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- Alklind Taylor, Anna-Sofia, et al.
(author)
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Acceptance of Entertainment Systems in Stroke Rehabilitation
- 2009
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In: Proceedings of IADIS Game and Entertainment Technologies 2009 (GET 2009). - : IADIS Press. - 9789728924850 ; , s. 75-83
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Game-based tools for rehabilitation of different types of physical and cognitive impairments are becoming more and more popular. By introducing an element of fun, these systems aim at increasing patients' motivation to train and, from a further perspective, improve recovery rates. There is, however, a question whether such tools will be fully accepted by the intended target group. Earlier work on user acceptance has mainly focused on utility systems, i.e. systems used mainly in the work place. However, people use systems for different reasons and that makes it difficult to apply the same principles on systems with the main purpose to entertain. Serious games have characteristics from both utility and entertainment systems, which makes it interesting to study the acceptance of these kinds of systems. In this study, we have developed a home-based entertainment system for stroke rehabilitation, with focus on rehabilitation of motor impairments. By analysing the gaming behaviour and interview responses of five stroke patients, we investigate factors influencing user acceptance of this specific type of system. The results show that current models of acceptance are not sufficient to fully explain acceptance of serious games in general and serious games for rehabilitation in particular. Besides well-known factors, such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease-of-use and perceived enjoyment, other, more specific, factors also play a vital role in the acceptance of the system.
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- Alklind Taylor, Anna-Sofia
(author)
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Coaching by Gaming : An Instructor Perspective of Game-based Vocational Training
- 2011
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Military organisations have a long history of using games for training. Over the years, they have developed training practices involving role-play, simulations, puckstering and gaming. Most researchers in serious games, i.e. games used for non-entertainment purposes, focus their studies on the learners. This licentiate thesis, instead, takes a closer look on the roles of instructors in game-based training situations, specifically at the Swedish Land Warfare Centre. Through a mix of theoretical and empirical studies, training practices were scrutinised, resulting in a framework for game-based vocational training. A key element of this framework is the coaching by gaming perspective in which instructors give un-intrusive, formative feedback through role-play and gameplay. Another important aspect of the framework involves dynamic debriefing. These insights points to specific needs for system support for instructors involved in game-based training. They also emphasise the fact that serious gaming is a highly contextualised activity made up of more than the game and the players.
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- Alklind Taylor, Anna-Sofia, 1975-
(author)
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Facilitation matters : A framework for instructor-led serious gaming
- 2014
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis explores the use of serious games from an instructor perspective. More specifically, it aims to study the roles of instructors and how they can be facilitated within an instructor-led game-based training environment. Research within the field of serious games has mostly focused on the learners' perspective, but little attention has been paid to what the instructors do and what challenges that entails. In this thesis, I argue that serious games, as artefacts used for learning and training, cannot fully replace the instructors' tasks, but must rather be designed to facilitate the various activities of the instructors. Thus, instructors form an important target audience in serious game development – not just as subject matter experts, but also as users and players of the game – with a different set of needs than the learners. Moreover, serious gaming (the actualisation of a serious game) involves more than in-game activities, it also involves actions and events that occur off-game. These activities must also be considered when designing and utilising games for learning and training.Using a qualitative approach, instructor-led serious gaming has been explored from a range of contexts, from rehabilitation to incident commander training and military training. Several different instructor roles have been identified and characterised, including in-game facilitator, puckster, debriefer, technical support and subject matter expert. Based on empirical and theoretical material, a framework for instructor-led serious gaming has been developed. It involves best practices in different phases of game-based training, such as scenario authoring, coaching-by-gaming, assessing in-game and off-game performance, giving feedback, and conducting a debriefing or after-action review. Furthermore, specific needs and challenges for instructors have been identified and reformulated into guidelines for instructor-led serious gaming. The guidelines highlight the importance of usability and visualisation, as well as the need for carefully designed support tools for instructors' situation awareness, assessment and debriefing. Lastly, a number of success factors pertaining to both the development and actualisation of serious games are presented. Since serious games aim to be both productive and engaging, it is advantageous to work with interdisciplinary teams when developing serious games. This includes subject matter experts well versed in serious gaming practices. Furthermore, a successful serious game should adhere to sound pedagogical theories, be easy to use and maintain, and include system support for instructors' tasks. Successful serious gaming practices also involve having an organisational culture that fosters knowledge sharing among practitioners.
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5. |
- Alklind Taylor, Anna-Sofia, et al.
(author)
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Gamers against All Odds
- 2009
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In: Learning by playing: game-based education system design and development. - Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin/Heidelberg. - 9783642033636 - 9783642033643 ; , s. 1-12
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The goal of the project presented in this paper is to enable motor rehabilitation to stroke patients in their home environment and to utilise game enjoyment to achieve frequent training. Stroke patients have an average age above 70 years, which implies that they typically do not belong to a gaming generation. In addition, these patients suffer from motor, and many times cognitive impairments, which make traditional games extremely difficult to use. Nearly all work in this area has been conducted in a clinic environment where it is possible to overcome some of these difficulties by letting professionals assist and guide patients.In this paper, we present the challenges faced, the system itself and the result from a study where five patients were equipped with a game console in their homes for five weeks. The focus of this paper is on analysing the gaming behaviour of patients, which includes the amount of time they spent, the type of games they selected and their comments on the gaming experience. The conclusion from this analysis is that their behaviour resembles that of gamers. They spent significant voluntary time, and it has been possible for patients, with no prior experience of computer games, to enjoy gaming in their homes where they had no professional assistance.
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6. |
- Alklind Taylor, Anna-Sofia, 1975-, et al.
(author)
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Guardian Angel : Using Lighting Drones to Improve Traffic Safety, Sense of Security, and Comfort for Cyclists
- 2023
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In: Lecture Notes in Computer Science. - Cham : Springer. - 9783031480461 - 9783031480478 ; , s. 209-223
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Active mobility, such as biking, faces a common challenge in Swedish municipalities due to the lack of adequate lighting during the dark winter months. Insufficient lighting infrastructure hinders individuals from choosing bicycles, despite the presence of well-maintained bike paths and a willingness to cycle. To address this issue, a project has been undertaken in the Swedish municipality of Skara for an alternative lighting solution using drones. A series of tests have been conducted based on drone prototypes developed for the selected bike paths. Participants were invited to cycle in darkness illuminated by drone lighting and share their mobility preferences and perception. This paper summarizes the users’ perception of drone lighting as an alternative to fixed lighting on bike paths, with a special focus on the impact on travel habits and the perceived sense of security and comfort. Most participants were regular cyclists who cited bad weather, time, and darkness as significant factors that deterred them from using bicycles more frequently, reducing their sense of security. With drone lighting, the participants appreciated the illumination’s moonlight-like quality and its ability to enhance their sense of security by illuminating the surroundings. On the technology side, they gave feedback on reducing the drone’s sound and addressing lighting stability issues. In summary, the test results showcase the potential of drone lighting as a viable alternative to traditional fixed lighting infrastructure, offering improved traffic safety, sense of security, and comfort. The results show the feasibility and effectiveness of this innovative approach, supporting transformation towards active and sustainable mobility, particularly in regions facing lighting challenges.
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7. |
- Alklind Taylor, Anna-Sofia
(author)
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Introducing the coaching cycle : a coaching by gaming perspective of serious gaming
-
Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Military organizations have a long history of using simulations, role-play and games for training. This also encompasses good practices concerning how instructors utilize games and gaming behavior. Unfortunately, the work of instructors is rarely described explicitly in research relating to serious gaming. Decision makers also tend to have overconfidence in the pedagogical power in games and simulations, where the instructor is taken out of the gaming loop. We propose a framework, the coaching cycle, that focuses on the roles of instructors. The roles include instructors acting as game players. The fact that the instructors take a more active part in all training activities will further improve learning. The coaching cycle integrates theories of experiential learning (where action precedes theory) and deliberate practice (where the trainee’s skill is constantly challenged by a coach). Incorporating a coaching by gaming perspective complicates, but also strengthens, the player-centered design approach to game development in that you need to take into account two different types of players: trainees and instructor. Furthermore, we argue that the coaching cycle allows for a shift of focus to more thorough debriefing, since it implies that learning of theoretical material before simulation/game playing is kept to a minimum. This shift will increase the transfer of knowledge.
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8. |
- Alklind Taylor, Anna-Sofia, et al.
(author)
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Letting the students create and the teacher play : expanding the roles in serious gaming
- 2011
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In: MindTrek'11. - New York : ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education. - 9781450308168 ; , s. 63-70
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Military organisations have a long history of using games for training. Over the years, they have developed training practices involving role-play, simulations, puckstering and gaming. Most researchers in serious games, i.e. games used for non-entertainment purposes, focus their studies on the learners. This licentiate thesis, instead, takes a closer look on the roles of instructors in game-based training situations, specifically at the Swedish Land Warfare Centre. Through a mix of theoretical and empirical studies, training practices were scrutinised, resulting in a framework for gamebased vocational training. A key element of this framework is the coaching by gaming perspective in which instructors give un-intrusive, formative feedback through role-play and gameplay. Another important aspect of the framework involves dynamic debriefing. These insights points to specific needs for system support for instructors involved in game-based training. They also emphasise the fact that serious gaming is a highly contextualised activity made up of more than the game and the players.
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10. |
- Alklind Taylor, Anna-Sofia, et al.
(author)
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Spelbaserad simulering för insatsutbildning : Slutrapport
- 2012
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Denna rapport är en avrapportering av projektet Spelbaserad simulering för insatsutbildning. Projektet syftar till att:Studera hur serious games kan förstärka lärandemiljön i träning och utbildningPraktiskt testa och analysera användningen av spelteknologi för att ta fram rekommendationer för konstruktion av träningssimulatorerSkapa underlag för utveckling av Räddningsverkets utbildningsmetoder genom samarbete mellan forskare och praktikerSerious games och spelbaserad simulatorträning ses som en möjlighet att vidareutveckla undervisnings- och träningsmiljön inom räddningstjänst. Begreppet serious games definieras som att använda spel och spelteknik för att uppnå syften utöver ren underhållning. För att utnyttja områdets potential i största möjliga mån krävs en kombination av att utveckla och anpassa teknik så att den passar för ändamålet, detta kan till exempel innebära att utnyttja de möjligheter som modern spelteknik ger för att logga användarbeteende och resultat. Dessutom innefattar serious games en komponent av speldesign, det vill säga att utnyttja möjligheter som spel ger för att skapa en motiverande och engagerande lärandemiljö. Detta kan till exempel innebära att skapa tävlingsmoment och poängsystem som sporrar till upprepad användning. I projektet har vi utnyttjat såväl teknik- som speldesignskomponenten.Projektets syften har uppnåtts genom att producera och utvärdera ett prototypspel för insatsträning samt en modell för hur serious games kan användas i träning och utbildning. De huvudsakliga resultaten består av en spelprototyp av ett webbaserat spel för att träna beslutsfattande på taktisk nivå samt en pedagogisk modell för spelbaserad träning. Prototypen och modellen har testats på en distanskurs för Räddningsledarutbildning i regi av Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap (MSB). Utvärderingen visar på goda resultat vad gäller systemets användbarhet. Den pedagogiska potentialen har inte kunnat utvärderas fullt ut då prototypen inte blev en tillräckligt integrerad del i kursen där den utvärderades.Projektet visar att spelbaserad träning kan vara en möjlighet för pedagogisk utveckling med avseende på både teknik och pedagogisk kontext. I detta sammanhang är det viktigt att poängtera vikten av att genomföra och utvärdera pedagogiska anpassningar i samband med spelbaserad träning. Vidare har projektet har samarbetat med olika konstellationer av lärare och kursdeltagare vid MSB. En viktig lärdom är att tydliga resurser och organisatoriskt engagemang finns på plats i den här typen av samproducerande forskningsprojekt.
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