ITAG: Interactive Technologies and Games – Education, Health and Disability 2013 – Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, October 2013
First call for papers, workshops and posters
The aim of ITAG is to bring together academics, developers, beneficiaries and practitioners to explore interactive technologies and innovate within the areas of Education, Health and Disability. ITAG will consist of 4 strands:
- Academic conference: We have a particular focus on the use of gaming hardware and software to implement accessible solutions, interaction design using new input/output devices and the increasing impact of ubiquitous computing on our everyday well-being. We especially want to bring together practitioners with technical experts, for their mutual benefit; you don’t have to be a technical whizz kid to benefit from this conference! The conference provides an excellent opportunity to showcase practice and to mainstream research ideas and outcomes. It introduces a wider audience to key findings and products from research and illustrates how practice feeds back into and informs research. The conference also creates a forum for two-way communication between the academic and practitioner communities.
- Practical workshops: every afternoon, parallel workshops will be organised addressing following topics: interactive street gaming using mobile gaming applications, robotics in a gaming environment, mobile gaming, immersive gaming and rehabilitation gaming. These workshops will involve the participants in exploring the various games, and creating an interactive experience with the originators/developers.
- Gaming hackathon: several teams consisting of developers, designers and special education trainers will compete with each other to use various technologies (Android based games, Flash Games, Games Mods, XNA) and create an educational game in just 2 days. The winner will take home a £250 prize award.
- Exhibition: An exhibition space will be available for demonstrations and posters, and will be embedded in the conference and workshops area.
If you are interested in any of the above, please contact us at claire.addison@ntu.ac.uk. We particularly welcome user led presentations and workshops.
ITAG is held in partnership with GameCity – the World’s best-loved videogame festival.
Scope:
As guidance to participants on scope of papers and activities we state that: ‘Education’ includes both compulsory and post-compulsory education; ‘Disability’ includes physical, sensory and cognitive impairment; and the impact of interactive technologies and games on health and well-being is also a focus of this conference. An emphasis is placed on practical applications and guides to where currently available training resources and tools can be found and used. A selection of papers will be published electronically in full, and presentations will be limited to 20 minutes for the key findings, including time for questions from the floor. It is hoped (as in previous years) that the best papers will be published in a special issue of a relevant academic journal. Previous special issues have included:
- Journal of Assistive Technologies – Volume 3, issue 2, June 2009 (ITAG 2008 selected papers)
- Computers and Education – Volume 56, issue 1 (ITAG 2009 selected papers)
- International Journal of Games Based Learning – Volume 1, issue 4, 2011 (ITAG 2010 selected papers)
- Journal of Assistive Technologies – Volume 6 issue 3 (ITAG 2011 selected papers)
- International Journal of Game-Based Learning – (ITAG12 selected papers) – in development
Themes and topics:
The conference encourages multidisciplinary papers and examples of themes and topics include (but don’t let this restrict you):
Gaming on the move:
- Streetgaming and the usage of mobile and online game applications
- Blended gaming for educational purposes
- Augmented Reality and mobile games
- Pervasive games for health, sociability and adaptability
- Location-based games and ubiquitous technologies
- Immersive/alternate reality games (ARGs), hybrid reality games (HRG), and mixed reality games (MRG)
- Low cost mobile games based learning
- Inclusive street games
Robotics and education:
- Good practices or innovations in programming
- Autonomous projects: Have you done a cool autonomous project? Show it off and share your ideas!
- Interaction in the context of youth with learning disabilities
- Hardware & software for robotics education: Share your best ideas and innovations to make educational programs more effective.
- Innovative uses of technology: Have you done something unique and creative utilizing new technology in education? Let’s hear about it!
- Robotics competitions & project based activities: Highlight specific classroom and other competitions and activities you utilize in your robotics education program.
- Curriculum for robotics education: Tell us how you design and implement your curriculum in regular classroom or extracurricular activities.
- Informal robotics education: Highlight your best practices and successes while sharing your ideas!
Games Based Learning:
- Social and collaborative aspects of games (e.g., educational aspects of Massively Multiplayer Online Games)
- The efficacy of games based learning
- Self-authored content and personalisation in games
- Learning theory, pedagogy and instructional design in games
- Motivational aspects of games
- Collaboration between Science and Art for more effective learning
- Games to promote the inclusion (e.g., for offenders and people with disabilities, motivation of female gamers)
Game related Technologies:
- Using contemporary games controllers to create new opportunities in health and rehabilitation applications (e.g., applications for Wii Fit, Kinect. Move).
- Brain Computer interfaces to games
- Pervasiveness and mobility of games
- Location based services
- Handheld learning in the classroom
Games, Apps and Artificial Reality for Health:
- Serious games for clinical assessment (e.g. after stroke)
- Serious games for rehabilitation and treatment (e.g. of phobias, ADHA, post-traumatic stress disorders, stroke)
- ‘Modding’ for health
- Art and music rehabilitation in 3D multisensory environments
- Games for children in hospital
- Games to increase physical activity in children
- Apps and AR in assessment and patient wellbeing.
Accessible Game Design:
- Universally accessible games
- Switch controlled games
- Audio games for the blind
- Designing accessible games mods
- Using games controllers as haptic and audio interfaces
- Accessibility guidelines for games
Web based gaming technologies:
- Resources for interactive learning tools and environments, e.g., Flash, podcasts, simulations, mobile games, Web 2.0 tool etc.
- The Internet as a communication medium (e.g. for people with Asperger Syndrome).
- Browser based games and linking into social media channels
Submissions
Those wishing to present papers, or hold a workshop should prepare abstracts, to a maximum of 500 words. For those hoping to exhibit or produce a poster, a 300-word abstract is required.
The deadline for submissions is Tuesday 30 April 2013 and should be sent to claire.addison@ntu.ac.uk. Please clearly state what track your submission relates to. Participating in the hackathon is open to all, but expressions of interest will be asked.
Final copies of accepted papers will be required in advance of the Conference.
We aim to keep costs down, and we do offer concessionary* rates. Prices will include lunch, and morning and afternoon refreshments. *Proof of eligibility for concessionary rates will be requested on arrival at the conference (e.g., student ID card)
Prizes Offered:
As in previous years prizes will be awarded!
