| Prof. Baltasar Fernández-Manjón |
University of Madrid, Spain
Biography: Baltasar Fernández-Manjón is a Full Professor in Computer Science and Serious Games the Department of Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), where he leads the e-UCM research group. He served as Vice Dean for Research and External Relations at the Faculty of Computer Science of UCM, where he was responsible for fostering partnerships with industry and research institutions, as well as promoting innovation and international collaboration. He has also held a position as Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard University (2010–2011), where he collaborated on projects related to educational technology and health training simulations. His research lies at the intersection of educational technologies, serious games, learning analytics, and AI-driven systems for personalized, data-informed learning. He has led and collaborated on numerous national and international projects in these áreas (e.g. EU Horizon 2020, Erasmus+), often with academic, corporate, and institutional partners. A Senior Member of IEEE, he actively contributes to the research community as a reviewer, editor, and program committee member for leading journals and conferences. He is also a key developer of SIMVA, an open platform for the scientific validation of serious games through learning analytics.
Talk title: Serious Games in the Classroom: From Fun to Evidence to Validation
Absract: Serious games are no longer limited to motivation or engagement, but are becoming powerful tools for learning and assessment in different fields (e.g., health, military, and business). However, serious games have not yet become widespread in classrooms. This talk will explore how serious games can be effectively integrated into the educational environment, beyond entertainment, to generate meaningful learning outcomes. We will analyze how learning analytics can provide evidence of student progress and how platforms such as SIMVA integrate multimodal information to support the scientific validation of serious games. Real-world examples will illustrate how educators and researchers can use data to ensure that game-based learning is not only motivating, but also effective and measurable.