Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting GALA Game and Learning Alliance The European Network of Excellence on Serious Games GALA achievements and perspectives Prof. Alessandro De Gloria Elios Lab (DITEN), University of Genoa

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting Presentation outlook Goals, strategy and plan Main achievements Challenges after GALA Global KPIs Beyond GALA

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting Project main goals Shape the SG scientific community and a collaboration space Gather, integrate and coordinate research on SGs in EU Disseminate knowledge, best practices and tools Become a reference point at an international level Sustainability

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting Initial conditions Acknowledged potential of SGs for education and training Need to address the challenges of the main stakeholders of the SGs landscape in EU –Users, researchers, developers/industry, educators Overall fragmentation affecting the SG landscape

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting Project organization Three operational axes –Research Integration Favour a de-fragmentation of the topics and the processes related to the SG research in EU Coordination among SG research activities at EU level –Joint Research Activities Define and perform joint research activities, addressing hot topics of SG research –Spreading of Excellence Support international visibility to the SG field

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting Strategy and workplan Develop structures, products and services with an impact on the three axes Focus on sustainability –Transfer the GaLA aims to the SG Society –SGS to be able to act independent of the GaLA funding for the next years –SGS to inherit the GaLA achievements First part (two years) –Internal defragmentation –Development of studies, methodologies and tools to advance research on SGs Second part (two years) –Exploit the developed long-term tools –Conclude ongoing experiments/studies –Increase the spreading of excellence and the impact on R&D through high-level dissemination and provision of services

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting Strategy for the SGS Serious Games Society (SGS) - LinkLink –Think tank on the future of Serious Games –Info, tools and services to support R&D on SGs We decided to develop a set of tools of high expected impact in order to gather interest towards the SGS by scientists, developers, teachers and students A complete overview of the developed instruments and methodologies follows

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting The SGS portfolio The SGS features a portfolio of products and services organized in four main clusters –Spreading knowledge on SGs –SG analysis and design support –Blog and community –Learning on and with SGs

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting Spreading knowledge on SGs International Journal of Serious Games (IJSG) - LinkLink –Papers of significant and lasting value in all areas related to design, development, deployment and assessment of SGs –Triple blind peer-review, international editorial board –5 issues, 20 regular articles in 2014, indexed, ISSN: , DOI: /IJSG Games and Learning Alliance International Conference - LinkLink –Study and application of SGs –Genova 2012, Paris 2013, Bucharest 2014, 2015 CFP to be published –Proceedings on Elsevier Proceedia and Springer LNCS Roadmap on Serious Games – LinkLink –Strategic guidance for R&D on SGs. Drivers, barriers and possible solutions to increase quality and the deployment level of SGs

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting SG analysis and design support SG Studies Database (SG Studies) - LinkLink –Structured, searchable and machine-readable database of SG studies Catalogue of web services for SGs - LinkLink –Links, descriptions and interfaces of web services according to the Service Oriented Architecture paradigm Learning Mechanics-Game Mechanics (LM-GM) - LinkLink –Model for supporting SG analysis and design Gleaner - LinkLink –Framework for working with learning analytics in SGs Serious Games Reusability Point of Reference (SG-REF) - LinkLink –Reusable SG assets SG evaluation framework (SG-EF) - LinkLink –A model of the factors that concur to determine the learning impact of SGs Living Labs - LinkLink –LLs established in Paris, Genoa, Madrid, Coventry and Bremen –Ideation, development, testing and evaluation of SGs

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting Blog and community Serious Games Blog - LinkLink –Technology, applications, business, dissemination of events. –included in the OnlineColleges.net ranking of the 20 Top Blogs on Game-based learning Serious Games Academy - LinkLink –Social network for SG people: teachers, academicians and students Serious Games Marketplace - LinkLink –Online meeting point for developers and companies –To advertise and promote SGs, offering job opportunities and internships Coverage of main social networks –Facebook (Link), Twitter (Link), Linkedin (Link)Link

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting Learning on and with SGs Summer Schools - LinkLink –One week course dedicated to theory, design, development and deployment –Two editions: Graz, Austria, 2013; Pori, Finland, 2014 –New edition possible in 2015 Framework for Masters in SGs Curriculum - LinkLink –Curriculum framework for high level training and education provision Serious Games Design tutorial - LinkLink –Introduction to the design of educational games Gamification in higher education - LinkLink –Experience and lessons learned of a short course on promotion of entrepreneurship in ICT engineering

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting Global KPIs (1) Associate partners –number of partners that have joined the GALA associate partnership programme –target: 30; achieved: 36 PhD projects –number of students that have made a PhD based on GALA research –target: 60; achieved: 96 SGS associated people –number of individuals that have subscribed the SGS for year 2014 –target: 75; achieved: 90

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting Global KPIs (2) SGS associated countries –number of countries that have representatives in the SGS –target: 20; achieved: 24 Related EU projects by GALA partners –number of projects participated by GALA partners that are in relationship with GALA –target: 30; achieved: 59 Publications –number of GALA publications Scopus-indexed –target: 320; achieved: 406 Citations –number of Scopus-indexed citations to GALA publications –target: 800; achieved: 1250

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting Global KPIs (3) H-index –The highest number such that h GALA Scopus-indexed publications have been cited by at least h Scopus-indexed publications –target: 8; achieved: 16 IJSG downloads –Number of downloads per published article –target: 500; achieved: 611 (9.172 total for the first 3 issues) SG Studies Database –Number of complete studies available on the online environment –target: 60; achieved: 70

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting Main challenges after GALA Transfer interest and research to market –Few and small companies difficult to engage Contingency by the crisis period –New proposed business models need to be tested –Improve synergies with videogame industries R&D –A roadmap has been defined –Further increase educational effectiveness and lower production costs –Further improve quality of research papers, empirical works, with control groups Establish foundational knowledge –Too early for an educational book series

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting Beyond GALA Some projects won by GALA partners in H2020 The SG Society –Bring together the cutting edge companies, institutions and individuals researching on and developing Serious Games –Help members in connecting and benefiting from teh resources available in the Serious Games space Agreement with several GALA partners for continuing the activities –E.g., journal, conference, blog, etc. Collaborations with other organizations Operation manager contracted by Uni. Genoa

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting SGS structure Elective structure –President, vice-president, secretary, council Operation structure –Operation manager –Matrix Regional areas (France, Spain, Germany, USA, UK, etc.) S&T fields (HCI, SG design, health, etc.) General assembly on December 18 th

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting SGS KPIs Membership –Members, organizations, countries, etc. Web statistics –Section accesses, downloads, etc. Tools and frameworks –Hits, downloads, citations, etc. Social media statistics –Like, friends, followers, posts, etc. IJSG –Hits, downloads, indexing, citations, etc. GALA Conf –Participation, papers, indexing, etc. Living labs –Number, participation, products, etc.

Luxemburg, December 2014 European Commission Information Society and Media Final Review Meeting ?! Questions? Thank you!