Serious Games

The aim of the course is to equip students with comprehensive knowledge and a deep under-standing of digital and serious games, empower-ing them to critically assess and effectively utilize serious games to achieve specific learning out-comes in open education.

Upon completion, students will develop the fol-lowing competencies:
• Through understanding of the role and appli-cation of learning games in education and training;
• Awareness of key considerations such as target audiences, platforms compatibility, cul-tural sensitivities and ethical implications
• The ability to critically asses, select, and de-sign educational games that align with the goals and demands of open education;
• The capability to identify and implement edu-cational games that best suit learning scenari-os in academic, corporate or other formal or non-formal educational settings.

Students should possess a foundational understanding of the key concepts, strategies and didactical models related of to open education.
They should be proficient in using computer supported tools for content creation and design, as well as communication and collaboration platforms. Additionally, they should be able to work effectively in interdisciplinary teams.

• Basics of the Digital and Serious Games and how they can be applied within OE design.
• Theoretical context, models and methods of game-based learning.
• How to critically review games for learning based on experience with game-based learning.
• Assessing and validating serious games with respect to the defined learning goals.
• Innovative approaches and best practices in serious games.
• Concepts of learning with serious games, cooperative and collaborative learning, personalised learning; motivational aspects, learning of competences and skills.
• Matching proper serious games to learning goals as well as individual, group and organisational learning strategies.

The following topics will be explored in more detail:
1) Game Concepts and Terminology
2) Learning Models within Game Mechanics
3) Target Markets and Applications for Games for Learning
4) Rhetoric and Ethics of using Persuasive Games
5) Platforms and Tools for Design Serious Games
6) Design and Development process of Digital Games
7) Designing a Game to fit within an Open Education Curriculum
8) Critical assessment of Serious Games

After competing this course, students will:
• Understand the theoretical bases along with features, terminology, and taxonomy of digital games;
• Be able to critically evaluate a range of games through direct experience;
• Be able to evaluate and critically review the relation between games, play and learning in formal and non-formal learning settings;
• Be able to design original approaches for using the potential of game-based learning in their own practice.

Basic:

• Damianova, Nadia and Santiago Berrezueta-Guzman. “Serious Games Supported by Virtual Reality—Literature Review.” IEEE Access 13 (2025): 38548-38561. E-version
• Gomes, Lisa; Chircop, Daren; Yannakakis, Georgios; Branco, Maria Augusta; Cassar, Maria; Zammit, Marvin; Bugeja, Roderick; Pereira, Rui Pedro Gomes; Rusi, Silvi; Cainé, João (Eds.). (2023, December). Serious game & virtual reality manual. University of Minho. 978-989-35409-1-6. http://doi.org/10.21814/1822.87372 E-version
• Liu, Z., Chen, D., Zhang, C. et al. Design of a virtual reality serious game for experiencing the colors of Dunhuang frescoes. Herit Sci 12, 370 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-024-01477-x E-version
• Julian Alvarez, Damien Djaouti. An introduction to Serious game definitions and concepts. Serious Games & Simulation for Risks Management, 2011. hal-04675725 E-version

Additional:

• Dörner,R. Göbel,S. Effelsberg,W. & Wiemeyer, J. (2016) Serious Games: Foundations, Concepts and Practice. Springer International Publishing Switzerland. ISBN 978-3-319-40611-4
• Maugard, N. (2019). Fundamentals of Serious Games. In: Akhgar, B. (eds) Serious Games for Enhancing Law Enforcement Agencies. Security Informatics and Law Enforcement. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29926-2_2

• Interim presentations, practical work; peer- and self-evaluation. 40%
• Submitted project work: application of theoretical and practical knowledge 60%

Dr. Imre Cikajlo, je redni profesor za področje elektrotehnike, je zagovarjal doktorat znanosti na po-dročju robotike in elektrotehnike na Univerzi v Ljubljani leta 2003. Od leta 2003 do leta 2004 je bil podoktorski raziskovalec na Univerzi Tohoku v Sendai, na Japonskem in leta 2007 gostujoči razis-kovalec na Univerzi v Tokiu, Japonska. Trenutno je dekan Poslovno-tehniške fakultete Univerze v Novi Gorici in višji znanstveni sodelavec na Univerzitetnem rehabilitacijskem inštitutu v Ljubljani. Dr. Cikajlo je sodeloval pri več projektih 7. okvirnega programa EU-(GENTLE/S, MIMICS, COR-BYS), Interreg (REHA2030) in H2020 (PD_manager) in inovativnih projektih za startupe (MindMyths Ltd) in gospodarstvo (Gorenje). Objavil je več kot 70 znanstvenih člankov, skupaj več kot 200, 5 poglavij v tujih znanstvenih monografijah. Je soavtor mednarodnega patenta v EU in ZDA. Leta 2000 je prejel Prešernovo nagrado na Fakulteti za elektrotehniko Univerze v Ljubljani. Njegova raziskovalna področja so analiza in sinteza gibanja ljudi in strojev, biomehanika, povezovan-je senzoričnih informacij, nadzor nad strojem in človekovim gibom in rehabilitacijska robotika. Tre-nutno se ukvarja z razvojem rehabilitacijskih pripomočkov in postopkov, ki se uporabljajo v kli-ničnem in / ali domačem okolju z uporabo telerehabilitacijskih tehnik ter uvajanje virtualne resničnosti v rehabilitacijo. Je tudi član ISVR, IFMBE in IEEE.

Dr. Imre Cikajlo, is a full professor of electrical engineering and received his PhD degree in robotics and electrical engineering from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2003. From 2003 until 2004 he was a post-doc fellow at the Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan and in 2007 a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo, Japan. Currently he is the Dean of the School of Engineering and Manage-ment at the University of Nova Gorica and a Senior Research Associate at the University rehabilita-tion institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Prof. Cikajlo took part in several EU-FP7 projects (GENTLE/S, MIMICS, CORBYS), Interreg (REHA2030) , H2020 (PD_manager) and startup (MindMyths Ltd.) and company supported projects (Gorenje). He published more than 70 journal papers, altogether more than 200 papers, book chapters and books and holds a patent in EU and USA. In 2000 he re-ceived the Prešeren Award from Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana. His re-search interests include human motion analysis and synthesis, biomechanics, integration of sensory information, control of machine and human movements and rehabilitation robotics. Currently he is involved in the development of rehabilitation devices and procedures that may be used in clinical and/or home environment through application of telerehabilitation techniques and introduction of vir-tual reality in rehabilitation. He is also a member of ISVR, IFMBE and IEEE.

Izbrane objave/Selected bibliography:

• CIKAJLO, Imre, MITIĆ, Jovana, BURGER, Helena. The effect of weight-bearing training with visual feedback on balance and prosthetic loading in trans-tibial amputees following vascular disease : a pilot randomized control trial. Annals of medicine. 2025, vol. 57, iss. 1, str. 1-9, ISSN 1365-2060. DOI: 10.1080/07853890.2024.2447408.
• WOHOFSKY, Lukas, KROLL, Laura Nadine, DRECHSLEROVÁ, Anna, SCHUBERT, Peter, CIKAJLO, Imre, BIZOVIČAR, Nataša, KRAINER, Daniela. Integrability of a comprehensive telerehabilitation approach for post-stroke patients and therapists : a feasibility study. Applied sciences. Sept. 2024, iss. 18, 2135, str. 1-14, ISSN 2076-3417. DOI: 10.3390/app14188407
• KATO, Yasuhiro, TSUJI, Toshiaki, CIKAJLO, Imre. Feedback type may change the EMG pattern and kinematics during robot supported upper limb reaching task. IEEE open journal of engineering in medicine and biology. Feb. 2024, str. 1-7, ISSN 2644-1276. DOI: 10.1109/OJEMB.2024.3363137
• CIKAJLO, Imre, HUKIĆ, Alma, UDOVČIĆ PERTOT, Anja. The size and behavior of virtual objects have influence on functional exercise and motivation of persons with multiple sclerosis : a randomized study. Scientific reports. Nov. 2022, vol. 12, art. no. 19375, 13 str.,
• CIKAJLO, Imre, HUKIĆ, Alma, ZAJC, Dejana. Exergaming as part of the telerehabilitation can be adequate to the outpatient training : preliminary findings of a non-randomized pilot study in Parkinson's disease. Frontiers in Neurology. [Online ed.]. March 2021, vol. 12, str. 1-11.
• TIMOTIJEVIĆ, Lada, CIKAJLO, Imre, et al. Designing a mHealth clinical decision support system for Parkinson's disease : a theoretically grounded user needs approach. BMC medical informatics and decision making. Feb. 2020, vol. 20, iss. 1, str. 1-21.
• POTOČNIK, Božidar, DIVJAK, Matjaž, URH, Filip, FRANČIČ, Aljaž, KRANJEC, Jernej, ŠAVC, Martin, CIKAJLO, Imre, MATJAČIĆ, Zlatko, ZADRAVEC, Matjaž, HOLOBAR, Aleš. Estimation of muscle co-activations in wrist rehabilitation after stroke is sensitive to motor unit distribution and action potential shapes. IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering. [Print ed.]. May 2020, vol. 28, iss. 5, str. 1208 - 1215,
• CIKAJLO, Imre, ŠPRAGER, Sebastijan, ERJAVEC, Tatjana, ZAZULA, Damjan. Cardiac arrhythmia alarm from optical interferometric signals during resting or sleeping for early intervention. Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, ISSN 0208-5216, 2016, vol. 36, no. 1, str. 267-275, doi: 10.1016/j.bbe.2015.12.006. [COBISS.SI-ID 2128233],