Andrej Jerman Blažič

By Andrej Jerman Blažič and Franc Novak

Serious games are part of the new emerging world of education environment that is based on sophisticated technology with elements of entertainment. They have been seen as good supplements for supporting the learning processes due to their capability to increase visualisations and challenge the student creativity. They have the potential to significantly improve training and education activities and initiatives. As a part of serious computer games, business simulation games support training and learning focused on the management of economic processes. They have been proven to be useful in empowering and mediating learning business content. This chapter addresses the simulation business games used in the educational process by analysing selected popular games regarding their properties that are considered as important in the learning process. The first part presents a short introduction in the field of business games and the approach used in selection of the studied games. The next part provides a review of related articles and brief overview of the state of the art that has guided the selection of business simulation games to be analysed and assessed. The game parameters used in the assessment have been defined and described. The analysis and the assessment report are followed with brief concluding remarks.

Part of the book: E-Learning

By Borka Jerman Blažič and Andrej Jerman Blažič

As digital multimedia devices further pervade the lives of everybody including the older adults, the need for relevant training for these age groups of people grows. Older adults, not due to their frailty or age, but because accessing and using digital devices like smart phones can be difficult for them due to a lack of digital skills required in use of multimedia devices, do experience the digital divide sharply. This paper intends to present the use of gaming on touch screen multimedia devices in learning digital skills for the elderly. The case study was carried out with a group of older adults in four European countries with multimedia tablets before they attended the training process for learning how to use smartphones. A parallel group was not exposed to the same devices and the tablet game playing. The comparative results from both groups have shown that gaming on multimedia devices improves the skills necessary for active use of digital skills in everyday life and foster their adoption.

Part of the book: Interactive Multimedia