Further studies are necessary to investigate both immediate and longitudinal effects of specific game elements on children’s social development. Considering all the game sessions, three main differences were observed between game sessions: Game session 3 worked with physical tasks involving body movement coordination, while sessions 1 and 2 focused on constructive building and coordination skills. Playing is a self-motivating and pleasurable activity, and through gamification (the application of game elements), different tasks can become more engaging. However, differences between game conditions were not found at significant level. Game session 2 observed group game effects on children’s task engagement, while game session 3 focused on children’s cooperative behavior. An interaction designer's mission is the same on every project: create an experience that users will love. Introduction. We share our knowledge and peer-reveiwed research papers with libraries, scientific and engineering societies, and also work with corporate R&D departments and government entities. This might also have prejudiced their engagement. The interaction design improve the user experience in the buying process, for example with a very simple form with few steps with the posibility of return to last step. toys and games that can strengthen their affective bonds. We must then initially assume that block games would have a similar effect than the dancing game on children’s group behavior. Likewise, the word “design for interaction” also has a more expanded meaning than the word “interactive design,” involving not only the interactions between the user and the artifact but also the interactions that artifacts can foster between different people. After performing one of the three game conditions, participants were submitted to a Reward Sharing Game. In other words, the more difficult version of the game distressed participant’s cooperation, affective impressions, and outcomes of the subsequent design task. ... One thing that people like about an elearning course is when it contains various interaction points. This context led to a series of new play tool proposal called “interactive” or “smart” toys. Considering that, this concept of an interactive toy is not only of one that provides engaging interactive feedback for children. Different tablet applications for children (be they games, dedicate programs, or play kits) gives an array of engaging and playful possibilities at little development cost. Comparisons were established between these games. Rather than analyzing how things are, interaction design synthesizes and imagines things as they could be. By knowing about user’s behaviors, interaction designer have to make the product usable, effective and pleasant. That said, different study designs and purposes could point to different effects of the mentioned game elements. A good interaction designer won’t let this happen: she’ll respect your SEO needs and create an attractive, content-ready design that search engines will love. Being that a new frontier, designers from all over the world are trying to develop new interactive toys that can bring unique experiences to the user. Specific roles were also assigned for the challenge with one participant receiving the leader role, helping to manage their group members. Fast-forward 6 years. In this video, I give a very basic overview of what Interaction Design is in a UX context. During the years of 2017–2018, we conducted three different studies to investigate the relationship between children playing group games and their motivation to work together in a subsequent group task [24, 25]. Interactive Design vs. Design for Interaction: Developing Interactive Play Tools that Promote Interactions between Children, Interactive Multimedia - Multimedia Production and Digital Storytelling, Dragan Cvetković, IntechOpen, DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.84328. Acting as indications, these game elements can be observed in Table 1 below: Observations between the three administered game sessions. Participants who displayed higher engagement were more likely to trust the group and share the reward. Interaction design is a goal-oriented design and user-centered design. Generally UX is taken to be an umbrella term. With traditional playground environments serving as examples, a well-established toy or game that can promote different interactions among children is more likely to have a longer life-spam and more thoroughly aid on their personal growth. The constant feedback generated by the artifact in the response of children’s inputs is what would define its interactivity and where technology is more deeply inserted. Only then can we design the user interface for our app that invokes all these thoughts, actions and feelings. This chapter discussed differences and similarities between the “Interactive Design” and the “Design for Interactions” principles when applied to the development of new interactive/smart play tools for children. The second point is that smart toys are expanded to new media and devices such as tablets, augmented-reality and virtual reality glasses, breaking the division between digital and analogic experiences. While interaction design has an interest in form (similar to other design fields), its main area of focus rests on behavior. For promoting different interactions, modern play tools could then automatically manipulate some of these elements, recommending flexible choices for children to play according to their different inputs and group formations. By Borka Jerman Blažič and Andrej Jerman Blažič, By Aida Huerta Barrientos and Yazmin Dillarza Andrade. This means that playing an easy game did not indicate to affect how easy or pleasurable participants perceived the group task to be, or how satisfied they were with their group members. The cooperative task of this study was simplified and focused on children’s social behavior. The same concept can be applied with the definition of interactive toys. This interaction can be seen in Figure 2 below. This week we will advance further into the world of UX design and explore the interaction types out there. Students who searched for Interaction Designer vs. Graphic Designer found the articles, information, and resources on this page helpful. In the design for interaction principle, play artifacts assume a support role, mediating or facilitating social relationships between children and peers or caregivers. Three group conditions were formed: (1) easy game group, who played an easier version requiring simplified block combinations (e.g., activating a light block); (2) difficult game challenge, who played a version requiring more complex block activations (e.g., assembling a movable robot), and (3) no game group, who did not play the group game before performing the subsequent group task. It is important to mention that many unpredicted factors can happen when working with children in natural playful situations. These findings suggested that cooperative games may benefit the social interaction of pupils within the classroom. Nowadays, electronic games can be considered toys and the boundaries between the virtual and tangible elements are not so strict [4]. The main considerations which led to this assumption were the game simplicity and the displayed engagement during game sessions. Up until the 1980s, toys were mostly represented by a highly profitable plastic industry. However, under the “design for interaction” principle, technology should not be the main attraction of a toy but should rather assume a supporting role for encouraging children’s social relationships. Brief introduction to this section that descibes Open Access especially from an IntechOpen perspective, Want to get in touch? Represented by Figure 5, throughout three studies, three different group games were utilized as “ice-breaking” activities: (1) an interactive building block game where the goal was to build electronic circuits, (2) a buildable tower block game, where the goal was to connect blocks together into a single standing tower, and (3) an interactive dance game, where the goal was to replicate the dance moves displayed in the game screen. The study evaluated how willing participants were to share their rewards according to their group conditions and how much they would trust the group to share the reward. In both game conditions, there were participants who displayed high and participants who displayed lower engagement with the task. Interaction scheme: the spheres influence each other, and each interaction generates different outcomes. Developed sketches were collected for evaluation, and self-reports were applied after the task. Interactive design and interactive toys. Through observation, it was noted that, depending on the age, this leadership position led to authoritarian behavior in the design task, with the leader not giving an equal voice for all group members. Interaction Design. Submission was voluntary. Considering the described elements of this section, it is important to investigate additional ways for technology and interactive toys to foster social interactions among children. Participants had 10 minutes to perform individual sketches and 10 minutes to perform group discussion. “Design for Interactions,” however, focuses on the social interactions a child can have with others when facilitated by different toys or artifacts. The subsequent group task of this study was a co-design challenge where had to design a new interactive toy together. Three group conditions were established: (1) a relaxing dance group, where participants would dance easier choreography songs with less movement, (2) an energetic dance group, where they would dance more energetic songs with a more demanding choreography, and (3) group conversation condition, where children did not play any game. How do children interact with each other and how can interactive technology contribute? As an example, Suzuki et al. Users interact with the toy and the given mechanical feedback perpetuates different interactions. Children have a universal need to play, and by playing, they can learn a series of skills vital for... 2. Three group games utilized during different studies. Interactive toy play interaction flowchart. Modern day technology possesses a wide range of smart detectors and sensory feedback devices that can still be better explored in new toy designs. By using different sensors and actuators, interactive toys can receive children’s inputs and generate different outputs to actively encourage their play. UX Design is a Booming Industry. Challenges were designed where 36 participants aged 6–16 divided into groups of four had to activate specific blocks in a 20 minutes time limit. Interaction design. Interactive designers tend to think of the web as a series of branded moments that occur through a series of frames that a user clicks through. The existence of toys can date as old as 3.000 BCE, but it was only through the rise of the industrial age that they became widely available for children at a global scale. Known as play tools, toys have an important role as facilitators of children’s growth and learning [3]. About 21 participants aged 6–11 y/o were divided into groups of four. In design for interaction, the artifact can act as a supporter for different social interactions. This program is offered as a two and half years Master of Design program in interaction design. Rather, group games can be good opportunities for children to explore different roles inside groups. The choice of this game was further backed by different studies which pointed positive effects of physical and energetic games on children’s cooperation [1, 28]. With tablets representing a big parcel of the play market, children today have become much more exposed to digital/screen media than previous generations. This relationship can be seen in the scheme represented by Figure 3. Working with social game concept, Hendrix et al. Emotional-level interactions and imaginary play are also possible with traditional toys, but the toy acts mainly as a physical medium for these play interactions (Figure 1). Results of this study mostly indicated that children who played the game were more motivated with the design task, associating an energizing effect of group games on subsequent activities. By combining the traditional play values with modern technologies, interactive toys can provide more direct feedback and narrative possibilities for the users. The interaction between children with others is potentially more important to their social development than the interactions they can have with different toys. Therefore, we also consider that, regardless of its design, group games can have positive effects on children’s continuous cooperation development. The researchers noted that, during the game, children who often struggled with social interactions managed to more easily express their thoughts and intentions. When considering the effect of group game activities, or designing new interactive play tools, it would be of interest to further observe these elements as possible predictors of children’s social behavior. By looking at post effects of group games, Creighton and Szymkowiak [21] observed the classroom behavior of two groups of children after being submitted to different game conditions. In this sense, this chapter definition of an interactive toy is of one who adopts different feedback technologies or devices to act as a mediating interface of real-time interactions between people. A small description of each game session and the obtained results will be given. Current technology can allow the adjustment of game elements (e.g., difficulty, goals, or time length) and of sensory feedback (e.g., light intensity and color, sounds, or vibrations). While recommendations for group design tasks with children support the establishment of defined roles for better group work [21], this establishment indicated to be immature in the game sessions. Although physically demanding, dancing is a simple group activity which does not require children to overthink situations and which can help with their movement synchronization. Playing is an arousing activity that involves internal motivations and sensory stimuli [22]. Results indicated that participants in both game groups displayed higher trust in their group members and were more willing to share their reward than participants who did not play the game. Although no differences were observed on cooperation among group conditions, results indicated that participants who played the group game reported higher confidence with their designs and were significantly more likely to submit them to the competition. Interaction Design is designing interaction between users and products. found that haptic inputs increased the immersion children had when reading and listening stories [13]. Furthermore, the indications are about how the group sessions were administered and do not necessarily point out a certain toy or game task as more suitable to promote cooperation. This dialogue is both physical and emotional in nature and is manifested in the interplay between form, function, and techn… The user provides an interaction that is detected and processed by the toy, which then converts into a feedback through different actuators, perpetuating the interaction. In game session 1, an interactive block toy set was selected as the game stimuli. Considering social studies findings, we defined the following elements as possible contributors to children’s social development, which should be aimed by interactive games: Existence of rules and attribution of specific roles, Restriction of individual power and resources, Challenging but achievable difficulty curve, Excitement and novelty levels of game experience, Focus on cooperativity rather than competitivity. By making research easy to access, and puts the academic needs of the researchers before the business interests of publishers. Instead of working with interactive toys and of creating two game conditions, this study investigated how playing a building block tower game could affect children’s impressions and motivations for a subsequent task. Children enjoy interacting with current technology and it would benefit their social interaction to utilize a medium which they can more easily engage. According to LaFreniere [30] and Piaget [31], dealing with these matters during natural free-play situations can help children to develop perspective taking and learn how to control their displayed emotions, better preparing them for possible conflicts in the future. Results indicated no difference between participants who played the easy group challenge and participants who did not play the group game. A toy is a dedicate artifact for the act of playing. While some people traverse all of these fields, interactive design is typically a collaborative effort of multiple individuals or organizations. However, technology cannot be stopped and children’s interest to interact with technology should not be discouraged, but rather utilized to support their development. Publishing on IntechOpen allows authors to earn citations and find new collaborators, meaning more people see your work not only from your own field of study, but from other related fields too. Overall, the main evaluations after playing or not variations of the group games were: (1) how difficult or pleasurable participants perceived the cooperative task to be; (2) how satisfied participants were with their group member and how mindful they were of each member feeling, and how well they executed the subsequent task at individual and group level (objective criteria were established). It’s based on principles of collaboration, unobstructed discovery, and, most importantly, scientific progression. Therefore, the main challenge for designing interactive play tools lies in researchers successfully identifying children’s dynamic interaction patterns together with designers and engineers successfully developing new technologies and artifacts to support these interactions. Open Access is an initiative that aims to make scientific research freely available to all. In this chapter, we are going to introduce two concepts that are currently present in the development of play tools for children: (1) interactive design, represented by toys that can integrate interactive sensors and actuators to promote new play possibilities, and (2) design for interaction, a new tendency focused on how children interact with each other and how new designs can contribute to these interactions. Built by scientists, for scientists. For the group challenge, participants had to design an invention to facilitate communicate among children. Participants in the difficult game condition also reported the design task to be more difficult, indicated to designed fewer elements in their toy sketches, and were less aware of their group members’ feelings. Still according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary [15], the word “interaction” can mean: (1) the act of talking or doing things with other people; (2) the action or influence of things on one another, or; (3) mutual or reciprocal action or influence. Interaction designers are more concerned about the intent of the user and how they can help them accomplish a task. It can, for instance, identify children’s play pattern through an artificial intelligence and use this information to provide direct motivating feedback such as increasing or decreasing the difficulty of game, or changing the balance of sensory stimuli such as the intensity of lights and sounds. A third game challenge was designed to specifically observe its effect on children’s group behavior. Interactive playgrounds are integrating technology to promote more engaging ways for children to exercise and establish social relationships. It is clear that IA will continue to rem… Different methods of evaluating children’s impressions and cooperation were utilized between studies, limiting direct comparisons between the games’ effects. Through this chapter, existing works will be utilized to exemplify these concepts illustrating differences and connection points in-between. The Differences Between Visual and Interaction Design So, now it is known that interaction design, for the most part, is related to how a user is going to interact with a system … The three studies worked with cooperative tasks and self-report scales where children could rate their feelings regarding the task and their group members. Regarding the role assignment, it was noted that children who obtained the leadership role in the game task also tended to maintain the leadership position in the following design task. Our team is growing all the time, so we’re always on the lookout for smart people who want to help us reshape the world of scientific publishing. In this definition, while technology is still important, it is not the main factor, acting instead as a supporter of children’s interactions. Evaluating children’s social behavior with an interaction frequency index, the authors observed that children who played the cooperative games displayed more positive interactions in the classroom than children who played the competitive games. Browse Instructional Design and Interactive content selected by the eLearning Learning community. Interaction design is an important component within the giant umbrella of user experience (UX) design. UI Design: UI Design is the design of interfaces for devices, and is focused on the graphics creation … Another way of using technology to facilitate interactions would be by automatically altering the sensory stimuli or the difficulty level of a game according to the number of children or to their given feedback. While these game elements were directly manipulated by the authors of this research, they also represent possible technology integration points. Humans are sensory animals and toys can allow more materialized, stimulating, and easily understood play experiences. The design for interaction guidelines together with the results found in the presented studies reinforces how games should be carefully designed with social interactions in mind. From a technology standpoint, an interactive toy differs from traditional ones by adding the interactive attractiveness of modern technologies to stimulate play. Here an interactive designer might partner with a senior UX designer to start creating experience maps your interaction designer must be fully aware of your target audience. The overall recommendation is that, specially at young ages, screen time should be minimized at the same pace that active play time should be encouraged. Instead, interactive toys should facilitate relationship among children through play interactions. By leveling toward low difficulty dance, or by allowing groups to select more difficult songs according to their desires, the games can reduce children’s frustrations and ensure that more group members will engage with the play activity. To date our community has made over 100 million downloads * Address all correspondence:... That the physical dancing game on children ’ s social development. the activity more meaningful and.. This program is offered as a two and half years Master of design program in interaction design include,! 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