Saverio Iacono

Università degli Studi di Genova, Department of Computer Science, Bioengineering, Robotics and Systems Engineering (DIBRIS), Faculty Member

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Papers by Saverio Iacono

How to Prepare High-Level Massive Online Open Courses for the Metaverse: Tools and Needs

3rd IEEE International Conference on Electronic Communications, Internet of Things and Big Data Conference, 2023

The adoption of methodologies and practices from distance learning (MOOC) and gamification is a p... more The adoption of methodologies and practices from distance learning (MOOC) and gamification is a promising basis to facilitate the design of a new generation of MOOCs (massive online open courses) and well suited for XR-based immersive shared social spaces, i.e., educational metaverses. Therefore, we discuss the tools and requirements to assist teachers to acquire two levels of competence, “beginner-level creator” and “advanced-level creator”, within the current ecosystem of metaverses. The adoption of such tools and XR platforms within STEM university educational settings is discussed to introduce the novel concept of the edu-metaverse.

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Augmented Learning: Case Study of Gamified and Extended Reality Courses

3rd IEEE International Conference on Electronic Communications, Internet of Things and Big Data Conference 2023, 2023

The maturation of gamification techniques and virtual reality technologies has progressed differe... more The maturation of gamification techniques and virtual reality technologies has progressed differently. Today, gamification has been consolidated, and virtual reality is becoming a widespread technology. These two are united in the university course of “virtual reality, augmented reality and gamification” as the Msc curriculum in Digital Humanities. This is a STEM course where an original gamification system was studied to teach complex topics with different bachelor backgrounds as engineering, design, communication, and literature studies. This research was conducted starting in the academic year 2016–2017 using TV series to create a sense of engagement during the course. The results of the 6 year teaching of the gamified course were presented in this article with constant feedback from involved students.

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Puzzle Battle 2.0: A Revisited Serious Game in VR During Pandemic’s Period

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

Puzzle Battle 2.0: A Revisited Serious Game in VR During Pandemic’s Period

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

Online Peer Instruction on Moodle to Foster Students' Engagement at the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic

by Saverio Iacono and Mario Vallarino

IEEE Transactions on Education, 2022

Lessons learned about language learning and extended reality frameworks

The knowledge of a second language is an obligation in educational systems of the European Commun... more The knowledge of a second language is an obligation in educational systems of the European Community for many years and the quality of teaching and learning, especially in Italy, could be largely improved for a better outcome. Methods like Game-based Learning and Gamification could improve and change this outcome, combined with new tools used as educational technology in an immersive context. This paper presents some lessons learned from the adoption of VR / AR within two applications related to language learning. In this context, being immersed in an engaging and fun simulated situation is a good way to practice language conversations. In the last few years the great clamor of new VR / AR devices (HMD, controller, tracker) promotes the creation of new frameworks of extended reality for language learning."</jats:p>

A Lesson Learned About Gamification and Engagement in a Master Degree Course

by Edoardo Bellanti and Saverio Iacono

ICERI2018 Proceedings, 2018

The gamification techniques and technologies are a consolidated reality in industrial and educati... more The gamification techniques and technologies are a consolidated reality in industrial and educational contexts. Using gamification in higher education to improve student engagement has been experimented in the last years. With respect to the current literature, the &quot;pointsification&quot; technique is the easier way to construct experiences apparently similar to gamification instead they are not the right way to intend it, rather, they are a reason to criticize its real effectiveness. The compelling gamification need a lot of work, and it is not obvious that everyone has time to construct a narrative or a gamified system to attend at the specific need. Furthermore, in a degree course is not so simple, reducing the importance of traditional mandatory assessments using &quot;mark-grade-badge&quot; triade, to have compelled student and learn specific skill without a precise scope. In this paper we analyze the most important elements of student engagement, and we describe a two-years experience made in a course on Virtual Reality within a Msc curriculum in Digital Humanities. In this course we construct a compelling educational experience using a tv series theme (namely the 1st season of the Netflix Stranger Things tv-series and 1st season of the HBO WestWorld tv-series) as the gamification principle of inclusion and participation to improve the learning of skills and motivation. The gamification slogan was &quot;When the student are not only student, but the Cast of a TV show&quot;. Each course activity-both participation (lectures, seminars, readings, etc.) and tasks (homeworks, exercises in the lab, team working, individual presentations) was rewarded according to the course and TV-serie schedules, in order to produce each week a dynamic adjustment of the cast, from the main roles to the guest stars. Finally, we analysed the reactions of the participants by means of interviews, presence detection and active participation, to get how much this approach affect the motivation of students and it helps them in a better way of learning. Some preliminary promising results will be shown in the paper, even if the evaluation of the learning effectiveness is still an open issue.

Virtual Reality Arcade Game in Game-Based Learning for Cultural Heritage

In this paper we present Puzzle Battle, an arcade VR-based serious game for promoting and reflect... more In this paper we present Puzzle Battle, an arcade VR-based serious game for promoting and reflect on the history of painting art. The idea behind Puzzle Battle is about to see famous artists like Van Gogh or Frida Kahlo fight against each other or against other artists from different eras, in a classic puzzle game. The player will have to impersonate an artist and play in a fun context where he will improve his historical knowledge about the artist and his works by taking advantage of current studies on immersive learning experiences with virtual reality.

Gamification in Corporate Training to Enhance Engagement: An Approach

International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET)

Engagement in the companies' training programs is a crucial issue for their success. Every co... more Engagement in the companies' training programs is a crucial issue for their success. Every company faces the matter in different manners: some enterprises promote mandatory courses or programs; however, they may result not enough effective, due to a low level of motivation that can compromise learning and retention. Other enterprises prefer to adopt voluntary courses or programs, but in this case enrollment and completion depend on many factors: the time that workers can spend on training without compromising their main tasks; the directives of managers; the individual motivation. Another way to face corporate training may exploit gamification to enhance engagement. The authors present the design and implementation of a gamified course of office automation, developed for the employees of a large media company. Our approach attempts to go beyond the well-known triad point-badges-leaderboards, employing also a narrative, the Bartle's taxonomy of player types and the Self-deter...

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APPLYING GAMIFICATION TECHNIQUES TO ENHANCE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VIDEO-LESSONSCoccoli 1

by Mauro Coccoli and Saverio Iacono

Gamification techniques are commonly used in e-learning to enhance the effectiveness of education... more Gamification techniques are commonly used in e-learning to enhance the effectiveness of educational activities and the learners’ partaking. In fact, owing to the engagement effect, they can improve learning processes in diverse disciplines, empowering the traditional methods of acquisition of competences and skills. This approach is giving results in informal education activities both in traditional Learning Management Systems and in Massive Open Online Course platforms, mostly based on the consumption of video- lessons. In this context, we describe the gamification-oriented design choices made for the realization of a video-course for the training on the use of office automation software programs. Specifically, we planned the revamping of a course produced in 2012, whose lessons are made by short fictional videos, animated tutorials, and screen captures that show how to perform common operations. The design of the gamification process is following the hype for the launch of the new Star WarsTM, Episode 7, and, as a consequence, will be delivered as “Star Words”. In the paper we present the gamification methodologies adopted to create the first prototype of Star Words, also analyzing the criticisms that emerged.

Gamification in Corporate Training to Enhance Engagement: An Approach

by Saverio Iacono and Mario Vallarino

International Journal of Emerging Technologies, Vol 15, No 17, 2020

Engagement in the companies' training programs is a crucial issue for their success. Every compan... more Engagement in the companies' training programs is a crucial issue for their success. Every company faces the matter in different manners: some enterprises promote mandatory courses or programs; however, they may result not enough effective, due to a low level of motivation that can compromise learning and retention. Other enterprises prefer to adopt voluntary courses or programs, but in this case enrollment and completion depend on many factors: the time that workers can spend on training without compromising their main tasks; the directives of managers; the individual motivation. Another way to face corporate training may exploit gamification to enhance engagement. The authors present the design and implementation of a gamified course of office automation, developed for the employees of a large media company. Our approach attempts to go beyond the well-known triad point-badges-leaderboards, employing also a narrative, the Bartle's taxonomy of player types and the Self-determination theory by Deci and Ryan.

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A LESSON LEARNED ABOUT GAMIFICATION AND ENGAGEMENT IN A MASTER DEGREE COURSE

by Saverio Iacono, Edoardo Bellanti, and Alice Corsi

ICERI2018 Proceedings, 2018

The gamification techniques and technologies are a consolidated reality in industrial and educati... more The gamification techniques and technologies are a consolidated reality in industrial and educational contexts. Using gamification in higher education to improve student engagement has been experimented in the last years. With respect to the current literature, the "pointsification" technique is the easier way to construct experiences apparently similar to gamification instead they are not the right way to intend it, rather, they are a reason to criticize its real effectiveness. The compelling gamification need a lot of work, and it is not obvious that everyone has time to construct a narrative or a gamified system to attend at the specific need. Furthermore, in a degree course is not so simple, reducing the importance of traditional mandatory assessments using "mark-grade-badge" triade, to have compelled student and learn specific skill without a precise scope. In this paper we analyze the most important elements of student engagement, and we describe a two-years experience made in a course on Virtual Reality within a Msc curriculum in Digital Humanities. In this course we construct a compelling educational experience using a tv series theme (namely the 1st season of the Netflix Stranger Things tv-series and 1st season of the HBO WestWorld tv-series) as the gamification principle of inclusion and participation to improve the learning of skills and motivation. The gamification slogan was "When the student are not only student, but the Cast of a TV show". Each course activity-both participation (lectures, seminars, readings, etc.) and tasks (homeworks, exercises in the lab, team working, individual presentations) was rewarded according to the course and TV-serie schedules, in order to produce each week a dynamic adjustment of the cast, from the main roles to the guest stars. Finally, we analysed the reactions of the participants by means of interviews, presence detection and active participation, to get how much this approach affect the motivation of students and it helps them in a better way of learning. Some preliminary promising results will be shown in the paper, even if the evaluation of the learning effectiveness is still an open issue.

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Virtual Reality Arcade Game in Game-Based Learning for Cultural Heritage

Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Computer Graphics - Part II 5th International Conference AVR 2018 Otranto, Lecce (Italy), June 24-27, 2018, 2018

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APPLYING GAMIFICATION TECHNIQUES TO ENHANCE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VIDEO-LESSONS

by Saverio Iacono, Mauro Coccoli, and Gianni Vercelli

Gamification techniques are commonly used in e-learning to enhance the effectiveness of education... more Gamification techniques are commonly used in e-learning to enhance the effectiveness of educational activities and the learners' partaking. In fact, owing to the engagement effect, they can improve learning processes in diverse disciplines, empowering the traditional methods of acquisition of competences and skills. This approach is giving results in informal education activities both in traditional Learning Management Systems and in Massive Open Online Course platforms, mostly based on the consumption of video-lessons. In this context, we describe the gamification-oriented design choices made for the realization of a video-course for the training on the use of office automation software programs. Specifically, we planned the revamping of a course produced in 2012, whose lessons are made by short fictional videos, animated tutorials, and screen captures that show how to perform common operations. The design of the gamification process is following the hype for the launch of the new Star Wars™, Episode 7, and, as a consequence, will be delivered as “Star Words”. In the paper we present the gamification methodologies adopted to create
the first prototype of Star Words, also analyzing the criticisms that emerged.

Download

How to Prepare High-Level Massive Online Open Courses for the Metaverse: Tools and Needs

3rd IEEE International Conference on Electronic Communications, Internet of Things and Big Data Conference, 2023

Download

Augmented Learning: Case Study of Gamified and Extended Reality Courses

3rd IEEE International Conference on Electronic Communications, Internet of Things and Big Data Conference 2023, 2023

Download

Puzzle Battle 2.0: A Revisited Serious Game in VR During Pandemic’s Period

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

Puzzle Battle 2.0: A Revisited Serious Game in VR During Pandemic’s Period

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

Online Peer Instruction on Moodle to Foster Students' Engagement at the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic

by Saverio Iacono and Mario Vallarino

IEEE Transactions on Education, 2022

Lessons learned about language learning and extended reality frameworks

A Lesson Learned About Gamification and Engagement in a Master Degree Course

by Edoardo Bellanti and Saverio Iacono

ICERI2018 Proceedings, 2018

Virtual Reality Arcade Game in Game-Based Learning for Cultural Heritage

Gamification in Corporate Training to Enhance Engagement: An Approach

International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET)

Download

APPLYING GAMIFICATION TECHNIQUES TO ENHANCE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VIDEO-LESSONSCoccoli 1

by Mauro Coccoli and Saverio Iacono

Gamification in Corporate Training to Enhance Engagement: An Approach

by Saverio Iacono and Mario Vallarino

International Journal of Emerging Technologies, Vol 15, No 17, 2020

Download

A LESSON LEARNED ABOUT GAMIFICATION AND ENGAGEMENT IN A MASTER DEGREE COURSE

by Saverio Iacono, Edoardo Bellanti, and Alice Corsi

ICERI2018 Proceedings, 2018

The gamification techniques and technologies are a consolidated reality in industrial and educati... more The gamification techniques and technologies are a consolidated reality in industrial and educational contexts. Using gamification in higher education to improve student engagement has been experimented in the last years. With respect to the current literature, the "pointsification" technique is the easier way to construct experiences apparently similar to gamification instead they are not the right way to intend it, rather, they are a reason to criticize its real effectiveness. The compelling gamification need a lot of work, and it is not obvious that everyone has time to construct a narrative or a gamified system to attend at the specific need. Furthermore, in a degree course is not so simple, reducing the importance of traditional mandatory assessments using "mark-grade-badge" triade, to have compelled student and learn specific skill without a precise scope. In this paper we analyze the most important elements of student engagement, and we describe a two-years experience made in a course on Virtual Reality within a Msc curriculum in Digital Humanities. In this course we construct a compelling educational experience using a tv series theme (namely the 1st season of the Netflix Stranger Things tv-series and 1st season of the HBO WestWorld tv-series) as the gamification principle of inclusion and participation to improve the learning of skills and motivation. The gamification slogan was "When the student are not only student, but the Cast of a TV show". Each course activity-both participation (lectures, seminars, readings, etc.) and tasks (homeworks, exercises in the lab, team working, individual presentations) was rewarded according to the course and TV-serie schedules, in order to produce each week a dynamic adjustment of the cast, from the main roles to the guest stars. Finally, we analysed the reactions of the participants by means of interviews, presence detection and active participation, to get how much this approach affect the motivation of students and it helps them in a better way of learning. Some preliminary promising results will be shown in the paper, even if the evaluation of the learning effectiveness is still an open issue.

Download

Virtual Reality Arcade Game in Game-Based Learning for Cultural Heritage

Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Computer Graphics - Part II 5th International Conference AVR 2018 Otranto, Lecce (Italy), June 24-27, 2018, 2018

Download

APPLYING GAMIFICATION TECHNIQUES TO ENHANCE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VIDEO-LESSONS

by Saverio Iacono, Mauro Coccoli, and Gianni Vercelli

Gamification techniques are commonly used in e-learning to enhance the effectiveness of education... more Gamification techniques are commonly used in e-learning to enhance the effectiveness of educational activities and the learners' partaking. In fact, owing to the engagement effect, they can improve learning processes in diverse disciplines, empowering the traditional methods of acquisition of competences and skills. This approach is giving results in informal education activities both in traditional Learning Management Systems and in Massive Open Online Course platforms, mostly based on the consumption of video-lessons. In this context, we describe the gamification-oriented design choices made for the realization of a video-course for the training on the use of office automation software programs. Specifically, we planned the revamping of a course produced in 2012, whose lessons are made by short fictional videos, animated tutorials, and screen captures that show how to perform common operations. The design of the gamification process is following the hype for the launch of the new Star Wars™, Episode 7, and, as a consequence, will be delivered as “Star Words”. In the paper we present the gamification methodologies adopted to create
the first prototype of Star Words, also analyzing the criticisms that emerged.

Download

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