GOST

Gamified Objects for Speech Therapy

In January 2016 I took part in a project GOST that focus on designing gamified objects for stimulating fundamental hearing abilities that are limited in individuals using hearing-aids or cochlear implants.

GOST will focus on designing gamified objects for stimulating fundamental hearing abilities that are limited in individuals using hearing-aids or cochlear implants.

TurnTalk is meant for small groups of children of age group 8--10, for co-located, simultaneous, face-to-face conversations in classroom. It is realised as a playful tangible for the turn-sharing social norm.

Methodology

Participatory design with an action research approach.
Rapid prototyping with sketches, scnearios and interactive prototypes
(3d printing and micro-controllers, e.g., Arduino).
Studies wuth domain experts and usage studies with the end-users (children).

• Date: January 2016 - June 2017
• My responsabilities: context analyses; design of the tangible objects and smart solutions related to the goals of the projects;description of the requirements and the technologies to use; leading and supervision of the work performed by the PhD student (Mehdi Rizvi) working on the implementation of the samrt solutions; design and execution of empirical field studies.
• Team: Rosella Gennari (Assistant Professor at UNIBZ), Mehdi Rizvi (Ph.D. Student at UNIBZ), Francesco Pavani (Professor at CIMEC, Unitrento)
• Category: University Project

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GACOCO

GAmified Co-design with COoperative learning

GAmified CO-deisgn with COoperative Learning is a participatory game design method for guiding children and adults to conceive and creates prototype of games for children at school. GaCoCo can be used by a designer to plan, conduct and assess an early game design experience with children.

Research Approach

During my PhD, several emprirical studies using GaCoCo was exectuted at different schools in Italy for engaging children and teachers in game design.
GACOCO ship to a new smart gamified classroom concept.

More details in Ph.D. Thesis Alessandra Melonio

• Date: January 2013 - December 2015
• My responsabilities: the GaCoCo project and the new approach used for the gamified smart classroom come from the 3 years of my PhD work. During my PhD I organized, designed and run empirical studies in local school contexts in order to assess and refine GaCoCo for prototyping in learning contexts.
  The design and development of gamified interactive probes for a smart classroom was a crucial part of my Ph.D. work.
• Team: Rosella Gennari (Assistant Professor at UNIBZ), Gabriella Dodero (Professor at UNIBZ), Santina Torello (Psychologist)
• Category: Ph.D. Thesis Project

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GAPH

GAmified Probes for Health

Technology probes are simple early-design prototypes for enhancing users’ experience. Gamified technology probes for children are technology probes designed as game-like artefacts for children. This project put forward the lean design and evaluation of gamified technology probes for children’s healthy nutrition. It builds on existing knowledge and technologies for recommending healthy food and on research and facilities for designing and evaluating gamified technology probes for children

Literature analysis and contextual inquiries led to the idea of designing a smart tray for canteen contexts, which can automatically detect a lunch balance with respect to a user’s daily nutrition needs. Preliminary tangibles for the tray were deployed, in the form of: firstly, alternative mockups; secondly, an interactive prototype of the tray. Mock-ups underwent several rounds of expert reviews.

The results of the design assessment led consortium members design new tangible solutions: a more playful smart tray, that relies on the pac-man metaphor; an app for controlling the eating habits of users over time.

Gamified Cbhildren University

A "children university” initiatives.

The dissemination activity was presented as a game mission with several challenges to tackle. Avatars, a story line and an interactive progression map, with a movable character and hidden objects to collect, served to arouse curiosity to explore and guide children through the mission challenges.