1 S-CUBE Project Using Online-Role-Play-Games for Entrepreneurship Training Ireland Game Based Learning Symposium (iGBL-2013) June 06-07, 2013, Dublin, Ireland Alfie Keary 1, Paul Walsh 1, Déirdre O’Byrne 1, Jonathan Moizer 2, Jonathan Lean 2 Andrea Di Ferdinando 3, Luigia Simona Sica 4 1 Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland, 2 Plymouth University, UK 3 SynapThink, Italy 4 University of Naples, Italy “This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”

Presentation Overview S-Cube Project Background Quantitative and Qualitative Research S-CUBE E-MORPG S-CUBE/EUTOPIA Software S-CUBE Software Trials #1 S-CUBE Near Term Developments Short demo video Q&A 2

S-Cube Project Background 3

What is Social Enterprise (SE) “A social enterprise is an organization that applies business strategies to achieving philanthropic goals” 4

5 S-Cube Introduction S-Cube is a trans-European Leonardo Transfer of Innovation project Led by Plymouth University Partners: Naples University Federico II – Italy; CIT- Ireland; GePros – Germany €265,000 grant for 2 year project Project aim: On-Line Role Play Training Develop an On-line role play training experience to enhance soft skills for staff at Social Enterprises (SEs) e.g. effective communication, leadership, negotiation, decision making, etc.

S-Cube E-MORPG in Action 6

Quantitative and Qualitative Research Conducted 7

TNA Outcomes (2/3) As produced by partners - P. Walsh (CIT) & D. O'Byrne (University College, Cork) 8 Perceived Capability

9 TNA Outcomes Training scenarios can reflect real life workplace situations – Application of soft skills can help to deliver superior outcomes The expected result of this on-line training intervention – Enhanced retention of know-how – Leading to the transfer of SS developed on-line to real workplace situations

10 Wider Applications of S-Cube S-Cube deliverables will be a reusable on-line training product – Sustainable – Adaptable – Engaging – Training or education applications Technology can easily be adapted to non-SE applications (Corporate, Education, Schools).

11 IMPORTANCE

12 ACTUAL

13 IMPORTANCE

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15 Communication skills: SEs

16 Soft skills training: SEs

17 Role play learning: SEs

18 Serious games for learning: SEs

19 Role play learning/training with staff participation: SEs

20 Training & Learning Delivery

S-Cube E-MORPG 21

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S-Cube Trainer/Master Engage Options: – Take the role of one of the characters – Act as an invisible stage director Invisibly observe player interactions; Access players' “private characteristics”; Listen to private messages (“whispers”) between players; Broadcast messages visible to all players; Exchange private messages with a specific user; Activate events, changing the course of the simulation. 32

33 Trainer/Master Control Record Session RPS Events

34 Event Documents Pre-Designed

35 S-Cube Editor

36 RPS Creation Editor

37 Avatar Creation Editor

38 Character Creation Editor

39 RPS Events Editor

40 Sample Event – New Avatar

41 RPS Survey Creation Editor

S-Cube/EUTOPIA Software 42

EUTOPIA Background Psychodrama from the real world to a virtual 3D world – Sica, L.S., Delli Veneri, A., Miglino, O. (2012). Exploring New Technological Tools for Education: Some Prototypes and Their Pragmatical Classification. In Pontes, E., Silva, A., Guelfi, A., Takeo Kofuji, S. (eds.) Methodologies, Tools and New Developments for ELearning, pp , InTech Press. Research developed by Natural and Artificial Cognition Laboratory – (SISINE; Miglino et al., 2007) –

EUTOPIA/S-Cube EUTOPIA/S-Cube: – Trainer can set up unique games – Intervene during a game – Record specific phases of a game – Annotate recordings and discuss Game development process: – Select 3D scenarios – Create personae (Personality, Affect, Goals, Avatar) – Assign each player 44

S-Cube Software Trials #1 45

S-Cube Trials Phase #1 Trials of S-Cube: Germany, Ireland, UK SE related organisations General software usability trials Focus on rapid uptake of the game by novice users Qualitative Feedback Emotions Gestures 46

Qualitative Feedback - Emotions Emotion Features - Facial Expressions:  Difficulty in seeing facial expressions  Hard to gauge feelings  More focus on graphics for facial expressions  Limited moods in avatar faces 47

Qualitative Feedback - Emotions Emotion Features – Range & Interface  Additional types of moods  Create more positive emotion expressions  Reacted more to text than visuals of moods and gestures  Takes time to easily use moods  Text indicators of mood status required 48

Qualitative Feedback - Gestures Gesture Features:  Not easy to use the gestures  Typing and introducing gestures at same time very difficult  Introduce an avatar handshake gesture 49

S-Cube Development Futures New updates of the software June 2013 – Trial #1 feedback is being incorporated S-CUBE and Affective Computing – Integration of wearable and non-wearable sensors – Real-time emotion tracking agent – Real-time gesture tracking agent – Evaluation of highly charged emotional scenarios – On-board soft-skills intelligence on dealing with emotional situations – Emotion prompts and direction to users 50

Next Developments Call for action: – CIT is building consortia for EU funded projects relating to: Affective Computing, Brain Machine Interfaces, Recent announced Human Brain Project (HBP). Contacts: Dr. Paul Walsh, Alfie Keary 51

S-Cube Demo Demo of S-Cube in action YouTube video: 52

53 Thank you Alfie Keary Call to Users/Educators Please try out S-Cube: