16 research outputs found
Digital Game-Based Learning im GameLab an der Universität Wien
No full textDigitale Spiele sind zum Massenphänomen geworden, sind Teil des Alltags, nicht nur von Jugendlichen, sondern zunehmend auch von Erwachsenen. Games sind ein eigener Kulturraum und der Einsatz von Computerspielen an Schulen wurde vom GameLab der Universität Wien im Rahmen verschiedener Forschungs- und Innovationsprojekte erprobt. Wie Lernmethoden und Instrumente kombiniert und an die jeweiligen Bedürfnisse der Spielenden angepasst werden können, zeigt ein Erfahrungsbericht aus der Schulpraxis.Digital games have become a mass phenomenon have become part of everyday life, not only for young people, but increasingly adults too. Games are a cultural space in their own right and the use of computer games in schools has been tested by the GameLab at the University of Vienna as part of various research and innovation projects. How learning methods and and tools can be combined and adapted to the respective needs of the players is shown in a field report from school practic
Digital Game-Based Learning im GameLab an der Universität Wien
No full textDigitale Spiele sind zum Massenphänomen geworden, sind Teil des Alltags, nicht nur von Jugendlichen, sondern zunehmend auch von Erwachsenen. Games sind ein eigener Kulturraum und der Einsatz von Computerspielen an Schulen wurde vom GameLab der Universität Wien im Rahmen verschiedener Forschungs- und Innovationsprojekte erprobt. Wie Lernmethoden und Instrumente kombiniert und an die jeweiligen Bedürfnisse der Spielenden angepasst werden können, zeigt ein Erfahrungsbericht aus der Schulpraxis
Myxomyceten - die Welt der Schleimpilze
No full textMyxomyceten (Schleimpilze) sind einzellige, chlorophyllfreie Organismen mit echten Zellkernen. Systematisch werden sie in die Gruppe der Amöbozoa gestellt. Im Laufe ihres Lebens durchlaufen sie einen im Reich der Organismen einzigartigen Lebenszyklus. Dabei entwickeln sie sich von mikroskopisch kleinen Sporen über oft begeißelte Keimzellen und Zellkolonien zu vielkernigen, einzelligen Gebilden, den sogenannten Plasmodien. Zur Bildung der Fortpflanzungsorgane verwandelt sich das Plasmodium in die arteigene Gestalt des reifen Organismus. Nichts erinnert mehr an den namengebenden, vegetativen Lebensabschnitt. Die meisten Myxomycetenarten sind weltweit anzutreffen. In den gemäßigten Breiten weisen sie dabei ihre größte Vielfalt auf. Schleimpilze dienen der Wissenschaft als Modellorganismus zum Studium fundamentaler biologischer Prozesse. Sekundäre Inhaltsstoffe mit wichtiger biologischer Aktivität erweckten auch das Interesse der chemischen Industrie. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zeigen, dass Schleimpilze eine Form primitiver Intelligenz aufweisen. Die Rolle der Schleimpilze in den Stoffkreisläufen von Ökosystemen ist bis heute weitgehend ungeklärt. Myxomyceten tragen zur Aufrechterhaltung einer ausgewogenen Organismengesellschaft im Bereich abgestorbenen Pflanzenmaterials, der Streu und des Oberbodens bei. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, einen Lehrfilm zu produzieren, der dem Betrachter einen wissenschaftlichen Überblick über die Gruppe der Schleimpilze (Myxomycetes) gibt. Der Film soll auf optisch einprägsame Weise Einblicke in die Lebensweise, den Lebensraum und die Vielfalt dieser Organsmengruppe gewähren. Dabei wird darauf geachtet, den Inhalt des Films in leicht verständlicher Weise zu transportieren. Ein Experteninterview mit Wolfgang Nowotny und die Verwendung moderner audiovisueller Medientechnik sollen für eine zielgruppengerechte Wissensvermittlung der Themen sorgen. Um diese Organismen eindrucksvoll und hochauflösend zu zeigen, wurden verschiedenste Techniken der Dokumentation angewandt. Des Weiteren kamen unterschiedliche Mikroskopietechniken zum Einsatz, mit deren Hilfe auch kleinere Strukturen der Schleimpilze sichtbar gemacht werden konnten. Die gezielte Kombination von Bild und Ton fördert die Aufnahme des Lernstoffes. Mittels akustischem Spannungsbogen wird der Betrachter zum Kern der Information geführt. Der Zuseher soll dabei dem Sprecher auf der Reise durch das Leben dieser bizarren Organismen folgen.Myxomycetes (slime molds) are unicellular, eucaryotic organisms without chlorophyll. They are systematically placed into the supergroup of the Amoebozoa. During their lifetime they move through an unique life cycle. Thus they evolve from small microscopic spores into flagellate protoplasts and cell colonies and then into a polynuclear, unicellular formation, which is called plasmodium. The plasmodium turns into a characteristic structure of the mature organism by forming fruiting bodies. Nothing reminds of the eponymous, vegetative stage of their life. Most species are found worldwide but they show their greatest biodiversity in temperate climates. In science myxomycetes are used as model organisms to study fundamental biological processes. Secondary metabolites attracted the interest of chemical industries. Experiments show that slime molds possess some kind of primitive intelligence. The ecological role of myxomycetes is mostly unknown until today. They contribute to the maintenance of organismic communities in the range of dead plant material and upper soil layers. The present study has the intention to produce an educational film that gives a scientific review about the group of the myxomycetes. The film should provide insight into the way of living, the habitat and the biodiverstity of this group with great visual impacts. The content of the film should be mediated by an uncomplicated terminology. An interview with Prof. Wolfgang Nowotny and the use of modern audiovisual media techniques allow to convey difficult scientific information in a comprehensible way. To present the organisms impressively with high resolution different methods were applied. Furthermore different microscopic techniques were used to show small structures of the myxomycetes. Audiovisual means foster the viewer´s perceptive capacity. The viewer should follow the speaker on the journey through the life of these bizarre organisms
Game design patterns in digital card games : a browser engine to an abstract card game model
No full textDigitale Kartenspiele sind als Untergruppe der Spiele Gegenstand des Forschungsbereiches Gamedesign. Ludologen verwenden verschiedene Ansätze zum Beschreiben, Differenzieren und Klassifizieren von Spielen. Einer der Ansätze sind Design Patterns, also Gemeinsamkeiten welche sich bei der Analyse vieler verschiedener Spiele wiederfinden. Die vorliegende Arbeit verfolgt zwei zentrale Themen. Zum einen wurde ein Katalog von Designmustern, mit welchen existierende Spiele analysiert und neue Spiele entwickelt werden können erstellt. Dies bietet sich insbesondere für Gamedesigner als systematisches Werkzeug für die kreative Spielentwicklung an. Zum anderen beinhaltet diese Arbeit ein generelles abstraktes Modell der Kartenspiele, welches als Datenstruktur neuer Spiele dienen kann. Dieses Modell eignet sich wiederum als Basis für die Arbeit von Softwareentwicklern. Eine prototypische Implementierung zeigt die Verwendung des Modells und die Auswirkung der Verwendung verschiedener Gamedesignmuster. Des weiteres enthält die Arbeit: - eine Einführung in die Welt der (digitalen) Kartenspiele (siehe Kapitel Card Game Commons) - Klassifikationsdimensionen, welche es ermöglichen sollen, Kartenspiele besser differenzieren zu können (siehe Kapitel Classification) - Interaktionsmuster mit Karten und deren Interaktionsästhetik (siehe Kapitel Interaction) - ein allgemeines abstraktes Modell für digitale Kartenspiele (siehe Kapitel Model) - einen Katalog von Gamedesignmustern für digitale Kartenspiele (siehe Kapitel Patterns) - eine Beschreibung des entwickelten Prototyps (siehe Kapitel Implementation)Digital card games are - as a subcategory of games in general - a subject of research in gamedesign. Ludologists use different approaches to describe, differentiate and classify games. One of those approaches are Design Patterns, commonalities that can be found analyzing different card games. This work has two main goals and two main target audiences that are often combined in the same person. For gamedesigners I created a catalog of Design Patterns that can be used to analyze existing games as well as designing new games. For developers I designed an abstract model of card games that can be used as a data structure for new games. Additionally this work contains: - an introduction to the world of (digital) card games (see chapter Card Game Commons) - classification-dimensions, which should allow better differentiation and classification of card games (see chapter Classification) - interaction patterns with real cards and an analysis of interaction-aesthetics (see chapter Interaction) - a general abstract model for digital card games (see chapter Model) - a catalog of design patterns for digital card games (see chapter Patterns) - a description of the developed prototype (see chapter Implementation
Two-Year Progress of Pilot Research Activities in Teaching Digital Thinking Project (TDT)
No full textThis article presents a progress report from the last two years of the Teaching Digital Thinking (TDT) project. This project aims to implement new concepts, didactic methods, and teaching formats for sustainable digital transformation in Austrian Universities’ curricula by introducing new digital competencies. By equipping students and teachers with 21st-century digital competencies, partner universities can contribute to solving global challenges and organizing pilot projects. In line with the overall project aims, this article presents the ongoing digital transformation activities, courses, and research in the project, which have been carried out by the five partner universities since 2020, and briefly discusses the results. This article presents a summary of the research and educational activities carried out within two parts: complementary research and pilot projects
Vom spielbasierten zum spielenden Lernen: Digitale Spiele als kognitive Aufgaben analysieren
No full textDigitale Spiele sind essenzieller Teile der Freizeit- und Unterhaltungskultur und ihr Einsatz wird auch im Bildungsbereich etwa durch pädagogische Plattformen unterstützt. Der spieldidaktische Forschungsstand ist bislang unbefriedigend, da oftmals die ‚innere‘ Lernhandlungsseite von digitalen Spielen in bestehenden Modellen (etwa Genre-Lern-Zuordnung) nicht durchdrungen wird. Um digitales game-based learning auf der Lern-Mikroeben zu analysieren, verwendet der Aufsatz den Raster der Tübinger Aufgabenanalyse (Maier et al. 2014), ergänzt um für digitale Spiele spezifische Form des Feedbacks (Dunwell et al. 2011). Dadurch entsteht ein aus sieben Kategorien bestehendes Raster, das das Verständnis vom spielbasierten zum spielenden Lernen – als Tätigkeit gedacht – verschiebt und Games als Lernaufgaben analysiert. Damit können Spieldidaktisierungen konzeptualisiert oder evaluiert werden. Produktionsseitig können Developer Spiel- und Lernmechaniken effektiver verbinden.Digital games are an essential part of leisure and entertainment culture and their use is also supported in the education sector, for example through educational platforms. The current state of research on game didactics is unsatisfactory, as the ‘inner’ learning behaviour side of digital games is often not penetrated in existing models (e.g. genre as learning classification). In order to analyse digital game-based learning at the learning micro-level, the article uses the Tübingen task analysis grid (Maier et al. 2014), supplemented by a form of feedback specific to digital games (Dunwell et al. 2011). This results in a grid consisting of seven categories that shifts the understanding from game-based to learning through play – conceived as an activity – and analyses games as learning tasks. This allows game didactics to be conceptualised or evaluated. On the production side, developers can combine game and learning mechanics more effectively
Interactive exploration of large time-dependent bipartite graphs
No full textBipartite graphs are typically visualized using linked lists or matrices, but these visualizations neither scale well nor do they convey temporal development. We present a new interactive exploration interface for large, time-dependent bipartite graphs. We use two clustering techniques to build a hierarchical aggregation supporting different exploration strategies. Aggregated nodes and edges are visualized as linked lists with nested time series. We demonstrate two use cases: finding advertising expenses of public authorities following similar temporal patterns and comparing author-keyword co-occurrences across time. Through a user study, we show that linked lists with hierarchical aggregation lead to more insights than without
Cologon
No full textInclusive education deals with the participation of vulnerable and marginalised - especially disabled - people in learning and with reducing exclusive aspects within and from education. Communication skills under an inclusive perspective are to be understood as more than spoken or written word. Levels of languages used and alternative modes of communication are to be explored and harnessed.
However, game complexity and technical constraints hamper the seamless integration in real world environments, especially when addressing groups aside from the mainstream. Building on four design challenges, we aim to develop an independently usable, user-friendly and user-oriented, technically low-threshold game called Cologon that fosters communication skills and takes into account the players diverse (dis)abilities, needs, and preferences in simple terms: an inclusive game.
In this paper we present our iterative participatory design process and the conceptual prototype. The results of an evaluation of this prototype in a participatory game design workshop point to unique insights: participants prioritised visual and audible cues above any use of language and one-device-per-player combined with the choice of roles was a challenge for all participants and created a creative communication experience
Didactic Scenarios in the Field of Production Technologies: Exploring the Usage of Teaching and Learning Spaces in Vienna and Lower Austria
No full textDieser Artikel beschreibt die Ergebnisse einer explorativen Studie zur aktuellen Nutzungssituation von neun an Hochschulen in Ostösterreich angesiedelten Lehr- und Lernräumen im Bereich der digitalen Produktionstechnologien. Leitfadengestützt führten Forschende, die selbst in der Laborlehre, -gestaltung und -organisation eingebunden sind, bis zu einstündige semi-strukturierte Interviews mit den jeweiligen Lab-Expert:innen. Die damit erhobenen Daten wurden danach im Rahmen einer qualitativen inhaltlichen Analyse den Komponenten didaktischer Szenarien nach Reinmann (2015) zugeordnet. Daraus ergab sich sowohl, welche (teils spielerischen) Formen von Vermittlung, Aktivierung, Betreuung und Überprüfung zur Kompetenz- bzw. Wissensaneignung angewendet werden, als auch welche Alternativen aufgrund der Coronapandemie zur Online-Laborlehre geschaffen wurden. Die Untersuchung zeigt, dass sich die Nutzungssituation zwar bedingt durch inhaltliche Schwerpunkte und Zielgruppenausrichtung unterscheidet, jedoch die angewendeten Lehr-Lernszenarien vergleichbar sind. Dabei steht der spielerische Charakter des Ausprobierens und Kennenlernens im Vordergrund. Erkannt wurde ebenfalls, dass – aufgrund hohen organisatorischen, personellen und infrastrukturellen Aufwands – aktuell nur wenige tatsächlich durchführbare Online-Settings (z. B. Distanzlaborlehre) bestehen. Zudem erkennen die Autoren der Studie ein ungenutztes Potenzial der Labore in der zielgruppenübergreifenden Nutzung. So werden etwa die Labore zumeist nur für lediglich einige wenige bzw. ähnliche Zielgruppen (z. B. kleine und mittlere Unternehmen oder Lehrpersonen) genutzt. Die Autoren stellen in diesem Artikel beispielhaft dar, wie diese Räume weiteren Zielgruppen wie Schüler:innen, Studierende, Lehrende etc. für Aktivitäten im Wissenstransfer gemeinsam nutzbar gemacht werden können. Dazu werden abschliessend Empfehlungen hinsichtlich einer Nutzung für mehrere Zielgruppen sowie zur Integration von virtuellen und spielerischen Ansätzen in Form eines Beispielszenarios mit Praxisüberlegungen beschrieben. Dieses soll ein Angebot für bestehende Labs sein, heterogenere Lerngruppen in Betracht zu ziehen, und die Ausgangsbasis für weitere empirische Untersuchungen hinsichtlich der Anwendbarkeit dieses Szenarios für diversere Gruppen darstellen.This article presents the results of an explorative study of the current situation to the usage of nine teaching and learning spaces located at universities in the East of Austria in the field of digital production technologies. Researchers who are themselves involved in laboratory teaching, design and organization conducted up to one-hour semi-structured interviews with the respective lab experts. The data collected this way were then assigned to the components of didactical scenarios according to Reinmann (2015). The outcomes showed which (partly playful) forms of transfer, activation, support, and assessment are used for the gaining competence and knowledge, as well as which possibilities were created for online laboratory teaching due to the corona pandemic. The study shows that although the premises differ in terms of content and target group orientation, the teaching-learning scenarios used are comparable. The playful character of playing and trying out is emphasized. It was also recognized that due to high organizational, personnel and infrastructural challenges, there are currently only few actually feasible online settings (e.g., distance laboratory teaching). In addition, the authors of the study recognize an untapped potential of the laboratories in the target group-oriented use. For example, laboratories are usually used for a few or similar target groups (e. g., small and medium-sized enterprises or teachers). In this article, the authors present how these spaces could be used for other target groups such as pupils, students, teachers, etc. for knowledge transfer activities. For this purpose, final recommendations regarding usage for several target groups, as well as for the integration of virtual and playful approaches, are described in the form of an example scenario with practical considerations. The article should be an offer to existing labs to consider more heterogeneous learning groups and provide the basis for further empirical investigations regarding the applicability of the practical example scenario for more diverse groups
Microstomum rubromaculatum von Graff 1882
No full textMicrostomum rubromaculatum von Graff, 1882 Figs 4–5 Material examined SWEDEN: 20 live specimens, Fiskebäckskil, Kristineberg Sven Lovén Center for Marine Research, 58°14′59″ N, 11°26′45″ E, 20 Aug. 2015, marine, sublittoral phytal on algae, M. Curini-Galletti leg. (Genbank accession MF185684 -96). Type locality ITALY: Gulf of Naples, Tyrrhenian Sea. Deposition not recorded. Habitat Marine, sublittoral phytal in algae (e.g., Sargassum sp.) or benthal on shells, fine sand and mud. Distribution Ireland: New Harbor, Galway, 1–2 m; Malahide Inlet, Dublin, 2 m (Southern 1936). England: Wembury (Meixner 1938). Faroe Islands: Vaagfjord, Suderø, 10 m (Steinböck 1931). France: Concarneau (von Graff 1913). Iceland: North of Ísafjörður, 1–2 m (Steinböck 1938). Sweden: Gullmar Fjord, Fiskebäckskil, 1–2 m (Westblad 1953; pers. obs. by author). Norway: Herdla (Westblad 1934; Karling 1953). Population description Microstomum with field of bright red pigmentation spots on each well-developed zooid; length of pigmentation stretches from just below the anterior tip to halfway to the brain, width of pigmentation somewhat variable: either predominately at the lateral margins and thinning toward the middle or, most frequently, a band that encircles the entire body (Fig. 4A). Other small orange-red droplets may be scattered within the parenchyma of some specimens, particularly around the anterior and pharynx (Fig. 4B–C). Body otherwise colorless, clear and reflective of intestine. Vegetative chains to four zooids long; maximum animal/zooid body length 2000/1400 µm. Body width generally consistent, accepting slight constrictions between zooids and at the level of the ciliary pits; slightly tapering toward the rounded anterior end. Posterior end bluntly rounded. Posterior rims of welldeveloped zooids with many 5–6-µm-long posterior adhesive papillae (Fig. 5). Epidermis uniformly covered with cilia. Bundles of 3–8 nematocysts present, scattered in the parenchyma (Karling 1966); each nematocyst 4–6 µm long (Fig. 4C). According to Westblad (1953), expelled nematocysts along the lateral body margins may resemble papillae. Mouth slit-like at rest, but able to distend to encompass very large food. Pharynx spherical to elliptical, encompassing up to the length of the second quarter of the zooid. Preoral gut extending to brain or slightly anterior. Intestine yellow-brown or tinged with red or pink; may contain ingested prey. Male reproductive system with paired testes located anterolaterally to male copulatory apparatus and gonopore (Figs 4D, 5). Testes round, average diameter 47 µm, containing little or no sperm. Vasa defferentia connect individually to circular vesicula seminalis. Numerous prostatic glands insert anteriorly in vesicula seminalis and extend ventrally around the center of stylet (Fig. 4D–E). Stylet a single, wide spiral bent around a 90° angle, terminating in a ~10-µm-long fingerlike hook (Figs 4E, 5C–D); average length 95 µm (range 75–112 µm); width largest at the base, ~12 µm, tapering only slightly towards the distal end, ~5 µm at the base of the hook; opening subterminal. Stylet projects into a ciliated antrum masculinum (Fig. 4A, D). Female reproductive system typical for the genus (Figs 4D, 5). Single ovary situated mid-body, ventral to intestine, leading to ciliated female antrum. Female gonopore separate. Eggs develop caudally. Remarks Collected specimens generally appeared morphologically similar to the type description (von Graff 1882) and to previous accounts of M. rubromaculatum from Fiskebäckskil. Westblad (1953) recorded M. rubromaculatum from Fiskebäckskil with vegetative chains up to four zooids long, yet all currently collected specimens except one were composed of either two weakly developed zooids separated by a faint fission plane or one or two well-developed zooids only. This follows other patterns found in species of Microstomum in which slender chains of multiple, short zooids dominate during the asexual reproductive phase of the lifecycle while larger single or double zooid animals dominate during periods of sexual reproduction (Bauchhenss 1971). The amount of eyespot pigmentation in M. rubromaculatum can greatly vary between individuals. Specimens from Fiskebäckskil generally agreed with the original description of Graff (1882): paired, lateral eyespots composed of an accumulation of red pigmentation that extends medially to form a ring around the anterior end. However, pigmentation spots in four of the observed specimens remained clearly distinct, a phenomenon that has been recorded in other populations of M. rubromaculatum (von Graff 1913; Steinböck 1931). COI sequences were identical between specimens with two distinct eyespots and those with a circular band, which indicates amount of pigmentation is not necessarily a systematically important character. Rather, accumulation of eyespot pigmentation may be more “correlated with light intensity”, as in, e.g., Microstomum lineare (Bauchhenss 1971). Steinböck (1938) reported a single specimen of M. rubromaculatum from Iceland with a large central pigment spot that thinned toward the body margins. However, such a pattern was not observed in any of our specimens, nor otherwise recorded in any other population. Red-orange droplets (Fig. 4B–C), that have not been previously documented in M. rubromaculatum, were observed in 18 of the 20 live specimens. The droplets ranged in size from a diameter of ~2–10 µm and were most often located anteriorly, especially around the pharynx. The droplets were most likely lipid deposits whose presence and coloration stems from ingested food. While such deposits have not been recorded before in Microstomum, colored lipid droplets are known to occur in other species of Macrostomorpha (Rieger et al. 1991). The distribution of Microstomum rubromaculatum is wide, with populations reported from the Mediterranean, the North Sea and the Baltic. Although such patterns do occur for other macrostomorphs (e.g., Macrostomum pusillum, M. rubrocinctum, Paramalostomum dubium – see Ax 1956; Karling 1974; Armonies 1988), including other species of Microstomum (e.g., M. lineare, M. papillosum – see Steinböck 1931; Karling 1974), the distribution may still be considered surprising giving the large geographic distances and differences in salinity and temperature (Boyer & Levitus 1994). Evidence has increasingly shown that widespread taxa previously thought to represent a single species are in fact morphologically indistinct complexes. However, all our specimens were collected from a single location in west Sweden, and thus different populations of M. rubromaculatum could not be compared at this time. Sexually mature specimens of M. rubromaculatum have not been recorded from any other populations, including those inhabiting the type locality, and therefore further research may be necessary to confirm the identity of M. rubromaculatum from Fiskebäckskil, Sweden before sexual anatomy can be included in the description of the species as a whole. Phylogeny The maximum likelihood analysis found four moderately or highly supported clades of Microstomum (Fig. 6). M. rubromaculatum was sister to M. edmondi sp. nov. with moderate support and further formed a clade with an unidentified species of Microstomum (species “D” in Janssen et al. 2015; see Table 1) and M. laurae sp. nov. The other three species of Microstomum represented in the analysis (species “B” in Janssen et al. 2015, M. lineare, M. papillosum) individually comprised the remaining three clades. Patristic distances are presented in Table 2. A true understanding of the evolutionary relationships within Microstomum would require multiple nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences as well as a much greater species representation (Maddison 1997). However, the results of the ML analysis and patristic distances presented here clearly separate specimens of M. edmondi sp. nov., M. laurae sp. nov. and M. rubromaculatum into three distinct lineages representing the three species.Published as part of Atherton, Sarah & Jondelius, Ulf, 2018, Microstomum (Platyhelminthes, Macrostomorpha, Microstomidae) from the Swedish west coast: two new species and a population description, pp. 1-18 in European Journal of Taxonomy 398 on pages 10-15, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2018.398, http://zenodo.org/record/116048
