John Aedo's Research and Contributions at UCF: A Multifaceted Exploration

This article explores the research interests and contributions of Dr. John Aedo at the University of Central Florida (UCF), encompassing his academic background, teaching roles, and research endeavors. It also touches upon related workshops and resources available at UCF for research and academic development.

Dr. John Aedo: A UCF Alumnus and Educator

Dr. John Aedo is a triple graduate of the University of Central Florida, earning his Bachelor’s in Computer Science in 1997, Master’s in Modeling and Simulation in 2010, and Doctorate in Modeling and Simulation. He has over 25 years of IT industry experience covering a wide gamut of IT functions, from systems administration to technical writing, to software development and more. Today, he is a full-time lecturer for the College of Engineering and Computer Science, teaching courses in operating system design, full-stack web development, compiler design and others as opportunities arise.

Research on Creative Thinking and Gaming

Dr. Aedo's research delves into the intersection of technology, education, and cognitive processes. His dissertation, "The Level of Creative Thinking of STEM-oriented Middle and High School Children Associated with the Level of Self-motivated Play and Success Within a Builder Game and Engagement in Builder Gaming Communities' Social Media Culture," investigated the relationship between creative thinking and engagement with "builder" games like Minecraft among STEM-oriented students.

The research question examined was, given a STEM-oriented middle and high school student population, what is the strength of the correlation between the observed level of creative thinking and the level to which a student plays and/or succeeds in a builder game and engages in its social media culture? Level of play is measured in terms of time and level of achievements within Minecraft. Level of engagement is measured in terms of posting and sharing behavior on Minecraft forums, YouTube and other social media platforms. The level of creative thinking is measured by Urban's Test for Creative Thinking - Drawing Production test. Correlations with TCT-DP and time spent, achievements in the games, and social media engagement levels were found to be statistically insignificant across all factors.

This study challenges common assumptions about the impact of gaming on creativity, providing valuable insights into the complex relationship between technology, learning, and cognitive development.

Related Research at UCF: Exploring the Landscape of Digital Games

UCF fosters a vibrant research environment concerning digital games, as evidenced by a variety of theses and dissertations exploring diverse aspects of gaming. These projects highlight the multifaceted nature of video games as a medium for entertainment, education, and social commentary.

Attention, Anxiety, and Survival Horror

Alicia D. examined how visual attention and anxiety levels differ after playing a survival horror video game and whether an individual’s gaming preferences affect these concepts in "A Survival Horror Video Game's Impact On Visual Attention". The current study’s main research question was whether playing a survival horror video game increases the visual selective attention of a player. The research consisted of the preliminary evaluation of participants’ visual attention abilities and anxiety levels through psychological tasks. Participants then played Resident Evil 4: Chainsaw Demo, the selected survival horror video game for this study. After playing the demo, participants repeated the previous psychological tasks, and their results were assessed.

Historical Engagement in Gaming Communities

Kirk M. explored how participants in communities of play centered around digital games engage with history in "Crusading For Fun And Profit: An Examination Of Ludohistorical Mode In The Crusader Kings Community". The historiographic influences of ludic form have been closely scrutinized in recent years, but little attention has been paid to the digital cultures-to the communities of play- which center the discussion and play of these historical games. My study aimed to closely examine one such community centered around the grand strategy game Crusader Kings III, released by Paradox Interactive.

Activism and Game Design

Daniel J. investigated how activists and scholars can design serious game projects that attract and engage people, that are inviting for many types of players, and that empower players to create positive change in "Activist-Casual Game Design: Iterating Serious Games Through Research-Creation". My hypothesis was that the Activist-Casual Game Design Framework I published in 2021 could facilitate this work. I took a design-based research approach to answer my research question by way of demonstration and self-reflection through a creative case study of the production of an activist-casual game called Climate Somnia.

Self-Regulated Learning in Game-Based Environments

Research has indicated learners are often unable to monitor and regulate their cognitive and metacognitive processes within GBLEs accurately and effectively on their own due mostly to the open-ended nature of these environments. The future design and development of GBLEs and embedded scaffolds, therefore, require a better understanding of the discrepancies between the affordances of GBLEs and the required use of SRL. Game-based learning environments (GBLEs) can offer students with engaging interactive instructional materials while also providing a research platform to investigate the dynamics and intricacies of effective self-regulated learning (SRL).

Art Styles in Video Games

The focus of this thesis is to explore the impact of art styles on video-games. This was done so that I could contribute something more to the digital media industry regarding this topic, and show people unique data sets that may help guide them in the right direction if they are looking for answers to questions they may have about art styles and their impact on the success of games.

Queer Representation in Games

Queerness as a quality has a permanent fluidity. Videogames as a medium are continually evolving and advancing. Thus, queer games have a vast potential as an art form and research subject. While there is already a wealth of knowledge surrounding queer games my contribution takes the form of both research paper and creative endeavor. I created a game by interpreting the queer elements present in games research. My game reflects the trends and qualities present in contemporary queer games, such as critiques on empathy and alternative game-making programs. This project also included the creation of a video game prototype called Life in the Megapocalypse as a digital tool for engaging in critical modding. In this project, I created a framework for exploring problems with representations of marginalized characters in video games called "critical modding." The main goal of this project was to provide a method for addressing issues with portrayals of queer characters in video games through modification of a game's narrative and gameplay systems.

The Role of Music in Guiding Player Decisions

The interactive nature of video games offers players unique playthroughs of the same game. Choices made during gameplay, despite going through the same narrative story, create a journey that differs from other players. Music can help support a player's connection to the game's characters and narrative while also providing information to the player to guide their decisions. Ludomusicological studies in the past have shown how music can support a game's narrative, while also serving to inform players of changes in game states.

Historical Artistry in Video Games

Jennifer B. explored the incorporation of historical artistry in video games in "The Hidden Secrets Of Historical Artistry". When I began developing the video game concept for my thesis, I realized that I was one of the kids that grew up in a society where video games took prevalence over historical artistry. I, however, was unaware of the hidden secrets that resided in the art and how much they contribute to the video games I enjoy playing today. This thesis aims to provide the younger generations with an engaging and stimulating way to experience historical artistry, more specifically the Italian Renaissance, without having to consult a history book.

Educational Games for Learning Science

This thesis presents a novel interactive educational simulation called the Science of Meteorology with Interactive Learning Experience (SMILE). Despite some ongoing debates over the positive or negative impact of digital games, educational games are powerful tools to increase engagement and improve learning outcomes. Scientific concepts about the weather are complicated for younger learners and deep learning often requires long-term cultivation. In it, students interact with a touchscreen monitor to change weather conditions and learn about clouds and weather science. The relationship between engagement and learning outcomes and the effectiveness of the experience is evaluated using a formal user study.

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Representation of Death in Independent Video Games

This thesis examines the unique representation of death in independent videogames. Specifically, in three titles: That Dragon, Cancer, Spiritfarer, and A Mortician's Tale. These three games break traditional norms of death in video games and how death is presented in other more traditional mediums. These unique perspectives are more concerned with the personal and societal side of death, the reflection, and confrontation of our mortality. Each game is a stand-out example of a growing trend in independent titles coined as "death positive" games.

Immersion and Enjoyment in Gaming

The term immersion has become ubiquitous in descriptions of entertainment activities, including theme park attractions, virtual reality experiences, video games, and more. In nearly all cases, an expectation is that immersion in an activity is a desired outcome. However, this implication is challenged by a lack of research into the relationship between immersion and enjoyment. A further challenge is presented by the lack of a consensus among researchers regarding a precise definition of immersion.

Technical Instruction in World of Warcraft

The Technical World of Warcraft explores the various technical instruction elements of World of Warcraft, more specifically observing issues faced by players who take on content at the highest level. The thesis raises the problem of the in-game technical documentation being utterly ineffective for the aforementioned players, causing them to create their own technical documents. While observing the environment found exclusively within the game, research from Jennifer DeWinter and Ryan Moeller, Mark Chen, Sarah Bishop, and more, is used to analyze the game's instructional elements from a critical angle.

AI-Augmented Storytelling

Why Are We Like This? (WAWLT) is a playful, co-creative, AI-augmented, improvisational storytelling game in which one or more players explore and influence an ongoing simulation which they then glean for narrative material. It uses the recently developed simulation technology of story sifting (the recognition of microstories in a chronicle of simulation events), via the Felt library, to afford a new kind of playful, social, and creative writing experience.

Narrative Boundaries in Interactive Forms

Eric S. explored the boundaries between linear narrative forms and interactive forms in "The Borders Between Linear Narrative And Interactive Forms". This paper traces the boundaries between linear narrative forms and interactive forms. The paper starts with a glossary of relevant terms and then attempts to untangle issues that tie these forms together and separate them. Where are there major overlaps between these forms? What are the specific affordances of interactive forms? What are the specific affordances of linear forms? The paper draws from multiple sources, such as Computers as Theatre by Brenda Laurel, Narrative as Virtual Reality by Marie-Laure Ryan and Half-Real by Jesper Juul.

Counterfactual Narrative as a Documentary Form

This paper brings together two distinct and seemingly irreconcilable threads: first, the place of interactive narratives and games within the broader context of documentary media; and second, the value of counterfactual narrative as a documentary form. I will weave these two threads using my own counterfactual documentary game as the guide. Currently under development in Twine, the game is rooted in archival research about the past yet is about a version of the past that didn’t happen.

Gamification in Education

Irene L. explored the use of gamification in educational settings in "School Has A Bad Storyline: Gamification In Educational Environments". School often has low engagement and frustrating or absent options for the kind of agency the Federal Government's 2016 National Education Technology Plan now recommends educators include in their curriculum. Video games offer opportunities for people to participate in critical problem solving through creative projects. From balancing character statistics, to collaborating with other players, to making ethical and tactical decisions that can change the outcome of the story, successful games draw on the player's interest in learning and analyzing numbers, locations, visual clues, narrative elements, people, and more.

Educational Games for Teaching Brain Structure

Joey R. explored the design and instructional effectiveness of Medulla, an educational game meant to teach brain structure and function to undergraduate psychology students in "Medulla: A 2d Sidescrolling Platformer Game That Teaches Basic Brain Structure And Function". Developed in the retro-style platformer genre, Medulla uses two-dimensional gameplay with pixel-based graphics to engage students in learning content related to the brain, information which is often pre-requisite to more rigorous psychological study. A pretest posttest design was used in an experiment assessing Medulla’s ability to teach psychology content. Results indicated content knowledge was significantly higher on the posttest than the pretest, with a large effect size. Medulla appears to be an effective learning tool.

Digital Badging in Education

Joey R. also explored the use of digital badging in education in "Individual Differences In Digital Badging: Do Learner Characteristics Matter?". Badge use has rapidly expanded in recent years and has benefited a variety of applications. However, a l…

Critical Making in Electronic Literature

Critical making is an approach to scholarship which combines discursive methods with creative practices. The concept has recently gained traction in the digital humanities, where scholars are looking for ways of integrating making into their research in ways that are inclusive and empowering to marginalized populations. This dissertation explores how digital humanists can engage critical making as a form of activism in electronic literature, specifically in the interactive fiction platform Twine.

Perceptions of Control in Modded Video Games

This interdisciplinary dissertation explores perceptions of control in modded and unmodded versions of Bethesda's sandbox video game Skyrim. Sandbox games are known for greater choice options that suggest greater perceptions of control for gamers. Sandbox games also generally encourage the use of user-generated creations called modifications (mods) that users can download to personalize their games. While we need philosophy to understand and define control as a concept, we also need psychology to understand how users perceive control in media studies.

Game Localization and Cultural Differences

This paper investigates the most effective ways of handling cultural differences in the Japanese-to-English game localization process. The thesis advocates for applying the Skopos theory of translation to game localization; analyzes how topics such as social issues, humor, fan translation, transcreation, and censorship have been handled in the past; and explores how international players react to developers' localization choices. It also includes interviews with three Japanese-to-English translators who have worked with major Japanese game companies to gain insight into how the industry operates today.

Emergent Narrative in Games

Emergent narrative, a phenomenon of unexpected contextual stories arising through play, has been researched in the field of game studies since 1999. However, that discussion largely lies in the realm of theoretical stories which are generated by either the system or the player. The purpose of this dissertation is to deepen our understanding of emergent narrative by examining real-world examples of the phenomenon.

Virtual Environments Based on Persian Mysticism

This project is about generating a virtual environment of a prediction using unlimited online data based on the Persian Mysticism and tradition into a VR artwork.

Workshops and Resources at UCF

UCF provides a range of workshops and resources to support research activities, covering topics from data management to high-performance computing and AI/Machine Learning.

Data Management Workshops

"Healthy data management provides a foundation for strong research." Workshops on data management are offered to help researchers understand how data can be stored and protected. These workshops likely cover topics such as data repositories and backup strategies.

High Performance Computing (HPC) Workshops

Workshops focus on utilizing ARCC resources, specifically the two clusters (known as Stokes and Newton), and cover topics such as containers, High Performance Computing (HPC) and AI/Machine Learning. These workshops demonstrate how to perform image recognition using Amazon Rekognition from Amazon SageMaker Jumpstart.

MATLAB Workshops

MATLAB workshops are available for those new to MATLAB, demonstrating how MATLAB can help researchers become more effective in their work. Participants learn how to generate code from the interactive workflow and improve execution speed by orders of magnitude.

AI/Machine Learning Workshops

These workshops teach participants how to apply AI in their field without extensive knowledge in programming. Participants can learn how to build and train machine learning models without extensive programming knowledge and see how to integrate foundation models into their applications, even without ML expertise. These workshops also cover how to retrieve tasks in a cloud database, perform numerical computations, and develop algorithms.

LaTeX Workshops

Workshops on LaTeX are offered for scientific writing, covering the use of the Overleaf editor. Participants are expected to have an account with Overleaf before the workshop. These workshops aim to help researchers create professional documents for scientific writing e.g., journals, theses, presentations, etc. experience with LaTeX.

Cloud Computing Workshops

Workshops are available, potentially in partnership with OpenAI, to explore cloud computing applications and how its powerful large language models are changing the way we work. Some workshops also cover working with BigQuery, providing powerful multi-cloud capabilities and smart data access for improved decision-making with smart data access and analysis.

Expertise at UCF

Several individuals at UCF support research and academic endeavors through their expertise.

Dr. Gabriel Brackman: A Senior Solutions Architect who supports UCF researchers, bringing 15 years of experience working in higher ed institutions. He previously led an IT team that supported researchers across a broad range of disciplines.
Dr. Evan Cosgrove: An Education Application Engineer at MathWorks who partners with universities to support teaching and research across Engineering, Science and Business disciplines.
Pratap: An AI/ML architect at Google Cloud for public sector, working on solving problems using AI for various sectors including government and education. He has experience of looking at hundreds of customer use cases in Gen AI.

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