Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to explore emergent learning in relation to playful interactions and instances of serious game conceptualization when combining the emerging and next generation technologies of ambient awareness with wireless grids. A review of the literature is presented for playful interactions and serious games in relation to ambient awareness and wireless grids. Using a case study approach and multiple methods of quantitative and qualitative data collection, the study investigates the use experience of faculty and students with Wejay social radio, a wireless grid edgeware application. Content analysis and descriptive statistics are used for the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, respectively. This study employs a number of techniques to mitigate challenges posed by an early stage, pre-standards tool incubated in the Wireless Grids Innovation Testbed (WiGiT) Lab, and deployed for the first time in a virtual, distributed setting. Study findings contribute to an understanding of the presence and viability of playful interactions and serious gaming initiatives in support of learning within ambient-aware edgeware environments while providing early and critical insights. Further, this research makes a contribution to the literature in the domains of emergent learning, playful interactions, serious gaming, ambient awareness (AmI), and wireless grids. This study has implications more broadly for emergent and ambient learning environments; provides suggestions for an agenda for research and practice; and identifies opportunities for further research based on larger studies with more advanced ambient-aware wireless grid products.

Keywords:

Ambient awareness, ambient learning, autonomy, edgeware, emergent learning, emotion/affect, playful interactions, serious games, WeJay, wireless grids.