The challenges:

» Advancing frameworks of non-invasive personalization/adaptation on the macro as well as the micro levels (in terms of theory and technology)

» Establishing a methodology for reducing the costs of developing DEGs by a flexible (re-) use of learning resources

80Days’ solution:

An approach devising inter-disciplinary research and development; as illustrated in Figure 1.1, expertise as well as research and development progress in one area (work package/discipline) directly or indirectly influences the demands, prerequisites, work progress, and results of other areas. The planned realization of the complex project lifecycle and implementation plan is illustrated in the figure below. he composition of 80Days’ work package structure and project organisation is designed for the concurrent execution of research and development, complemented with coordination/management and dissemination/ exploitation activities. In concrete terms, 80Days attempts to address its challenges with following core elements.

In order to accomplish the challenges of these key elements of the work plan results in following work packages / work package structure:

Work package 1 is devoted to the scientific coordination and management of interdisciplinary research, design, development, and evaluation efforts of the project. This WP includes also the work of an educational advisory board. Work package 2 summarises overall research activities of the project and actually includes five (sub-) work packages. Work package 2a involves research activities with respect to interactive, adaptive competence development and comprises cognitive science, motivational and emotional aspects, as well as close relations to research on adaptive storytelling. Work package 2b comprises research and development activities with respect to interactive and adaptive digital storytelling and narrative development in educational games. The aims of this area are closely related to cognitive and psychological work, where the links are primarily the connection between adaptive content presentation and adaptive storytelling within an educational game as well as motivational components concerning learning and gaming. Work package 2c aims at establishing a technological framework for micro and macro-adaptivity in educational games and the implementation of the theoretical foundations provided by work packages 2a and 2b.

Work package 2d involves the project’s efforts in providing a framework for the integration of existing learning resources in educational games. Work package 3 is devoted to didactic design and game design for the 80Days demonstrator as means of providing a prototype for theoretical and empirical research as well as technical development in terms of adaptive technologies and for demonstrating the project results. Work package 4 comprises game development and technical realization of the demonstrator. Work package 5 is devoted to advancing evaluation and validation methods with respect to educational games and it concerns the evaluation and validation of the research and development activities. Work package 6 comprises the coordination and execution of dissemination activities as well as the efforts of planning, preparing, and initiating exploitation of the project’s results. Finally, work package 7 is devoted to overall administrative project coordination and management (PCM).