CHI PLAY 2014: Call for Participation

CHI PLAY is a new international and interdisciplinary conference (by ACM SIGCHI) for researchers and professionals across all areas of play, games and human-computer interaction (HCI). We call this area "player-computer interaction". 

The goal of the conference is to highlight and foster discussion of current high quality research in games and HCI as foundations for the future of digital play. To the end, the conference will feature streams that blend academic research and games with research papers, interactive demos, and industry case studies.

CHI PLAY grew out of the increasing work around games and play emerging from the ACM annual conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) as well as smaller conferences such as Fun and Games and Gamification. CHI PLAY is sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group for Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI).

Important Dates (Submission Deadlines):

• May 18, 2014: Full papers (talks/demos/videos) and workshops
• June 26, 2014 Student competition, courses and tutorials, panels, doctoral consortium, industry case studies and works-in-progress

Themes:

• Game Interaction
• Novel Game Control
• Novel Implementation Techniques that Affect Player Experience
• Evaluation of Feedback and Display Technologies for Games
• Gamification
• Neurogaming
• Persuasive Games
• Games for Health, Learning and Change
• Exertion Games
• Player Experience
• Virtual and Augmented Reality Games
• Games User Research
• Game Evaluation Methods
• Psychology of Players and Games
• Player Typologies
• Accessible and Inclusive Game Design
• Novel Game Mechanics Impacting Player Experience
• Casual Game Design Studies
• Social Game Experiences
• Serious Games
• Alternate Reality GamesTools for Game Creation
• Developer Experiences and Studies of Developers
• Industry Case Studies

EUTIC - European and interdisciplinary research network on issues and uses of information and communication technologies is pleased to announce its X Symposium - The role of ICT in the design of informational and cognitive processes, to be held in October 22-24, 2014, at Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal. 

Themes:

• Scenarios for digital learning;

• Information and communication science and technology;

• Political and institutional communication;

• Publishing and dissemination of information;

• Culture promotion and heritage preservation;

• Management and organisational strategies in the professional world;  

• Employment and social inclusion;

• Environmental protection and nature conservation.

Important Dates:

• Call for papers - 7th March 2014 (extended to 12th May 2014)
• EUTIC 2014 LISBON - 22, 23, 24th October 2014

 

CSEDU 2015: Call for Papers

CSEDU 2015, the International Conference on Computer Supported Education, aims at becoming a yearly meeting place for presenting and discussing new educational environments, best practices and case studies on innovative technology-based learning strategies, institutional policies on computer supported education including open and distance education, using computers. In particular, the Web is currently a preferred medium for distance learning and the learning practice in this context is usually referred to as e-learning. CSEDU 2014 is expected to give an overview of the state of the art as well as upcoming trends, and to promote discussion about the pedagogical potential of new learning and educational technologies in the academic and corporate world.

Conference Areas:

• Information Technologies Supporting Learning 
• Learning/Teaching Methodologies and Assessment 
• Social Context and Learning Environments 
• Domain Applications and Case Studies 
• Ubiquitous Learning

Upcoming Deadlines:

• Regular Paper Submission: December 16, 2014
• Regular Paper Authors Notification: March 11, 2015
• Regular Paper Camera Ready and Registration: March 25, 2015

gEducation Workshop: Call for Papers

The gEducation Workshop - How Gamification is changing the future of Education will be held in Barcelona, on the Gamification World Congress. The gEducation Workshop will be on Saturday, May 24, 2014 (9:00am - 1:30pm).  

Topics of Interest:

    •    Tools for education
    •    Gamification in education
    •    Techniques and strategies
    •    Frameworks
    •    Collaborative learning
    •    Innovative methodologies
    •    Success stories
    •    User experiences and gamification in the clasrooms
    •    Management of gamified classrooms
    •    Useful resources for educators
    •    Gamification for different learning levels
    •    Styles of gamfication in educational environment
    •    E-learning

Important Dates:

    •    Submission deadline: April 14
    •    Notifications: May 1
    •    Workshop: May 24

ticEDUCA2014: Call for Papers

The III International Congress on ICT and Education - ticEDUCA2014, a biennial event carried out since 2010, will be held in Lisbon, at the Institute of Education of Lisbon University, on the 14-16, November, 2014.

Themes:

• Theme 1: Formal and Informal Learning Environments and Technologies
• Theme 2: Computer Mediated Communication, Relationships and  Expression of Emotions Online
• Theme 3: Digital Technologies and Professional Development
• Theme 4: eLearning in Higher Education and Vocational Training
• Theme 5: Technologies and Special (Educational) Needs

Important dates:

• Paper Submission: June, 20, 2014
• Notification of Acceptance: September, 5, 2014
• Submission of Accepted Papers: September, 14, 2014

Proceedings of ticEDUCA2012 are available on line.

EDEN Annual Conference 2014

The EDEN Annual Conference 2014 will be held in Zagreb in June, 10-13, 2014, with several Conference Themes.

The year 2014 is important as the start of the new European programme period until 2020. This coincides with intensive developments in ICT-supported learning, educational innovations and, in particular, open educational resources. With present economic trends, the key question being growth and employability, it is highly important how employers accept job candidates with the certifications and competences from the new world of learning, characterised by many innovative approaches and open educational settings.

Important Dates:

• Paper Submission: 31 January 2014
• Conference Dates: 10-13 June 2014

Nordic DiGRA 2014: Call for Papers

Nordic DiGRA will be held in Sweden, in May 29 and 30:

Games are becoming more and more pervasive in our everyday life. Gamification and game-based learning are research topics that are blooming. Games are also used in electioneering. We invite submission for full papers and for workshops. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• gamification
• games in society
• games and learning
• games as propaganda
• persuasive games
• games in teaching
• critical stances to gamification and game-based learning

Important dates:

• Full paper submission and workshop proposals: March 30, 2014

Founded in 2003, DiGRA is the premiere international association for academics and professionals who research digital games and associated phenomena. It encourages high-quality research on games, and promotes collaboration and dissemination of work by its members.

Gamification for Information Retrieval (GamifIR’14) Workshop

(received by email from gamification-research@googlegroups.com)

Gamification for Information Retrieval (GamifIR’14) Workshop, held in conjunction with ECIR 2014
, Amsterdam, Netherlands
13 April 2014

Gamification is the application of game mechanics, such as leader boards, badges or achievement points, in non-gaming environments with the aim to increase user engagement, data quality or cost effectiveness.  A core aspect of gamification solutions is to infuse intrinsic motivations to participate by leveraging people’s natural desires for achievement and competition. While gamification, on the one hand, is emerging as the next big thing in industry, e.g., an effective way to generate business, on the other hand, it is also becoming a major research area. However, its adoption in Information Retrieval (IR) is still in its infancy,  despite the wide ranging IR tasks that may benefit from gamification techniques. These include the manual annotation of documents for IR evaluation, the participation in user studies to study interactive IR challenges, or the shift from single-user search to social search, just to mention a few.

This workshop focuses on the challenges and opportunities that gamification can present for the IR community. The workshop aims to bring together researchers and practitioners from a wide range of areas including game design, information retrieval, human-computer interaction, computer games, and natural language processing.

Call for papers: deadline 5 February 2014

Keynote by Prof. Richard Bartle, known for his 1996 Player Types model (see this post)

Topics include but are not limited to:

• Gamification approaches in a variety of information-seeking contexts
• User engagement and motivational factors of gamification
• Player types, contests, cooperative games
• Challenges and opportunities of applying gamification in IR
• Gamification design and game mechanics
• Game based work and crowdsourcing
• Applications and prototypes
• Evaluation of gamification techniques

eMOOCs 2014: Call for Papers

An invitation from the EMOOCs 2014 Team for the EMOOCs 2014 Summit, in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Feb 10-12, 2014:

"Dear Sir/Madam,

Have you heard of the recent global phenomenon that is revolutionizing education?

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have the potential to disrupt the higher education system. Did you know, for instance, that the number of MOOCs in Europe has more than tripled since the beginning of 2013? Do you want to learn about the opportunities that MOOCs can bring to your sector? How to plan, produce and run a MOOC?

We invite you to join the EMOOCs 2014 Summit of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from the world of MOOCs in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Feb 10-12, 2014, to discuss the latest developments and find areas of common interest. EMOOCSs 2014 offers a series of workshops, meetings and the tutorial “All you need to know about MOOCs”.

With the input and participation of active MOOC stakeholders such as yourself, we intend to collectively shape the future of higher education in Europe.

Learn more about the programme and register for this unique event. The deadline for registration is the 1st of February 2014.

Feel free to contact us if you would like to receive any additional information. 

Sincerely yours,

The EMOOCs 2014 Team"

Important Dates

• Submissions deadline:  October 4, 2013
• Notification of acceptance: November 15, 2013
• Camera ready papers due: January 5, 2014

An interesting view about how europe is dealing with MOOCs can be seen in this page from Open Education Europe with a distribution of MOOCs per country:

Spain is clearly on the lead with 129 MOOCs followed by the UK (69), France (48) and Germany (47).

Eden 2014 Annual Conference

The Eden 2014 Annual Conference will take place in Zagreb from 10 to 13 June. 

"Workplace-based training supported by ICT tools is part of the solution to reduce skill shortages and mismatches. E-learning has become a dominant delivery method in learning settings at work across various sectors and a wide range of company sizes. Its advantages may be many, including flexibility, cost and time savings, and new work habits and improved working climate. ICT-enhanced learning may improve organisational performance and lead to increased staff commitment and the generation of new ideas."

The 2013 Annual Conference Proceedings are available at the EDEN website.

Important Dates:

• Paper Submission: 31 January 2014
• Registration Open: mid-February 2014
• Notification of Authors: 28 March 2014

EJML 2014

O 2º Encontro sobre Jogos e Mobile-Learning vai ter lugar na na Universidade de Coimbra a 9 de maio de 2014.

Entre outros temas, os jogos e a sua aplicação no ensino, serão abordados no encontro. Destacam-se os Serious Games e a Gamification.

Tema - Jogos e aprendizagem
:

• Jogos e m-Learning

• Serious games

• Experiências com jogos em contexto educativo

• Os jogos e as redes sociais
• Gamification

Apesar do encontro contar com oradores estrangeiros, estranha-se que o website do evento (que é muito básico) esteja apenas redigido em português. Fica a sugestão de um website, pelo menos também em inglês.

Datas importantes:

Até 31 de janeiro de 2014
▪ Submissão das comunicações e posters (texto completo)

28 de fevereiro de 2014
▪ Notificação aos autores do resultado da avaliação

Até 15 de março de 2014
▪ Envio da versão final da comunicação e poster
▪ Inscrição e pagamento dos autores da comunicação
 

ICEILT 2014

The International Congress on Education, Innovation and Learning Technologies, will be held in Barcelona, from 23 to 25 July 2014.

This congress is organized by Professors from the C3i/Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre (Portugal) and the Extremadura University (Spain).

Scientific Areas:

• Education;
• Innovation and Learning Technologies;
• Engineering Education.

Important Dates:

• Abstracts sending: February 6th 2014;
• Acceptance notification: February 21st 2014;
• Complete Communications sending: April 8th 2014.

WorldCIST'14: Call for Papers

Call for papers for the 2014 World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (WorldCIST'14) is a global forum for researchers and practitioners to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, results, experiences and concerns in the several perspectives of Information Systems and Technologies.

Main themes: 

• Information and Knowledge Management (IKM); 
• Organizational Models and Information Systems (OMIS); 
• Intelligent and Decision Support Systems (IDSS); 
• Software Systems, Architectures, Applications and Tools (SSAAT); 
• Computer Networks, Mobility and Pervasive Systems (CNMPS); 
• Human-Computer Interaction (HCI); 
• Health Informatics (HIS); 
• Information Technologies in Education (ITE).

Important Dates :

• Paper Submission: November 15, 2013 
• Notification of Acceptance: January 10, 2014  
• Camera-ready Submission: January 19, 2014

Slides da Apresentação no Challenges 2013

Slides da apresentação do artigo Proposta de Modelo de Referência para Aplicação de Gamification em Ambientes de Aprendizagem Social, Challenges 2013, 16 de julho de 2013, Braga, Portugal.

Resumo: A gamification consiste na aplicação de elementos característicos dos videojogos em contextos não lúdicos com o objetivo de aumentar os níveis de envolvimento e de motivação dos participantes em atividades nesses contextos. Para atingir este objetivo tem sido considerada, entre outras, a teoria do fluxo. A educação é apontada como uma das áreas com maior potencial de aplicação de gamification. O crescente uso das tecnologias de informação e de comunicação em contextos educativos e o reconhecimento do potencial pedagógico das aplicações da Web 2.0 levam a que as plataformas de apoio ao ensino sejam candidatas à aplicação elementos de jogos, em particular de jogos sociais. Os elementos a considerar e a forma de os aplicar levaram à necessidade de definição de um modelo de referência que auxilie a aplicação do conceito de gamification. Este artigo apresenta uma proposta de um modelo de referência no seguimento de trabalhos anteriores que identificaram já as suas características gerais.

Palavras-chave: Gamification, elementos de jogos, teoria do fluxo, ambientes sociais de aprendizagem, modelo de referência

Abstract: Gamification is the application of typical elements from video games in non-gaming contexts aiming to increase the levels of engagement and motivation of the participants in activities in those contexts. The ways to achieve this objective have been supported by the flow theory, among others. Education is considered one of the areas with greatest potential for the application of gamification. The increasing use of information and communication technologies in educational contexts and the recognition of the pedagogical potential of Web 2.0 applications, made learning supporting platforms good candidates for the application of game elements, particularly from social games. Choosing which elements to consider and how to apply them led to the necessity of defining a framewok to assist the application of gamification. This paper presents a proposal of such a framework following previous work that has identified its general characteristics.

Keywords: Gamification, game elements, flow theory, social learning environments, framework

Paper in PLE 2013

Foi apresentado ontem, pelo Ademar Aguiar, o artigo que enviámos para a PLE 2013 - Personal Learning Environments: Learning and Diversity in the Cities of the Future,  em Berlim. 

O artigo, Using Gamification to Improve Participation in a Social Learning Environment, foi feito em co-autoria com Rebeca Redondo e Ana Vilas da Universidade de Vigo, para além do Ademar Aguiar. A redação do artigo contou ainda com o apoio de de um shepherd, Kamakshi Rajagopal.

Abstract do artigo: This paper presents a gamification framework applied in the integration of game elements in a K6 Social Learning Environment leading to a gamified system. With this gamified system it is expected to achieve a raise in the motivation to use the platform with students becaming more loyal users. It is also expected that they will be deeper involved and engaged in educational activities supported by the environment. The proposed gamification framework includes an architecture for a gamified system and a guide to help the development of gamified activities.

CISTI'2013: Final Program

CISTI'2013 (8th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies), to be held between the 19th and 22th of June 2013, in Lisbon, Portugal. The final programa is available.

The program includes a workshop on Serious Games: SGaMePlay 2013 - Third Iberian Workshop on Serious Games and Meaningful Play. Under the theme Information Technologies in Education, there are some potential interesting papers on gamification, game-based learning and motivation:

- Immersive Learning: Metaversos e Games na Educação, Eliane Schlemmer, 
Unisinos, 
Brazil and Fernando Marson, 
Unisinos, 
Brazil

Abstract: 
O artigo, a partir de uma reflexão sobre a Cultura Digital e novo sujeito da aprendizagem, apresenta e discute o uso de Metaversos e Jogos Digitais na Educação, envolvendo conceitos como: estado de flow, experimentação e significação para problematizar a questão da aprendizagem. Nesse contexto, propõe o Immersive Learning – i-Learning, por meio do desenvolvimento de Experiências de Realidade Virtual e Experiências de Virtualidade Real, como uma das possibilidades educacionais que pode ser propiciada para os novos sujeitos da aprendizagem, que fazem parte da Cultura Digital.

- What’s in it for me? Enlightening motivation within a social network decision-making, Francisco Antunes, 
INESC Coimbra - Universidade da Beira Interior
 Portugal and João Paulo Costa, 
INESC Coimbra - Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra
, Portugal

Abstract:
 This paper addresses the motivations by which people engage in social networking, according to the existing literature. Understanding these motivations allows firms to set processes to explore them, in order to establish and develop a decision support social network, supported by social network sites. Participating in social networks draws upon the interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. On one hand, intrinsic factors refer to motivation embedded in the action itself (comes within the individual), rather than from external rewards such as money or recognition. On the other hand, extrinsic factors refer to the motivation coming outside the individual. Considering that solutions to problems are expected within a decision support social network, some potential problems are identified and addressed.

- Gamification for Productive Interaction. Reading and Working with the Gamification Debate in Education, Razvan Rughinis
 University Politehnica of Bucharest 
Romania

Abstract:
 We examine the gamification debate of recent years and we propose an alternative, heuristic definition for gamification in learning situations. After considering several critiques of the gamification concept, we privilege in our definition 'interaction' over 'motivation', 'simple gameplay' over 'game mechanics', and we highlight the diverse and changing behaviors of user/players. We re-define gamification in learning contexts as 'simple gameplay to support productive interaction for expected types of learners and instructors'. We argue that this definition offers a lowest common denominator to inform gamification in education.

The abstract of the first one has a reference to the state of flow (is it the flow theory of Csikszentmihalyi?).  

The second papers deals with motivation in social networks. Does the approach involves any gamification features?

The third abstract includes a new definition for gamification in learning contexts: simple gameplay to support productive interaction for expected types of learners and instructors. It will be interesting to read the full paper.

III Colóquio Luso-Brasileiro de Educação a Distância e Elearning

Colóquio a realizar em Lisboa, Portugal, em 6 e 7 de dezembro - III Colóquio Luso-Brasileiro de Educação a Distância e Elearning.

O III Colóquio Luso-Brasileiro de Educação a Distância e Elearning tem como objetivo central promover a aproximação e colaboração entre o Brasil e Portugal, designadamente entre as suas universidades e centros de investigação, sob a égide de um interesse comum, a Educação a Distância.
Pretende-se promover a reflexão e o intercâmbio de práticas e experiências sobre Educação a Distância, Elearning e Educação Online; partilhar conhecimento e desenvolvimento tecnológico e promover parcerias de investigação e de colaboração docente entre universidades portuguesas e brasileiras.

Destacam-se as linhas temáticas consideradas para a apresentação de trabalhos:

1.     EaD e Políticas educativas
2.     Boas Práticas em Educação Online
3.     Modelos e Processos Pedagógicos em Educação online
4.     Web 2.0 e tecnologias emergentes
5.     Pedagogias emergentes (PLEs, MOOCs, REAs, …)
6.     Realidade Virtual em EaD
7.     Jogos e gamification em EaD
8.     Mobile Learning
9.     EaD e Inclusão Digital
10.  Avaliação em contextos online

É de realçar que uma das linhas temáticas é "Jogos e gamification em EaD" o que demonstra o destaque que este tema tem vindo a merecer na área da educação em geral e na área da EaD em particular. Outras linhas temáticas são a Realidade Virtual e o Mobile Learning, ambas também já abordadas neste blogue (ver, por exemplo, o post Mobile Learning e o post Mundos Virtuais, Realidade Aumentada e Virtualidade Aumentada).

Datas Importantes para o Colóquio:

• Submissão das propostas: 30 de junho
• Informação sobre a aprovação das propostas: 31 de agosto
• Envio de textos finais para publicação: 26 de setembro
• Registo e confirmação da presença dos autores: 30 de setembro

PLE Conference 2013: Draft Program

Já está disponível o programa preliminar para The PLE Conference 2013 - Personal Learning Environments: Learning and Diversity in the Cities of the Future (10 – 12 July 2013, Berlin, Germany &  Melbourne, Australia).

Uma das sessões tem como tema "PLE e Gamification" com uma contribuição (paper #58) em co-autoria com Ana Vilas e Rebeca Redondo, da Universidade de Vigo  e Ademar Aguiar da Universidade do Porto.

GALA 2013: Call for Papers

The Games and Learning Alliance Conference (GALA 2013) is an international conference dedicated to the science and application of serious games.

The conference aims at bringing together researchers, developers, practitioners and stakeholders. The goal is to share the state of the art of research and market, analysing the most significant trends and discussing visions on the future of serious games.

The conference also includes an exhibition, where developers can showcase their latest products.

The Serious Games Society is building a scientific community at international level for shaping future research in the field. This community represents a significant blend of industrial and academic professionals committed to the study, development and deployment of serious games as really useful and effective tools to support better teaching, learning, training and assessment.

Important dates:

• Papers (10 pages) submission: June 19 2013

• Call for Workshops (4 pages) submission: May 31 2013
• 
Call for Tutorials (4 pages) submission: June 19 2013

Challenges 2013: Accepted Paper

Paper accepted (with revision) for Challenges 2013 Conference: "Proposta de Modelo de Referência para Aplicação de Gamification em Ambientes de Aprendizagem Social".

Abstract: Gamification is the application of  typical elements from video games in non-gaming contexts aiming to increase the levels of engagement and motivation of the participants in activities in those contexts. The ways to achieve this objective have been supported by the flow theory, among others. Education is considered one of the areas with greatest potential for the application of gamification. The increasing use of information and communication technologies in educational contexts and the recognition of the pedagogical potential of Web 2.0 applications, made learning supporting platforms good candidates for the application of game elements, particularly from social games. Choosing which elements to consider and how to apply them led to the necessity of defining a framewok to assist the application of gamification. This paper presents a proposal of such a framework following previous work that has identified its general characteristics.
 

Keywords: Gamification, game elements, flow theory, social learning environments, framework

Autores: Jorge Simões, Rebeca Redondo, Ana Vilas, Ademar Aguiar.