Thomas Hainey

Digitally mediated pedagogy enables interpersonal communication beyond institutional boundaries through accessing resources from anywhere anytime. This integration connects higher education sectors in underdeveloped countries into global networks, enabling institutions previously marginalized institutions to enter dialogue with innovation and knowledge generation to a much greater degree. The diversity of several factors such as institutional context, availability and accessibility of resources, technological and pedagogical skills, preferences of teachers, motivations and aptitudes of students intensify the need for systematic review studies in digitally mediated models of integration in southeast Asia. Applying Creswell’s five steps and prisma guidelines, 46 peer reviewed articles have been reviewed. The study has shown that most of the existing digital integration models emphasize pedagogical methods from teachers’ perspective without considering participatory roles of students. Additionally, existing teacher training programs rarely follow harmonized professional ict training courses, hence, they suffer from fragmented ict knowledge transfer to teacher trainees. Moreover, digital divides exist between developed and developing countries in terms of ict adoption in higher education due to socio-economic condition, education policy, curriculum goals, ict strategies, technological capabilities, and salient cultural features. In this context, ict education policy, strategy and implementation plans need to be revised taking into consideration ict goals and contexts of developing countries rather than applying the philosophies of developed countries. However, the present review does not claim to be comprehensive in its coverage, but rather provides a discrete picture of frameworks, influential factors, and challenges by summarizing recent research results pertinent to digitalization of higher education in developing countries.

Video games when utilised in academic settings have the potential to enhance the student learning experience through their immersive qualities. When integrated and combined with course curriculum they can aid student engagement and retention. Video games, when also applied within a social context in education have the ability to contribute to student success at university through supporting and facilitating student wellbeing, inclusion, equality and a sense of community. The aim of this paper is to present a case study about the co-creation of a retro games room by students and educators within a BSc (Hons) Computer Games Development programme at a Scottish University. The idea behind the retro games room was to offer a multifunctional space where students can socialise, relax and share their passion for gaming out with their core academic studies. The room has fostered a sense of community and belonging among students making them feel part of their academic programme. The paper provides a scoping review of the academic literature associated with supporting student belonging in higher education via student identity and engagement. In addition, the paper presents predominately quantitative results on the students’ experience of using the room to develop a sense of community and identity with a view to enhancing student ownership and belonging on the programme. The paper illustrates the logic and justifications made regarding the proposed use of the room from a student belonging perspective. It denotes how a combined community of practice and affinity space approach, with a shared interest of bringing students together has the potential to enhance their overall positive wellbeing. The paper also provides a solid case study for other educators to reflect on regarding ways to enhance the student experience on their respective programmes from the grass roots level.

One primary aspect of civic education is to build inclusive societies where everyone can feel valued, respected andcelebrated for their individual diverse attributes. While a civilised society exercises tolerance, empathy, compassion andforgiveness, in the daily walks of life there are no second chances to make the correct first impression. Many individuals areexceptionally apprehensive when having to interact with minorities through fear of causing unintentional offence oremotional damage in first encounter situations. Serious games can offer an immersive and educational training experiencewhere mistakes can be made with far fewer ramifications than in real life making them significantly more risk free. This paperexplores the development of Pronouns in Practice, a serious game designed specifically to address inclusive communication,with a focus on pronoun use. This paper will review the literature on the use of serious games in Equality, Diversity andInclusion (EDI) related areas particularly looking at pronoun related training in the Educational Sector. The prototype will beconstructed using subject experts in conjunction with user and design requirements identified in the literature review and adesign framework that is outlined. The paper will present a preliminary design framework for development and evaluationof serious games in EDI related subjects and will particularly look at the use of simulations in initial human interaction withthe use of pronouns. The paper intends to produce a prototype to address alleviating concerns with general interactionassociated with using pronouns.

Learning the alphabet is a fundamental part of any language, especially British Sign Language (BSL). Without an understanding of the alphabet, learners may lack awareness of where signs outside the alphabet originate from, which leads to gaps in proficiency. Although the BSL Scotland Act 2015 promotes the use of BSL, many learners in Britain continue to face challenges that hinder language acquisition, such as limited access to learning materials, classes, and groups. Serious games have captured great interest and have been applied in a plethora of areas for education, training, or awareness through engaging gameplay. They offer a unique approach to overcoming these barriers, promoting deaf awareness and encouraging sign language learning through engaging material. This paper presents the development of a novel, hangman-inspired serious game prototype designed to facilitate learning the BSL alphabet and vocabulary. The game integrates spelling exercises with visual sign representations, aiming to connect the BSL letter recognition to the corresponding dynamic sign. This prototype serves as a step towards addressing resource gaps and accommodating the community by offering a potential model for sign language learning through a serious game. Immersive serious games can add a level of engagement and potential haptic interaction to BSL education. This paper will also provide a preliminary scoping literature review of the state of the art of the application of VR and serious games for sign language education.

In Higher Education Institutions Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) training sometimes has great variability and may lack sensitivity. As a result, the process often lacks depth and does not provide the ability to make mistakes in a more risk free/simulated practice environment in a simulated practice way. EDI can often encompass and touch on rather uncomfortable subjects that people would much prefer to avoid such as racism, discrimination, sexuality, religion, disabilities, marginalisation, lack of representation, unconscious bias and micro-aggressions, professional dilemmas, and ambivalence. People tend to avoid having difficult conversations and asking questions to enhance understanding. Serious games can offer a vehicle to explore some of these issues in a simulated, risk free, immersive environment with no real world consequences. They are a legitimate academic discipline used in a number of diverse fields such as business, mathematics, and soft skills. This paper will perform a preliminary discursive review of the use of games-based learning and serious games in EDI education and associated terms to produce valuable empirical evidence. The study will review developmental, evaluation and development frameworks for developing serious games for potentially difficult contexts in line with EDI i.e. resistance, ambivalence, and challenging confrontational discussions.

The popularity of esports has gained public interest over the past decade, leading to the industries evolution, providing further avenues for career prospects and educational outreach. Esports, abbreviated from electronic sports, is the nature of playing video games casually or professionally at a competitive capacity, either as an individual, or as a team. Previous research areas in esports have focused on education, psychological factors, health and nutrition, business management, performance review, and commercialisation, factoring in the relevance of esports in sports and supporting terms. The industry has different avenues and perspectives that are advantageous to develop innovative approaches, providing information about the industry, and improving the understanding for the wider general audience. Serious games and games-based learning provides the opportunity to educate and inform about the phenomenon of esports and the potential career industry pathways. This paper presents a conceptual design for an esports serious game to educate players about esports in relation to career pathways and genres. Investigation and adaption of serious game frameworks (e.g. Learning Mechanics-Game Mechanics, Activity Theory Model of Serious Games) will be adhered to through the research. This will lead to the development of a serious game for potential stakeholders to assist in their interests in studying or learning about esports and its multi-faceted career opportunities through simulated scenarios. A mixed methods approach will support the increased frequency of new esports programmes in secondary, further, and higher education, using a serious game to inform prospective students in relation to potential career avenues. The conceptual design idea presented in this paper will support the initial research steps of a serious game to teach about esports.

The term competitive gameplay or gaming is predominantly associated with esports. Esports, a synonym, or abbreviation for electronic sports is an industry that has a global outreach with a lucrative market. This is accentuated by the event driven, business model focus and organised competitive events, often involving sponsorship. These additional characteristics associated with esports is what distinguishes it from traditional or casual gaming. Though esports games can be played individually, they are predominantly viewed as a team activity. Beyond the debate as to whether esports can be classified as a sport, it is an area that has attracted a significant amount of academic research. Research areas have often included esports psychology, esports player health and nutrition and esports management. Some research studies have also reviewed how esports have the potential to e.0quip esports players with relevant 21st century skills such as critical and lateral thinking. One area where esports appears to be under researched is in the relationship between competitive gameplay and learning theories. It can be argued that this is an important consideration when delivering esports from an educational perspective. The aim of this paper is to provide a scoping review of the esports literature identifying empirical research associated with competitive gaming and graduate attributes. Esports game genres will be explored from a gameplay perspective demonstrating via learning theory examples how these games can facilitate graduate attributes in players. Exploring the domain of esports game genres, learning theories and meta-skills, the paper presents a conceptual model illustrating the interrelationship between these areas. The paper also has practical value to educators, who may be as yet unfamiliar with esports, informing them of the subject’s educational benefits from a graduate attribute and employability perspective.

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