The project addresses one of the great challenges in our time; the increasing number of elderly people and people in need of recovery after injuries, and how to give them a dignifying life. Keeping seniors healthy through both preventative and rehabilitative means is of paramount interest to everyone. Having them living at home as long as possible will be of economic benefit to society and the individual, as well as increase their quality of life. Objectives of the projectThe main goals of the project is to develop multidisciplinary courses, and to educate people to use and develop new technical achievements within welfare technology. The students shall participate in ongoing development and research activities at the HEIs, in close cooperation with the HEIs incubator companies or other companies/organizations that the HEIs are cooperating with. Giving these start-up companies the possibility to get assistance from international students will be of great importance for these companies, making them more sustainable and increase and maintain international networks. This will be important for the creation of new jobs and new products within the EU.The project is innovative because it helps students and employees to commercialize new ideas and results of ongoing research activities at the HEI institutions.Number and profile of participantsAll the five project HEI partners have earlier collaborated within EU-Erasmus Intensive Programmes and within Erasmus Student and Teacher exchange activities. The HEI project partners have the following complementary experience and competences:HBRS: Safe system development and implementationFHV: 3D Capturing and Modelling, User-experience related to Ambient Assisted Living (AAL), Serious Gaming-SimulationNTNU: Software system development, Real time human motion capturing and gait analysis, Clinical experience with serious games used at spinal cord injury units. Nursing, physical activity and depression in elderly.HvA: Serious Games design and developmentThe industry partners are start-up companies or consortia, some coming from the HEIs: 3DMoTech: http://www.3dmotech.com/ Works with real time human motor control, tracking and visualization. HvA: Dezzel Media http://www.dezzel.com/ Design, develop and sell online brain fitness services, primarily based on serious games. Axendo http://en.axendo.nl/ develops advanced and smart websites optimized for mobile, tablet and desktop use alike. FHV: has links with Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) Austria Working Group Qualification and Training where they are defining new AAL qualification and training programmes. HBRS: cooperates with the Inst. for Occ. Safety and Health (IFA) http://www.dguv.de/ifa/index.jsp IFA is an institute for research and testing of the German Social Accident Insurance in Germany.ITC: Salso https://salaso.com Makes people feel better faster by turning exercise routines/advice into lifestyle habits.Description of activitiesDevelopment of MOOC modules for serious games related to welfare technology.Development of serious games related to welfare technology by international multidisciplinary student project teams supervised by international teams of professors from the partner HEIs and partner companies. Project meetings and intensive programmes for both professors and students.Methodology used in the carrying out of the projectAdministrative and learning management system to be used is Blackboard.The development of the MOOC units using a proper educational framework.The development of the serious games based on teaching and learning theory. The scientific methods used by the students in their development of the serious games will be literature studies, design science, and experiments and testing. A short description of the results and impact envisagedDistant learning MOOC modules addressing development, use and application of serious games related promotion of health and general wellbeing, of senior citizens and people in need of rehabilitation.International student projects (bachelor theses and undergraduate projects) supervised by HEIs and industry partners. The projects to be given a common grading by professors from the HEIs and industrial project partners.Relevant knowledge and education for meeting the social challenges of an aging, and in need of rehabilitation, population.Enhanced and sustainable cooperation between HEI partners and partner companies. The potential longer-term benefitsA joint semester on development of serious games and welfare technology.Increased mobility by students and professors.Help creating new jobs and companies by enhancing cooperation between HEIs, health care institutions and start-up companies.Development of serious games within welfare technology, thereby enhancing the quality and cost effectiveness of the treatment of the increasing number of elderly people and people in need of recovery after injuries.
Context/background of the project One of the great challenges of our time is keeping people healthy throughout their lifespan. Many European countries are experiencing an increase in life expectancy alongside the possibility of more treatable diseases. Therefore, there is an increasing cost to healthcare and one has to look for new options for rehabilitation or maintaining public health. This brings new challenges to the healthcare system both in caring for the elderly as well as in ordinary rehabilitation programmes. Multidisciplinary cooperation in the intersection between technology and different health disciplines is a precondition for innovation in this area and for developing technological solutions to address social challenges and enabling related industry. Fall prevention, increased focus on physical activity and mental health, and training in rehabilitation institutions or in home settings are examples of possible applications for serious games. Objectives The aim of this project was to promote collaborative learning through industry partnered, interdisciplinary, student centred projects and develop innovative solutions within welfare technology. The project partners have the following complementary experience and competences: Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU): E-Learning, MOOCs, Serious games, Real time human motion capturing and gait analysis, physiotherapy, Occupational therapy, Nursing, Clinical experience with serious games used at spinal cord injury units. Fachhochschule Vorarlberg (FHV) Serious games, 3D motion Capturing, Modelling and Visualization, User-experience with Ambient Assisted Living (AAL), Gaming-Simulation Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (HBRS): Research, development and validation of hardware and software for safety- and security-critical systems and components, Safety, Robotics Institute of Technology Carlow (ITC): Serious Games design, Development and sports rehabilitation, Internet of Things Stichting Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HvA): Privacy and Ethics, Internet of Things, Serious Games design and development 3D Motion Technologies AS: The developer of a real time human motion capturing system. Their system is an optical based system using cameras to compute 3D positions of a set of markers. Advanced calibration and tracking algorithms ensures high precision 3D-measurements. Description of undertaken main activities The projects followed an agile/iterative learning model when designing the projects activities and it was linked into each HEI’s curriculum to satisfy the academic requirements for the students. 1 year: Teachers developed learning materials (MOOC), a collaborative learning model (CLM) and recruited client companies and students to the project. The MOOC was specifically designed to teach both healthcare and technological students about how to create an exergame. 2nd year: Enrolled students followed the CLM that made them progress from initial briefing of a problem to developing a final product – a functional exergame. The CLMs components consist of the following: a MOOC, developing a serious game prototype (co-located and distributed collaboration) and Graduation projects. The MOOC allowed all students to gain an introductory level of knowledge in all topics, while students from each specialisation would be expected to take the lead in any further research needed for the projects. The students were split into multinational and multifunctional teams and was assigned to projects originated by a client company. During the last period, some of the students went abroad as Erasmus+ mobility students to continue the work on the prototype as part of their graduation project whereas other students joined them at their own home universities. The students tested the prototypes with the end-users and improved them to come up with their final working products. Mentoring was provided to the teams by the teachers and client companies. Results and impact attained The collaborative learning approach adopted proved to be successful in producing graduates who can effectively participate in multi-disciplinary projects. Close collaboration with the client companies was beneficial to the students’ learning in terms of timely clarification of requirements and validation of solutions. The students indicated that the MOOC increased their perception of the problem and issues involved, and the assignments given by companies were perceived as relevant. All HEIs involved, were dedicated, committed, and actively assisting students during the project. There has been a vast amount of knowledge exchange between professors of the HEIs regarding course development, teaching approaches and evaluation methods. Students that finished their graduation projects received compliments on the final developed serious game prototypes from client companies and the graduation projects were largely deemed of high quality by the HEIs.