content Repurposing and Sharing in Medical Education, EU eContentPlus Programme project, both centring upon the development and use of serious games. Recent projects include the EU-funded mEducator, GaLA and Alice projects.
With over 90 partners on our funded projects and a network of over 30 serious game and virtual world companies, it is ideally positioned to understand the needs for game-based interventions in various domains. The main research and development areas of particular interest at the institute are: (1) visualisation and modelling, (2) multi-agent technologies and artificial intelligence, (3) neuropsychological and educational research approaches, and (4) multimodal interface integration. The SGI covers multiple sectors including education, health, environment, smart environments, automotive, manufacturing and education and business training.
More information about our institute and work can be found below:
The Serious Games Institute:
http://www.seriousgamesinstitute.co.uk
Publications:
http://www.seriousgamesinstitute.co.uk/research-publications.aspx
Learning in Immersive worlds report: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning_innovation/eli_outcomes.html
Serious Virtual Worlds report: www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/seriousvirtualworldsreport
Rethinking Learning for a Digital Age: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415875431/
SGI @ AI: Discuss and Discover
Presentation: Game-Based Learning on a Multi-modal Platform
Speaker: Sylvester Arnab
Innovations in teaching and learning process are influenced by the rapid emergence of ‘digital natives’, also known as ‘net generation’. Various kinds of computer-based learning systems have already been integrated into conventional teaching methods. However, there is a pressing need to provide a more engaging and intelligent learning environment in order to increase learners’ receptiveness towards the learning process. Complete involvement of learners in their learning environment will promote better absorptions of knowledge via experiential and exploratory pedagogies.
Virtualisation of the learning environment often implies experiences become abstract subsets of their real-world counterparts, and therefore fissures can emerge in the experiential model between action, (virtual) experience, and reflection. These often manifest themselves as unfulfilled learning outcomes due to inadequate fidelity, or reports of cognitive overload as learners struggle to address the additional demands required to reflect on virtual experiences in the context of real-world events. Hence, it is essential to narrow the gap between virtual and real spaces, and thus enable experiential as well as exploratory learning techniques to be more readily and effectively applied.
Multisensory teaching approaches mirrors more closely evolved learning processes, suggesting uni-sensory approaches are sub-optimal and that their selection is based in practicality rather than pedagogy. In tandem with such pedagogic approaches, this presentation will briefly explore a multi-modal approach towards stimulating visual and tactile perceptions, promoting social interactions and simulating artificial lives with behavioural intelligence based on the Roma Nova project at the Serious Games Institute, UK. Potential further research and development work will also be discussed, which aims to encourage collaborations with other researchers in artificial intelligence.
Dr Sylvester Arnab is a senior researcher at the Serious Games Institute, UK with a background in advance visualisation and interactive technologies. His research interests are mainly in the area of immersive environment and the utilisation of technologies, such as 3D interfaces, interactive devices (e.g. haptics) and games technologies to address learning, health and socio-cultural issues. He is managing the research and development activities under the GaLA network and overseeing collaborations with the Centre of Excellence in Rural Informatics and the Centre of Excellence in Semantic Technology and Augmented Reality, Malaysia. He is currently co-editing a book: Serious Games for Healthcare – Applications and Implications to be published by IGI Global.
He was previously a research fellow at the International Digital Lab at the University of Warwick working on projects such as the EU Network of Excellence for Innovative Production Machines and Systems (I*PROMS), the Intelligent Robot Swarm for Attendance, Recognition, Cleaning and Delivery (IWARD) and INTUITION – a Network Of Excellence focused on Virtual Reality applications.
