Stephen Bezzina

As the adoption of generative AI in educational settings becomes increasingly prevalent, understanding its implications for learning and teaching is essential. This paper presents findings from online interviews with 21 students at the Center for Applied Game Studies at the University for Continuing Education Krems. It examines their perceptions an...

Education today faces a range of challenges, but also unique opportunities, vis-à-vis the evolution of digital technologies. Traditional teaching methods struggle to meet the diverse needs of students, as classrooms comprise learners at different levels. The Education AI project represents an initiative aimed at integrating Artificial Intelligence...

This position paper revisits the concept of gamification from a novel perspective, extending the definition by Pfeiffer and colleagues to encompass data collection, assessment, and evaluation within educational settings. Building upon the core idea of gamification as the application of game mechanics in various contexts — ranging from real-life act...

The global workforce is today facing a critical period of job and skills instability. With a big portion of today’s jobs set to disappear or become displaced by Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and automation, the world today requires a human workforce which possesses proficient digital skills. Pursuant to such predictions, the World Economic...

The concept of gamification was introduced in the early twenty-first century, but it didn’t gain traction in academic communities until the second half of 2010. Whilst gamified approaches have the potential to motivate and engage users, some argue that gamification’s one-size-fits-all approach is neither personalized nor adaptive. This impersonal a...

There is little doubt that the shift from offline- to online learning environments goes hand in hand with an increasing use of gamification- and game-based learning strategies. The potential benefits of digital game-based learning (GBL) applications and strategies have been explored thoroughly (Annetta 2010; Bers 2010; Koenig, Pfeiffer and Wernbach...

Games have the potential to be a powerful educational tool. By their very nature, games are designed to engage players and motivate them to achieve specific goals. When applied to teaching, learning and assessment, game design can be utilised to create engaging and effective learning experiences that can be, in turn, used to assess a variety of ski...

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are cryptographic assets that are unique, meaning that each individual token is different from any other. For example, NFTs can represent an original digital artwork or serve as a digital reference to it. In both cases providing digital references to the original work is achieved through a distributed ledger, which is usu...

Throughout the years, technology has been increasingly adopted in assessment practices to support the process of data gathering, analysis, and interpretation. However, the application of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), to digital assessment goes beyond the mere administration of data and has the potential to enhance the...

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTa) can either represent an original digital artwork, or act as a digital reference to the actual work. In both as digital references to the actual work. In both cases the record in the distributed ledger, mostly a blockchain-based database, intends to serve as a proof of ownership or transfer of rights. NFTs might also add a...

Despite evidence that digital tools have the potential to foster student learning and self-regulation, digital educational practices continue to suffer a lack in the level of personalization and adaptivity. On the other hand, emerging technologies and techniques, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and gamification, are constantly informing educat...

The education system is subject to an ongoing digital transformation. The administrative departments should be able to handle grading, admissions, enrolments and recognition of certificates securely and quickly. Course managers should not only have faith in e-learning but also in e-assessment. And finally, learners should be able to access course m...

Internationally and nationally, efforts to promote active, health-promoting and sufficient mobility are increasingly becoming the focus of attention. This is being triggered by, amongst other things, a growing lack of exercise, intensified climate protection efforts and the increasing burden of motorized private transport (e.g. the increase in poll...

In recent years, a clear trend towards personalised learning experiences has emerged. Individual preferences are in the foreground and should be made possible, for example, through selectable choices. If these courses take place in the same educational institution, the handling of credit and the clear allocation to learning outcomes is usually poss...

In addition to the actual core content of games, the user journey or user experience in digital games is becoming more and more important. The menu structure should be as intuitive as possible. Features that are important should be displayed to the player at the moment when the game engine assumes that access is necessary. The player should then re...

In the last decade, various pricing models have been developed around computer games. The classic model is games that are bought at a fixed price and no further spending is necessary. However, for some of these games, there are frequent content expansions, such as new stories, available to purchase. Other games have an initial price and a subscript...

In addition to the general intentional scattering of fake news and its conscious or unconscious sharing on social media networks, the problem of checking the origin of source material from the perspective of the consumer is evident. This is especially the case if the original material was not created and registered with great care by established an...

This paper examines the use of digital storytelling by Austrian non-profit organizations (NPOs). Storytelling is an innovative communication tool that is particularly well suited to arouse emotions and build relationships. In today's stimulus-flooded society, stories communicate what really counts and consequently social media have created new plat...

The music industry has evolved significantly over the last few decades, from cassette to compact disk to MP3 and now to subscription-based streaming. Simultaneously, there has been a return to analogue, especially to vinyl records. In 2021, a major record label will introduce a new kind of vinyl. From the original master tapes, one-of-a-kind copies...

Peer2Peer communication can take place in the traditional way via e-mail, forums or social media. One also finds dedicated apps for communication or organized in groups, such as WhatsApp, Telegram or Discord, the latter being particularly popular with digital gamers. Online games are another medium which can foster communication between people over...

Games and gamification can potentially inform and transform learning by providing meaningful and engaging learning environments. The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms and systems in education is envisaged as an opportunity to provide students with adaptive and personalized learning, especially in the context of mobile learning...

While the technological dimension of our digital world is advancing at a rapid pace, the Covid-19 crisis has revealed that the digital transformation and readiness of schools and adult education, is having difficulties in adapting and keeping up. However, at the same time, the crisis has exposed the importance and central role of digital technologi...

Digital technologies have changed and continue to shape the way students interact with learning material, both in traditional and informal education. Adaptive learning methodologies offer an interesting avenue for personalized learning, whereas every individual student is presented with tailormade content, specifically based on the distinct strengt...

The forgery and fraudulent behaviour associated with examination results and academic certificates at the different stages from storing, publishing, transfer to verification, remain a major cybercrime issue within the educational sector. In this paper, the authors discuss the technological dimension underpinning such issues and propose a system con...

The games segment is growing steadily and is a major part of the entertainment industry. In particular, the Free2Play games, or games that primarily rely on mechanics like in-game purchases which are playable on mobile devices, play an important role. In the context of virtual items, online role-playing games and multiplayer online battle arenas, s...

An important aspect of knowledge management is the transfer of know-how between generations. This raises the question of how new employees, especially young professionals, can acquire this knowledge from older generations in an efficient and sustainable way. This can potentially necessitate the creation of incentives for both sides. For the older g...

In the educational sector even the most sophisticated digital environments will not make human interaction obsolete, as learning and education are inherently social processes. This also means that any application that involves learning and assessment must deal with problems resulting from human error. Some of these problems can effectively be count...

Besides the pure application of serious games as tools for knowledge transfer, a further trend has been observed in the last few years: The creation of games as an opportunity to gain practical experience and thereby also build up valuable knowledge. In this context several approaches are possible, such as using paper prototyping, game maker tools...

The rapidly enforced lockdown and school closures in many countries have shaken up school and university life from one day to the other. Educational institutions which, due to geographical circumstances, focus on adult continuing education or are by charter defined as pilot schools, have been able to react quickly to these new circumstances. Howeve...

The rapid changes brought about by digital technologies in education offer rich, personalised and differentiated modes of e-learning. However, the anytime, anywhere access to teaching, learning and assessment material requires a paradigm shift in the conceptualisation and implementation of validation, verification, authentication and storing of stu...

The modern gamification movement, following the classical definition of Deterding (2011), is focused on the use of game elements in non-game applications. According to this definition, gamification elements use familiar elements from games to satisfy player needs, increase the user experience and motivation; hence ensuring a long-term use. However,...

Digital/electronic identities are essential components of collaborative robots/robots and human-robot/robot-human interactions. Through such identities, digital agents (AI powered software or robots/bots) are entrusted with tasks in the name of certain individuals/companies. Digital identities can come from various sources; these can be assigned by...

This poster looks at three examples in regards to Blockchain and education developed by the team of authors. First: Gallery-Defender a Serious Game, which was adapted to serve as a demonstrator in a stand-alone version to show the possibility to carry out exams directly from within the game and store the grades and meta-data on Blockchain. Second:...

This paper looks at current projects in the field of Blockchain in education, their specific areas of application, possible advantages and weaknesses. Three examples developed by the team of authors are introduced in detail. First: Gallery-Defender a Serious Game, which was adapted to serve as a demonstrator in a stand-alone version to show the pos...

Facebook has proposed to integrate the cryptocurrency 'Libra' into its services, a plan which has been heavily discussed in science, businessand politics. On Steemit.com one receives a tradable-token namend Steem in return for writing popular articles or post comments while at Wildspark.me one is rewarded for discovering the next big YouTube video....

The term nudge or nudging originally derives from the field of behavioural economics and describes a soft type of influence with the goal to elicit a certain behaviour. Thaler & Sunstein (1975) define nudging as a positive intervention that stimulates a voluntary change in behaviour without including external (negative) consequences. The idea of nu...

Once information is stored on the Blockchain, it cannot be altered retroactively. This immutability makes Blockchain technology an ideal candidate to secure learning achievements and educational credentials. Keeping data trustworthy, secure and manipulation-proof has become an increasing issue in education due to the rise of digital learning enviro...

The fixation of formal education to measure and certify academic attainment, continues to fuel the ubiquity of standardised assessment procedures. As such, educators are reluctant to embrace the same constructivist and novel stance adopted towards learning to the assessment domain and continue to favour summative over formative practices. On the ot...