Games apps Design for Teens with Special Needs

Interactive Games Apps design for Teens with Special Needs Official is an Academic course I teach and mentor @ Shenkar College of Engineering & Design.

 Finals projects are around the corner as the students games dev teams make the effort to meet the deadline. Below you can see some examples:

TeamUp Kinect Game Prof of Voice control game demo


CATCH THE PIE trailer

I challenged my students @ SHENKAR with game design, programming, game engines modding, multi-player game server side programing, team work gaming industry like, and above all the making an engaging and fun game for teens with special needs which have a meaning and values. In the teaching process I used several game mechanics #Gamification 

I'm very prod of my students that made fantastic game design app CONCEPTS for teens with special needs [CP in particular] come to life. Inspired by face to face meeting with Tzamid - Israel Scouts With Special Needs teens the games projects developed aim to add to their life fun and in a collaborative engaging way: Play Games

Client: Tzamid - Israel Scouts With Special Needs 

Development platforms: 
Unity3D Game engine, Kinect, Xbox, facebook, #C..

check our Pinterest Board which reflects some of the fun my students and I had in the process

Hanan Gazit, PhD
My Hub @ Gamescademy

E-Safe Digital Literacy כנס בתוך עולם וירטואלי סקנד לייף

על זהירות ברשת וכישורי אוריינות דיגיטלית בכנס וירטואלי סקנד לייף

במקום שלפט-שטודנה

יום שבת. השמש זורחת, השמיים כחולים ובהירים ומזג האוויר אידיאלי לטיולים. אחרי שחזרנו מטיול על שפת הים התיישבתי מול המחשב ונכנסתי עם האוואטר שלי לתוך עולם וירטואלי תלת ממדי סקנד לייף במקום שלפט-שטודנה [בעברית מנוחת צהרים] הרגילה.
הסיבה למסיבה: כנס וירטואלי בנושא זהירות ברשת וכישורי אוריינות דיגיטלית.

בכנס הוצגה פעילות הדרכה למורים בנושא בטיחות באינטרנט שמתבצעת באמצעות למידה מרחוק מתוקשבת במרכז וירטואלי.
קרול ריינבאו הציגה את סל הפעילויות שפותח על ידי מרכז ההדרכה הבריטי באוקספורדשייר בתוך סקנד לייף שכולל הרצאות, דיונים
ופעילויות יצירה אינטראקטיביות. מפגשים עם המורים והמדריכים נעשים דרך מסך המחשב וכך נחסכות שעות נסיעה רבות כמו גם עלויות השכרה של חדרים ואולמות. הפעילות בתוך סקנד לייף סייעה למארגנים לפתח קהילה פעילה בנושא.

במהלך ההרצאה צפינו בוידאו על אוריינות דיגיטלית של הארוורד ריינגולד ועל סכנות ברשת על גבי מסכי ענק שהוצבו באולם הפתוח
בתוך סקנד לייף. את הכנס ליוו ציוצי טוויטר בזמן אמת כאן 
 

לא מפתיע שתופעת בריונות, אלימות והטרדות מיניות שלעיתים נגמרות בפשעי מין הם בעיה בינלאומית שיותר ויותר גורמים מתייחסים ופועלים כנגדה בכל האמצעים.

 תיבת רעיונות וירטואלית

אחד החידושים המעניינים בכנס היה "תיבת הרעיונות הוירטואלית" כמו במציאות. לאחר שהתיישבתי עם האוואטר על הכיסא קבלתי הודעה (לאובייקטים בתוך סקונד לייף יש חיים, ח.ג) עם הנחיות מדויקות כיצד אני יכול "לזרוק" רעיונות והצעות לתוך תיבה לבנה שהוצבה על השולחן. ניצלתי את ההזדמנות וזרקתי פתק עם מידע על עמותת אשנב ופעולתה בישראל* וגם להקים קהילה בינלאומית בנושא בטיחות ברשת בתוך סקנד לייף [ראו בתמונות מעלה].

 דיון בקבוצות קטנות זה בשמיים

החידוש השני  המגניב ביותר התרחש בתום כל הרצאה שבה התבקשנו לעלות נושאים ולקיים דיון בקבוצות קטנות. השולחן שסביבו ישבנו טס באוויר לפקודתנו ופתאום מצאנו את עצמנו ישובים סביב השולחן הצף ברקיע מעל העננים. אוואטרים מאנגליה, ארצות הברית, קנדה, פולין וישראל נהלו דיון על ההרצאה והחליפו דעות ורשמים באופן אפקטיבי ופרטי.
תקשרנו באמצעות מערכת הדיבור הפנימית של סקנד לייף ובאמצעות תיבת הצ'אט. ניצלתי את ההזדמנות לספר לאוואטרים מבריטניה על משחק מחשב של ה - BBC  שפותח לנושא זה עליו טוויטר @Eshnav צייץ. אחרי עשר דקות לערך השולחן  ואנחנו איתו חזר לקרקע.

הכנס היה מרתק ואינטימי ולוח הזמנים שתוכנן בצורה נבונה אפשר בין הרצאה להרצאה "לשוב" לעולם הממשי להפסקת קפה [אמיתי].

היה מעניין לראות כיצד מתייחסים לנושא בטיחות וזהירות ברשת בבריטניה ומה חושבים על כך באירופה ואסיה, איך מגדירים במקומות אחרים בעולם אוריינות דיגיטלית וכיצד מורי מורים במכללות ואוניברסיטאות, מחנכים ואנשי הדרכה מתמודדים עם בעיית ההוראה והערכת הישגים בעידן המידע באמצעות שימוש בטכנולוגיות ווב 2.0 .

מידע נוסף: ציוצים נבחרים מטוויטר אשנב

----------------

הכותב ד"ר חנן גזית הינו מנכ"ל חברת MetaverSense Ltd  וחבר הנהלת עמותת אשנב – אנשים למען שימוש נבון באינטרנט ע"ש ערן אדרת ז"ל. MetaverSense Ltd  מפעילה בהתנדבות את טוויטר אשנב @Eshnav

 

Dr. Hanan "VRider" Gazit to present at the Learn, Teach and Play in 3D Virtual Worlds Virtual Seminar in Second Life

City University London, Oxford University and King’s College in London are organizing a virtual seminar entitled: Learn, Teach and Play in 3D Virtual Worlds, sponsored by JISC EMERGE

The virtual seminar is open for teachers, students, educational technologists, researchers, and anyone interested in 3D virtual worlds and games.

Dr. Elhanan Gazit Ph.D. (aka @VRider) presentation entitled:

Start your Engines! Real - Virtual Worlds Engaging Interactions

Massively Multiplayer On-line Games (MMOGs), social networked, and three-dimensional virtual worlds (3D), are merging to form the Web3D, known as the Metaverse. This presentation will focus on real - virtual worlds engaging learning interactions by using video games. Several Mash-up and video games concepts developed based on game engines and social networks such as facebook, at the Instructional System Technologies Department at H.I.T-Holon Institute of Technology will be presented together with H.I.T-Holon Institute of Technology second life's presence plans and coming SLACTIONS 2009 conference call.

Speaker Bio sketch

Dr. Elhanan Gazit is a faculty member of the instructional Systems Technologies department, at H.I.T-Holon Institute of Technology were he teaches on games and virtual worlds, interactive environments and knowledge representations. Hanan is the CEO of MetaverSense Ltd., an Israeli based company leading the use of virtual worlds, digital Games and social networks for instruction and business. Hanan holds a Ph.D. degree in the Learning Sciences and a Magna Cum Laude M.A. degree in Science Education, both from Tel-Aviv University. Hanan is a former post doctorate fellow researcher at LIRT Lab, Caesarea Edmond Benjamin de Rothschild Foundation Institute for Interdisciplinary Applications of Computer Science, University of Haifa. Hanan serves on the Association of Virtual Worlds' Advisory Board, on the Editorial Review Board of the International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations. He founded the Digital Games Research Association [DiGRA] ISRAEL Chapter.

Time and place

The virtual seminar (7am SL time; 2pm UK time, Tuesday 17 March 2009) will take place at the Open Habitat Island http://slurl.com/secondlife/Open%20Habitat/31/162/23

In addition, a physical seminar (at City University) will take place a day before the face to face event and everyone is welcome. Further information of the physical event can be found here: http://learnteachandplay.eventbrite.com/

If you have further enquiries please do not hesitate to contact Ulrike Pfeil (U.Pfeil-1@city.ac.uk)

The organizing team:

Jim Ang, City University London

Panayiotis Zapihris, City University London

David White, Oxford University

Steven Warburton, King’s College

Palitha Edirisingha, University of Leicester

MIND THE GAMES 2009 DiGRA ISRAEL Winter Meet-UP Lectures and Speakers Bio Sketch

MIND THE GAMES 2009 DiGRA ISRAEL Winter Meet-UP

Lectures Abstracts and Speakers Bio Sketch

When Web2.0 Meets Web3D Dr. Hanan "Vrider" Gazit | DiGRA ISRAEL Chapter, MetaverSense CEO http://www.metaversense.com Massively Multiplayer On-line Games (MMOGs), social networked, and three-dimensional virtual worlds (3D), are merging to form the Web3D. My presentation will focus on the future of real – virtual worlds engaging interactions and its possible impact on our every day life: From Brain computer interactions and games to telematic production process in second life which afford personal customization. With over 100 new web3D and Metaverse platforms, there is a need to map the technological challenge and well as assess how real people behave and learn in these new immersive spaces, where they produce their own materials, share experiences and practice skills of the real-world. Funny interactive examples will be presented. Speaker bio sketch: Hanan is the Owner and CEO MetaverSense Ltd., an Israeli based company leading the use of virtual worlds, digital Games and social networks for instruction and business. Hanan holds a Ph.D. degree in the Learning Sciences and a Magna Cum Laude M.A. degree in Science Education, both from Tel-Aviv University. A former post doctorate fellow researcher at LIRT Lab, Caesarea Edmond Benjamin de Rothschild Foundation Institute for Interdisciplinary Applications of Computer Science, University of Haifa. Hanan is a faculty member of the lnstructional Systems technologies department, at H.I.T were he teach games and virtual worlds. He serves on the Association of Virtual Worlds' Advisory Board, on the Editorial Review Board of the International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations. He founded the Digital Games Research Association [DiGRA] ISRAEL Chapter. SLACTIONS 2009 Chair [Israel].

The Implicit Knowledge Treasure Hunt Dr. Alon Hasgall | Mavinu Co-Founder http://www.mavinu.com 'Capturing knowledge' in databases, manuals, books and reports, and sharing the 'knowledge assets' is most important for the measuring of performance and for establishing tangible criterions for quality. Unfortunately, what is presented, as being Knowledge, is often simply Information Resource Management (IRM) with the new label. Recently there has been recognition that some knowledge cannot be quantified and cannot be captured, codified or stored. The intangible aspects of knowledge 'Soft Knowledge' - broadly 'what people know but can't measure' – which cannot be articulated, abstracted, codified, captured and stored is recently become to be recognized as the real measurement of the organizational potential to on-going quality. Studies show that while 80% of IT budgets are spent on structured database systems, only 4% of an organization’s data assets are structured and usually called "quality data". 16% are unstructured data in the form of spreadsheets, Word documents, etc. 80% of an organization’s knowledge assets reside only in employees’ minds. In order to manage soft knowledge successfully, the organization must possess abilities to extract knowledge throughout unstructured data. The ability to find meaning, or to understand the relations between issues and people, and automatically tag your content, is important as the solutions you need are usually near to you, but you can't see them with your bare eyes. However, if you will be able to use semantic analysis throughout social networks and open shareable applications, you will be able to personalize the content to one's need at the exact time and place. Moreover, you will be able to find the one expert who knows the simple answers and probably can lead you to your needed solution. Speaker bio sketch: Alon is the co-founder of Mavinu.com

Game Design Thinking Roy Shapira | Deep Games http://www.royshapira.com I will give a general look at the Game Designer way of thought by first giving the basic definition of games, what makes them unique, then giving specific techniques to create games, namely Dialogue creation and Basic Level Design. the lecture will give the audience the general outlook needed to start coming up with a game concept, and will teach the basic techniques for writing natural dialogue – in both film and games, and will give the basic ideas to consider when planning a game level map. Speaker bio sketch: Roy Shapira worked in hi-tech for the past ten years, during that time as instructor, QA, integrator, technical writer, marketing and concept designer. Interesting projects where in the Police Intelligence (consultant), and Software Developers, Post production house as video editor, and digital compositor. Roy self educated himself in Game Design, the last 3 years and corresponded with many of the top game designer in the industry including Lee Sheldon (Myst), David Freeman (Enter the Matrix), Clint Hockings (Splinter Cell and Farcry 2), and Bob Bates (Unreal2) and many more. He have created 2 games using the cryENGINE2, won the ICMC competition sponsored by Crytek and Intel – Level Design Competition, for the project Combat Training. Now he working on a Prototype for a real game called Petrograd with a team that he leads, will receive funding in the following months from investors to create a studio and start AAA production. Roy is Leading the Crymod Community for Crytek, and helping several other groups with Game Design and Creative Direction. A member of the IGDA for the past year or so. Petrograd Nominate for Mod of the Year 2008 http://www.moddb.com/mods/petrograd

Second life a Portal for Creation Guy David | NightGuy http://www.guydavid.com Many regard Second Life as a computer game, but it's much more. On top of being a 3D virtual world which incorporates an economic system and social network, Second Life is an innovative platform for creative people. It incorporates real time interactivity, binding together the creator, his creation and his audience in a world that models the real world in 3D and in addition, afford various possibilities that are not available on everyday life. In my presentation entitled "Second life as a Portal for Creation" I will present few of the creative avenues available to artist through Second life, from simple art galleries that visualize on real life galleries, to full blown 3D creations that are impossible to create, outside the virtual world. I will also introduce the topic of machinima, the art of creating movies within virtual worlds and video games. Speaker bio sketch: Guy David (aka Blue Smoke) is a musician, podcaster and digital artist.

Closing & SLACTIONS 2009 Israel Announcment Dr. Hanan "Vrider" Gazit

This is a Free Entrance Event. RSVP is needed via facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/events.php?ref=sb#/event.php?eid=52870682016 or by sending e-mail to: info(no spam)digraisrael(dot)org

When: Thursday, 29^th of January, 2009

Where: Amdocs Auditorium, Amdocs' West Building, 4Pnina St.

Amdocs Israel, Raanana.

MiND THE GAMES 2009 is produced and organized by:

MetaverSense Ltd

With the Support of:

DIGRA

AVW

A Metaverse Meetup Tel-Aviv event