Making Boring Fun: Designing a Game for Occupational Health and Safety
Stefan Greuter
Susanne TepeFrank BoukampJ. Fiona PetersonRon Wakefield
Kimberley d'AmazingTim Goschnick Thomas HarrisKalonica QuigleyRhys van der Waerden
Games For Change Conference, Melbourne
Construction safety is important• Australian construction industry represents 9% of
the workforce• 11% of all serious workers’ compensation claims
occur in construction• Fatality rate in construction is more than twice
the rate for “all industries”• OH&S Construction Induction Process
– (White Card)– VET course on Construction Induction defines the
content
People who work in the construction industry continue to be injured on construction sites16.11.2012
Games For Change Conference, Melbourne
OH&S Construction Induction Training
• Students often disengaged • Target group consists of surface learners• Preference towards
– Activity-based classroom teaching– Instructor monitoring– Structured course content – Graphical representations with little text
Maybe construction students are disengaged because classroom lecturing isn’t the best teaching method for them
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Games For Change Conference, Melbourne
Games
• Provide highly structured environment• Break down complex tasks into smaller tasks• Adjust to the individual pace of the player• Provide immediate and continuous feedback• Facilitate exploration of multiple solutions• Require players to formulate hypotheses• Require player to evaluate the outcome
All of which has been linked with better learning outcomes, motivation and retention of material
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Games For Change Conference, Melbourne
Demo
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Games For Change Conference, Melbourne
Engagement
• Questionnaire designed to assess– Enjoyment– Engagement– Motivation
• Followed up by interview post game play• Preliminary results show:– Players were engaged and immersed– Indicated positive experience– Appreciated the design– Recognised as useful tool for OH&S training
16.11.2012
Games For Change Conference, Melbourne
Content Testing
• OHS Test designed to examine– Testing for transferability of the learning to
real-world situations– Ability to spot hazards in photos of real
construction sites– Initial learning and later retention of the
content
• Preliminary results show:– Gamers able to spot more hazards than non-
gamers– Gamers more like ‘experts’ in detecting
hazards
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Games For Change Conference, Melbourne
Example test photospot the hazards
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Games For Change Conference, Melbourne
Conclusion
• Hazard Identification Game for construction industry students
• Support the learning and teaching of construction safety induction
• Provides players with choices to create their own learning pathway
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Games For Change Conference, Melbourne
Trouble Tower for iPad
Search for “Trouble Tower”
www.facebook.com/troubletower
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Games For Change Conference, Melbourne
THANK YOU
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White CardDr. Stefan GreuterSchool of Media and CommunicationRMIT University, Melbourne, [email protected]
White CardDr. Susanne TepeSchool of Applied ScienceRMIT University, Melbourne, [email protected]
