AVATARS in GAME-BASED LEARNING

AVATARS in GAME-BASED LEARNING Yavuz Inal 21.12.2005 Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

Overview • Computer Games • Game-Based Learning • Avatars in Computer Games • Historical Background of Avatars • Avatars as Pedagogical Agents • Reviews of 2 Studies • Discussion for Future Researches

Computer Games voluntary enjoyable • Characterised by six dimensions: Fantasy, rules/goals, sensory stimuli, challenge, mystery and control. unproductive unreal uncertain

Computer Games Why are computer games important? • Being Source of Fun • Draw Attention • Keep Motivation High • Improve Learning Capabilities • Enhance Self-Esteem

Computer Games • Main Characteristics of Computer Games (Prensky, 2001) • 1) Fun • 2) Play • 3) Rules • 4) Goals • 5) Interactivity • 6) Outcomes and feedback

Computer Games • 7) Adaptive • 8) Win states • 9) Conflict/competition/ challenge/opposition • 10) Problem solving • 11) Interaction • 12) Representation and story

Computer Games Why do people play computer games? • “fantasy, curiosity, challange, control” (Malone, 1981) • “dynamic visuals, rules, goal, interaction” (Johnston, 1993) • “challenge, risk” (Baranauskas, 1999) • “competition, challenge, social interaction, diversion, arousal, fantasy” (Garris et al., 2002)

Game-Based Learning • The ability and the potential benefits of computer games in game-based learning environment to engage, motivate and allow the user have fun is directly related to design and quality of the content which will be embedded into the computer games (Pivec at al., 2004)

Game-Based Learning In Game-Based Lening Environment; • Encourage greater academic, social and computer literacy skills (Natale, 2002) • Think critically • Learn more effectively • Remind context of the courses efficiently

Game-Based Learning • From the first computer games to the last, game technology has been evolving from day to day because the computer and graphic technology have been changing • Avatar technology, which is a human body representation in the virtual worlds

Game-Based Learning • Main usgae of avatars are to increase motivation of the players as pedagogical agents when they play computer games.

Avatars in Computer Games • Avatars are commonly the representation of the players in the virtual environments • Mostly human-like or cartoon sample • The two individual elements, player and character, can be imagined to be inert until they are joined together in virtual environments

Avatars in Computer Games • Avatar is a independent embodiment from the content of the environments (Sheth, 2003) • They are also virtual characters making the communication between the user and the machine more natural and interactive

Avatars in Computer Games • Avatars usually require support from some technologies such as • Bot, • Chatbot • Infobot, which are not an avatar in virtual environments.

Avatars in Computer Games • Avatar usages that make the virtual place more realistic than other character usage are proposed so as to make players feel more involved with the 3D virtual environments • They also changed the nature of the communication and interaction types in the virtual environment

Avatars in Computer Games • Avatars are gaining more importance where interactivity, learner engagement, cultural factors, communication, embodiment and motivation are important design considerations especially when web-based environments, and 3D virtual environments are considered

Avatars in Computer Games • Avatar usage becomes even more important in multi-user virtual environments, because players have to use them in order to communicate with each other • This importance comes from the different aims of the multi user virtual environments having crucial advantages and functions, which are 1) perception, 2) localization, 3) identification, 4) visualization of others' interest focus, 5) visualization of other’s actions, 6) social representation of self through decoration of the avatar

Avatars in Computer Games • Embodiment of the people in virtual environments by using avatars is one of the most important issues that should be analyzed • It provides information regarding the entity and activity of the participants and gesture and facial expression which can be used for the expression of the emotion and the separation of ‘mind’ and ‘body’ (Benford et al., 1997)

Avatars in Computer Games Figure 1. Embodiment of Avatar (Frery et al. (2002))

Avatars in Computer Games • Majority of the researches are focused on virtual environments and people’s attitudes toward them • Bauman (2001), • Castronova (2001), • Eriksson and Grill (2005), • Baylor et al. (2005), • Cagiltay et al. (2006)

Historical Background • Avatar technology has appeared firstly in the mid of the 1980s in the world as marketing tools • Today, concept of avatar has been changing from the real world to the virtual one

Historical Background Avatar progression

Historical Background • Liesegang (2002) classified avatars by their developmental and technological progression into three classifications such as; • Implicit Avatars • Iconic Avatars • Functional Avatars

Historical Background • Implicit Avatars: There is no tangible avatar when the implicit avatars are considered and the character is an abstract form of the rule set, so the players are essentially limited to affect the game environment while they are in virtual environments.

Historical Background • Iconic Avatars: They areessentially like an implicit avatar with a face, which is generally used in board, or card games. Players are usually given a chance to select one of different visual representations in computer games, and this may or may not express their current status in the game as well

Historical Background • Functional Avatars: Players have chance to use a functional avatar which is usually capable of interacting with the game environment in a more sophisticated manner in the majority of games. The character often has elements, which is similar to the characters in traditional media forms such as back-story, motivations, and thoughts.

Avatars as Pedagogical Agents • When a virtual environment is implemented into the classroom for providing game-based learning, educators prefer usage of them to increase learners’ motivation in virtual environments. • Thus, avatar usage as pedagogical agents in education is increasing nowadays

Avatars as Pedagogical Agents • Craig, Gholson and Driscoll (2002) stated one of the most important statements with using human-like agents is that they have possibilities and features to engage for facilitating more interaction and meaningful communication between learners and the virtual environment • The presences of human-like avatars have a positive effect on learners’ meaningful learning progression

Avatars as Pedagogical Agents • While engaging learners by using human-like avatars as pedagogical agents, these characters not only can create more meaningful learning experiences (Baylor, 2000), but also help them acquire positively impact-learning performance • Johnson, Rickel and Lester (2000) suggested that human-like avatars having many characteristics are ideal to serve as tutors, coaches, or guides in game-based learning environments to provide knowledge-based facilities to the learners.

Avatars as Pedagogical Agents • It is seen that potential of the avatars, as pedagogical agents are too significant for game-based learning or computer-based learning in educational settings. • According to Baylor (2002), there is significant potential for pedagogical agents usage in virtual environments as educational tools to research instructional theory for some reasons;

Avatars as Pedagogical Agents 1) the researcher has more control over the learning environment and interactions than in a classroom setting; 2) agents are independent objects in the system, lending to more flexibility and interactivity; 3) while a computer agent can never simulate a real human instructor, agents can better operationalize the human aspect of instruction than other computer-based methods; 4) agent-based systems provide the potential to capture a large amount of rich data, both quantitative and qualitative (while more data is not necessarily better, the possibilities to collect useful information during the instructional process is greatly enhanced); 5) through designing agent-based learning environments with multiple agents, it allows for investigating the effect of multiple perspectives or multiple mentors

Study-1 (Cagiltay et al., 2006) • To determine and analyze the features of the avatars created by students. • What are the 3D characters that students can use to represent themselves in 3D virtual communities? • What are the most common attributes of the avatars created by the students? • What are the common characteristics of the choices? • What are the specific preferences among the students?

Study-1 (Cagiltay et al., 2006) • 43 senior university students enrolled in • Computer Education and Instructional Technology Department in • Middle East Technical University,

Study-1 (Cagiltay et al., 2006) • Students created their favorite avatar(s) in order to build their own virtual identity in a 3D virtual environment by using Blaxxun Avatar Studio 1.0. • These avatars are collected by the researcher to be analyzed. • While analyzing the data, the researcher also conducted interviews with the voluntary students who gave their informed consent.

Study-1 (Cagiltay et al., 2006) • Avatars and their characteristics were analyzed by examining all their components including • gender, • clothes, • shoes, • accessories, • appearance…etc. • Further clarification via interviews

Study-1 (Cagiltay et al., 2006) • Main driving forces in creation of avatars are • Popular culture elements • Well known characters from Turkish movies (Yesilcam-Greenpine movies) • Hollywood movies • Anime • Personal Appearance • Individual Characteristics • Elements of student’s “Identity” • Female students Female avatars • Male students Male avatars

Study-2 (Baylor et al., 2005) • In this experimental study where participants were purposefully frustrated, the interface agent message (apologetic, empathetic, or silent) was manipulated to investigate its impact on student attitude toward the task, attitude toward the agent, and attribution toward the cause of frustration • 57 undergraduate students were participated

Study-2 (Baylor et al., 2005) • An animated interface agent, “Survey Sam,” was present as students answered survey items and were confronted with a frustrating obstacle – an error message pop-up window that blocked them from answering the survey items

Study-2 (Baylor et al., 2005) • Results revealed that the presence of an affective message led participants to report significantly greater frustration, suggesting that the affective message reinforced and validated their frustration. • However, and more importantly, they attributed the cause of their frustration to the program instead of to themselves. A comparison of message type indicated that participants receiving the empathetic message rated Survey Sam as significantly more believable and sincere.

Discussion for Future Researches • Studies conducted on Avatars for educational purposes showed that avatar usage in game-based learning increase students motivation and engage them more. • Avatar preference gains more significance so that the most appropriate avatars should be designed for students. • More studies should be done related to avatar preferences and usages in game-based learning activities...

Thank you for your participation

References • Baranauskas, M., Neto, N., & Borges, M. (1999). Learning at work through a multiuser synchronous simulation game. Proceeding of the PEG’99 Conference, Exeter, 999, UK(137-144). Exeter, UK: University of Exeter. • Baylor, A. L. (2000). Beyond butlers: Intelligent agents as mentors. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 22(4), pp. 373-382. • Baylor, A. L. (2002). Agent-based learning environments for investigating teaching and learning. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 26, pp. 249-270. • Benford, S. D., Bowers, J., Fahlen, L. E., Greenhalgh, C. & Snowdon, D. (1997). Embodiments, Avatars, Clones and Agents for Multi-user, Multisensory Virtual Worlds. Multimedia Systems, Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag. • Garris, R., Ahlers, R. & Driskell, J. E. (2002). Games, Motivation, and Learning: A Research and Practice Model. Simulation & Gaming. 33, 441-468.

References • Craig, S. D., Gholson, B. & Driscoll, D. M. (2002). Animated Pedagogical Agents in Multimedia Educational Environments: Effects of Agent Properties, Picture Features, and Redundancy. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(2), pp. 428-434. • Frery, A. C., Kelner, J., Moreira, J. & Teichrieb, V. (2002). User satisfaction through empathy and orientation in three-dimensional worlds. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 5(5), pp.451-459. • Johnson, W.L., Rickel, J.W. & Lester, J.C. (2000). Animated pedagogical agents: Face-to-face interaction in interactive learning environments. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education,2000, 11, pp. 47-78. • Johnston, R.T., de Felix, W. (1993). Learning from video games. Computer in the Schools, 9, 199-233. • Liesegang, S. (2002). The Avatar Complex Model for Interaction in Digital Games. Available: www.shaneliesegang.com/pdf/LiesegangAvatar.pdf • Malone, T.W. (1981). What makes computer games fun? Byte, 6(12), 258-277.

References • Natale, M.J. (2002). The effect of a male-oriented computer gaming culture on careers in the computer industry. Computers and Society, 32(2), pp. 24–31. • Pivec, M., Koubek, A. & Dondi, C. (2004). Guidelines for Game-Based Learning. Pabst Science Publishers. • Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Game-Based Learning. MC-Graw-Hill. • Sheth, R. (2003). Avatar Technology: Giving a Face to the e-Learning Interface. The Elearning Developers’ Journal, August 25, 2003.

AVATARS in GAME-BASED LEARNING