Consulting, Culture, Cognition, Assessment, Research, and Media Production

Experience

Brock R. Dubbels PhD

User Research

Dept. Psychology, Neuroscience, & Behavior

McMaster University

Dubbels@McMaster.ca

415.968.9072

Summary:

  • Eight years of researching user experience architecture for cross platform mobile applications.
    • Identified target audiences’ needs, user stories, personas, work flow diagrams, min-ethnography, and survey construction.
    • Task analysis with statistics.
    • Goal orientation analysis increased engagement
    • Translation into creative concepts and functional components, including translating business requirements into engaging interactive experiences.
  • Reduced production costs by 25%.
  • Provided return on investment analysis
  • Data informed development
  • Expertise in quick research methods
  • Translate data into consumer insights and design
  • I contribute to the development of user experience design as an intellectual discipline and creatively produce innovation.
    • Tools: Axure, Morae, LookBack, Photo Shop, Balsamiq, Power Point, Class Apps, R Statistical Software

User Experience Research and Development

October 2014 – Present

Dept. of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behavior

McMaster University Hamilton, ON

Create projects through funding solicited from granting agencies.

Design and manage project:

  • Create and submit research plan for review.
  • Identified corporate partner
  • Identified research problem and audience
  • Obtained funding
  • Conducted research and translation for customer insights and design
    • This includes project ownership: budgeting, personnel, equipment, methods sample recruitment, laboratory scheduling, Ethics compliance, pace of data collection, analysis of data, creation of daily, weekly, and summative technical reports for development team.

Currently supported research:

  • NSERC EGP #469097-14: Can games be used to improve children’s spatial reasoning?
  • NSERC EGP 477442-15: Development of Life Review Software for Early Stage Alzheimer’s Patients

Director of User Experience Research

Laboratory Manager

2012 – 2014

G-Scale Video Game Development and Testing Laboratory

McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Department of Computing and Software

  • Manage CFI grant budget $2.5 million
  • Vendor management –cut costs by 60%
  • Purchase and implementation of laboratory equipment – donations of $150,000
  • Create and Manage Research proposals
  • Train laboratory assistants
  • Recruit industry partners

Courses taught:

  • Sensory Perception, Cognition And Human/Computer Interfaces For Game Design
  • Usability and User Experience Research

 

Project Manager Computer Based Training

United Health Group

August 2010 – May 2012

User research and Project Management consultant

  • Cut development costs by 25%
  • Development of serious games, computer-based training modules, and efficacy assessment for online learning.
  • Lead teams in user research for requirements gathering, development, testing, and outcomes.
  • Special emphasis on requirements gathering, implementation, user experience, and team management.

1 recommendation available upon request 

Chief Consultant, advisor to the Office of the Chancellor on serious games, simulations and virtual world projects.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities

2003 – 2010

  • Project Manager, User research, and Learning Architect
  • Cut scope and costs of projects from $400,000.00 to $15,000.00 each
    • Created budget, research plan, laboratory affiliation,
    • Designed research topic, questions and methods, analysis and budget
    • Translated research in actionable development requirements

 

Editor in Chief

January 2014 – Present

International Journal of Games and Computer-Mediated Simulations

 

Education

Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship                                                      2012-2014

McMaster University

PhD, Curriculum & Instruction

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities                                                                   2007 – 2011

Center for Cognitive Sciences

Thesis: The Brain Is For Action: Video Games to Improve                            January 2012

Reading Comprehension and Scientific Problem Solving

 

Master of Arts, Curriculum & Instruction

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities                                                                     2004 – 2007

NIH Fellow – Quality of life study for organ transplant recipients                  2004

HumanFirst Driving Simulation Laboratory                                                        2005-2007

 

Master of Arts, Educational Psychology

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,                                                                   1999 – 2003

Center for Cognitive Sciences – Research Associate

Board of Regents Fellowship                                                                                   2000-2001

Fulbright Scholar –Department of Psychology,                                                   2001-2002

Norwegian University of Science & Technology

Low Vision Laboratory                                                                                              2002-2003

 

Bachelor of Science, Education  

Winona State University                                                                                            1997–1999

University of California, Berkeley                                                                             1991-1992

DeAnza College                                                                                                             1988-1990

Internship Xerox PARC                                                                                              1988-1990

Oracle Corporation                                                                                                       1991-1992

Major Awards

NSF Scholarship Recipient ICCS3

National Science Foundation 2000

Wrote and received project proposal for funding and presentation of research

  • Examination of teaching complex systems for problem solving and critical thinking in the classroom with computer-mediated modeling, simulation, and game techniques using the tools and methods of Complexity Theory.

 

NSF Scholarship Recipient ICCS5

National Science Foundation 2002

Wrote and received project proposal for funding and presentation of research

  • The use of modeling and simulation software for teaching the science and methods of complex systems.

Fulbright Scholar 2002-2003

Fulbright Foundation Fellowship Award Recipient

Wrote and received research proposal requesting one year of support.

  • Created budget, research plan, identified mentor, laboratory affiliation,
  • Designed research topic, questions and methods, analysis and budget
  • Created technical reports, conference presentations
  • Lab demonstrations in Dresden and Worms, Germany; Irkutsk, Russia; Beijing, China.

Projects included:

  • The use of computer simulations for teaching science
  • Importance of phrase boundaries in text
  • Research Assistant for Rapid ELearning Project in Civil Engineering,

         Classes taught: Research Methods in Psychology – Mellomfag

Advisor: Prof. Ivar Bjoergen in Psychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, in Trondheim, Norway.

 

Board of Regents Grant Recipient

University of Minnesota Graduate School May 2002

Wrote and received project proposal for funding pre-Fulbright research at NTNU

  • Funding for early-start research on the use of models and simulations to encourage scientific thinking

Advisor: Prof. Ivar Bjoergen in Psychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, in Trondheim, Norway.

 

NIH Berman Fellowship

National Institutes of Health May 2003

The University of Minnesota

Wrote and received project proposal for funding study of psychological states and traits in quality of life for organ transplant recipients.

  • State and trait based measures for analysis of quality of life and the role of mindfulness

Additional Awards

Bush Foundation’s for Excellence in Teaching (NExT) (2005 -2006)

Support and manage the University of Minnesota implementation of the Bush Foundation for Integration of Standards in Practice for improvement of content reading instruction. Qualitative analysis of statewide reading licensure courses in the state of Minnesota, using INVIVO software for thematic coding. This work supported the Teacher Education Redesign Initiative (TERI)

GECS: Games in Engineering and Computer Science

National Science Foundation June 2010

There is a critical need to improve learning and retention in engineering and computer science in the United States. At the same time a growing body of research indicates that well-designed games could have a significant impact on motivation and learning. This has created new opportunities for advancing research and innovation in engineering and computer science education through the use of games.

New Discovery — Best Article

IGI Global New Discovery, July 2010: Dance Dance Education paper chosen and republished with IGI global republished as a chapter as a “new discovery”

Best Paper – Meaningful Play Conference, Michigan State University

An Empirical Comparison of a Video Game, Digital Video, and Printed Text for Recall, Comprehension, and Solving a STEM Word Problem.

Mike Skinner Community Service Award – McMaster University

Creation of Hammertown Coder Dojo for teaching children to create and program video games.

Publications

GRANT WRITING

NSERC EGP #469097-14: Can games be used to improve children’s spatial reasoning?

NSERC EGP 477442-15: Development of Life Review Software for Early Stage Alzheimer’s Patients

Cyberlearning 11-587: NSF Working Memory in Game-Based Science Learning (submitted)

SBIR RFA-MH-14-010: NIH—gaming, olfaction, and cognitive remediation (submitted).

EHR Core Research 13-555, NSF – Development of Control of Variables Problem Solving in Game Based Learning – Bad Robots (in preparation).

Cyberlearning 11-587, NSF Transforming Education Gaming Proposal: Goldberg Variations (in preparation)

 

CHAPTERS

Dubbels, B.R. (accepted) Pedagogy & Play: Creating a Playful Curriculum for Academic Achievement and Engaged Learning. International Game Developers Association. Etc. Press.

Dubbels, B.R. (2010) Designing Learning Activities for Sustained Engagement — Four Social Learning Theories Coded and Folded into Principals for Instructional Design through Phenomenological Interview and Discourse Analysis. In Discoveries

 Dubbels, B.R. (2010) Teaching Complex Systems in the Classroom. Unifying Themes in Complex Systems/ Springer

O’Brien, D.G. & Dubbels, B. (2009) Promoting technological literacy. In Wood, K.E. & Blanton, W.E. (Eds.) Promoting Literacy with Adolescent Learners: Research-based Instruction. Guilford Publications.

Dubbels, B.R. (2008) Video games, reading, and transmedial comprehension. In R. E. Ferdig (Ed.),Reference. Information ScienceHandbook of research on effective electronic gaming in education.  

Dubbels, B.R.  (2008).  Student blogging about their video game experience.  In R. Beach, C. Anson, L. Breuch, & T.  Swiss, T.  Engaging students in digital writing.  Norwood, MA: Christopher Gordon.

Dubbels, B.R. (2007) Simplifying Literature with Complexity. Unifying Themes in Complex Systems: New research …, Volume 3, Part 2/ Springer

 

ARTICLES

Dubbels, B.R. (in preparation) A Mixed-Method Comparison of New Literacies as Games, Video, to Improve Reading and Text Comprehension for Scientific Problem Solving. Reading Research Quarterly.

Dubbels, B.R., (in preparation) Video Games as Learning Tools: An Empirical Comparison of Video Games, Digital Video, and Printed Text for Delivering Successful Recall and Comprehension for Scientific Problem Solving. Computers in Education.

Dubbels, B. R. (in preparation) Distinguishing Learning Activities and Software: A Framework for UX Design, Development, & Gamification. Computing and Human Behavior.

Dubbels, B.R. (submitted) The Vegas Effect: A Case Study for the Design of Serious Games to Deliver Serious Learning and Provide the Capacity for Return on Investment Analysis.

Dubbels, B.R. (2014) Cognitive Ethnography & Causal Network Analysis as a Mixed-Method for Game User research. 2014 Games User Research workshop. Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) 2014 http://chi2014.acm.org/

Dubbels, B.R. (2014) Distinguishing Games, Work, Fun, Flow and Play: A Framework for Design, Development, & Gamification. INTENSIONS ISSUE 7: Fun and Games –Playing to the Limit. York University Press, Toronto, ON: CANADA

Dubbels, B.R. (2013) Gamification, Serious Games, Ludic Simulation, and other Contentious Categories. Ludic Simulations Special Issue. 5(2) The International Journal of Games and Computer-Mediated Simulations. IGI Global.

Dubbels, B. R. (2011). Cognitive Ethnography: A Methodology for Measure and Analysis of Learning for Game Studies. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations. Special Issue on Virtual Environments for Learning. 3(1) IGI Publishers

Dubbels, B. R. (2009) Dance Dance Education and Rites of Passage. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations. 1(4) IGI Publishers

Kwon M., Legge G.E., Dubbels B.R. (2007) Developmental changes in the visual span for reading. Vision Research, 47 (22), pp. 2889-2900. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Kwon M., Legge G.E., Dubbels B.R. (2005) Developmental changes in the visual span for reading. Journal of Vision September 1, 2005 vol. 5 no. 8 article 807

BOOK REVIEWS

Dubbels, B.R. (2010) Understanding Video Games: the Essential Introduction. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations. 2(2) IGI Publishers

COMMISSIONED PAPERS

Dubbels, B.R. (2010) Providing Purpose and True-Calling: Education and Lifespan Development For Learners Aged 50+. Commissioned by Capella University as an RFI for AARP.

O’Brien, D.G. & Dubbels B.R. (2004) Reading-to-Learn: From Print to New Digital Media and New Literacies. NCREL (North Central Research Education Laboratory). White Paper.

 

Grant Review

5 Star Schools, US Dept. of Education

Internal Review Board, Human Subjects Committee. University of Minnesota

Editorial Review

Editor in Chief : International Journal of Games and Computer Meditated Simulations

Editor of Special Issues 4(3) & 5(3) Ludica Medica.

Associate Editor: International Journal of Games and Computer Meditated Simulations

Review Editor: Interacting with Computers, Oxford University Press.

Charter Review: Minnesota Guild of Charter Schools

Working Review: Minnesota Department of Education—MCA2 Reading Assessment.