Bill Kapralos, PhD
Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Information Technology | University of Ontario Institute of Technology
Oshawa, ON, CANADA
Advancing healthcare training and education through the development of serious gaming and virtual reality technologies
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Biography
Serious gaming expert, Bill Kapralos, PhD, is exploring the technology behind virtual reality to create advanced training and education experiences for healthcare professionals. Intrigued by the dynamic nature of his work, the relatively new field of serious gaming is exploding across many sectors as a way to engage and motivate students to learn.
Dr. Kapralos is an associate professor in the Faculty of Business and Information Technology in the Game Development and Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). He joined UOIT as an assistant professor in 2006, and serves as an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Graduate Studies, Department of Computer Science and Engineering at York University in Toronto, Ontario.
He turned his childhood hobby into an established teaching and research career. Long before gaming became popular; he would write and program his own video games, which naturally led him to study computer science. Dr. Kapralos pursued his undergraduate and graduate studies in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at York University in Toronto, Ontario, completing a Bachelor of Science (Honours and 1st Class Distinction), in Computer Science in 1999. He began his career as a teaching assistant in the same department and held the position throughout his graduate studies.
During his graduate studies, Dr. Kapralos became immersed in the technical aspects of gaming and virtual reality worlds, and sought to understand the science and technology behind their development. He focused on rendering these worlds to make them realistic and earned a Master of Science in Computer Science in 2001; and received his Doctorate of Philosophy in Computer Science in 2006.
At UOIT, he saw a need for applying gaming and virtual reality technologies to health profession training. Passing on his knowledge and expertise in this burgeoning field to his students has its share of rewards; Dr. Kapralos is thrilled to be able to guide their research and academic achievement, and see their success upon graduation. For his work, he has been honoured with the 2010 Google Faculty Research Award as a co-recipient; and he received the 2009 IBM Center for Advanced Studies Faculty Award. In May 2014, Dr. Kapralos was awarded an NSERC-JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) Fellowship.
Industry Expertise (5)
Education/Learning
Training and Development
Health and Wellness
Computer Gaming
Research
Areas of Expertise (6)
Serious Games That Maximize Knowledge Transfer and Retention
Perception of Auditory Events
Real-Time Acoustical Modelling
Serious Games/Gaming
3d (Spatial) Sound Generation
Multi-Model Virtual Reality/Environments
Accomplishments (2)
Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Information Technology, UOIT (professional)
2011-07-01
Dr. Kapralos teaches undergraduate courses in Game Sound, Computer Architecture, and Serious Games and Simulations; and graduate courses in Serious Games Development. He had received many research awards from industry and the government including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Co-editor, The Oxford Handbook of Interactive Audio (professional)
2014-05-02
Dr. Kapralos is the co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Interactive Audio. Published by Oxford University Press in 2014, this first of its kind book offers a new set of analytical tools for the field of interactive sound; it proposes the first theory of interactive audio; and it explores the full range of interactive audio in video games, performance, education, environmental design, toys, and artistic practice.
Education (3)
York University : PhD, Philosophy, Computer Science 2006
York University: MSc, Computer Science 2001
York University: BSc, Computer Science 1999
(Hons, 1st Class Distinction)
Affiliations (1)
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Links (1)
Languages (2)
- English
- Greek
Event Appearances (38)
The effect of contextual sound cues on visual fidelity perception
Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 2014 Manhattan Beach, California
2014-02-20
The impact of secondary-task type on the sensitivity of reaction-time based measurement of cognitive load for novices learning surgical skills using simulation
Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 2014 Manhattan Beach, California
2014-02-20
The missing piece in the gamification puzzle
ACM Gamification 2013 Stratford, Ontario
2013-10-02
A crash course on serious games design and assessment: A case study
In Proceedings of the IEEE Games Innovation Conference (IGIC) 2013 Vancouver, British Columbia
2013-09-23
Interactive rate virtual sound rendering engine
In Proceedings of the 18th IEEE International Conference on Digital Signal Processing (DSP 2013) Santorini, Greece
2013-07-01
Spatial sound and its effect on visual quality perception and task performance within a virtual environment
Proceedings of the 21st International Congress on Acoustics Montreal, Quebec
2013-06-02
The use of web-based learning for simulation-based training of central venous catheterization in novice learners
Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 2013 San Diego, California
2013-02-20
Impact of floating windows on the accuracy of depth perception in games
In Proceedings of Stereoscopic Displays and Applications XXIV San Francisco, California
2013-02-03
An interactive in-game approach to user adjustment of stereoscopic 3D settings
In Proceedings of Stereoscopic Displays and Applications XXIV San Francisco, California
2013-02-03
S3D depth-axis interaction for video games: performance and engagement
In Proceedings of Stereoscopic Displays and Applications XXIV San Francisco, California
2013-02-03
The effects of 5.1 sound presentations on the perception of stereoscopic imagery in video games
In Proceedings of Stereoscopic Displays and Applications XXIV San Francisco, California
2013-02-03
The effects of audio on depth perception in S3D games
Audio Mostly 2012 Corfu, Greece
2012-09-26
A course on the design and development of serious games and virtual simulations
In Proceedings of the IEEE International Games Innovation Conference Rochester, New York
2012-09-07
Blaze: A serious game for improving household fire safety awareness
In Proceedings of the IEEE International Games Innovation Conference Rochester, New York
2012-09-07
Beyond the screen: What we can learn about game design from audio-based games
In Proceedings of the Computer Games Multimedia and Allied Technology (CGAT 2012) Conference Bali, Indonesia
2012-05-07
A framework for sound localization experiments and automation
In Proceedings of The ACM Joint International Conference on Human-Centered Computer Environments (HCCE 2012) Hamamatsu, Japan
2012-03-08
Developing effective serious games: The effect of background sound on visual fidelity perception with varying texture resolution
Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 19 Newport Beach, California
2012-02-09
An online practice and educational networking system for technical skills: learning experience in expert facilitated vs. independent learning communities
Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 19 Newport Beach, California
2012-02-09
Evaluation of tensiometric assessment as a measure of skill degradation
Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 19 Newport Beach, California
2012-02-09
Interactive floating windows: a new technique for stereoscopic video games
In Proceedings of the Stereoscopic Displays and Applications XXIII Burlingame, California
2012-01-22
Stereoscopic 3D video games and their effects on engagement
Proceedings of the Stereoscopic Displays and Applications XXIII Burlingame, California
2012-01-22
Experimenting with a framework for networked mobile audio arrays
In Proceedings of the Audio Engineering Society 44th Conference on Audio Networking San Diego, California
2011-11-18
SCETF: Serious game surgical cognitive education and training framework
In Proceedings of the Third IEEE International Games Innovation Conference City of Orange, California
2011-11-02
GPU-based acoustical occlusion modeling with acoustical texture maps
In Proceedings of ACM Audio Mostly 2011 Coimbra, Portugal
2011-09-07
Serious games in the classroom: Gauging student perceptions
Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 18 Newport Beach, California
2011-02-08
A serious game for off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery procedure training
Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 18 Newport Beach, California
2011-02-08
GPU-based acoustical diffraction modeling for complex virtual reality and gaming environments
In Proceedings of the Audio Engineering Society 41st International Conference: Audio for Games London, United Kingdom
2011-02-02
Audio air hockey: A pilot study in using audio- based games for the measurement of loudspeaker placement preferences for smart tables
In Proceedings of the Audio Engineering Society 41st International Conference: Audio for Games London, United Kingdom
2011-02-02
A serious game for collaborative intercultural business communication
In Proceedings of the 13th ACM International Conference on Humans and Computers (HC 2010) Hamamatsu, Japan
2010-12-08
Not just a Game: Using games as methods of evaluation of usability and user experience in human-computer interaction design
In Proceedings of the 13th ACM International Conference on Humans and Computers (HC 2010) Hamamatsu, Japan
2010-12-08
Serious games for interprofessional education for critical care response teams
Group Awareness in Online Work, Learning, and Games Workshop at HCI 2010 Albertay, Dundee, Scotland
2010-09-07
Off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery procedure training meets serious games
In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Haptic Audio-Visual Environments and Games Phoenix, Arizona
2010-10-16
Amplitude panning-based sound system for a horizontal surface computer: A user-based study
In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Haptic Audio-Visual Environments and Games Phoenix, Arizona
2010-10-16
Best practices for applying sonification to support teaching and learning of network intrusion detection
In Proceedings of the World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications (ED-MEDIA 2010) Toronto, Ontario
2010-06-28
Using a virtual learning environment with highly interactive elements in Second Life to engage millennial students
In Proceedings of the 2010 International Conference on e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning (IC4E 2010) Sanya, China
2010-01-22
Internet mediated, peer-to- peer feedback for learning of patient transfer skills: Prototype development and testing
World Conference on Educational Sciences (WCES) 2010 Istanbul, Turkey
2010-02-04
Serious games for knee replacement surgery procedure education and training
World Conference on Educational Sciences (WCES) 2010 Istanbul, Turkey
2010-02-04
The use of virtual simulations in a laptop-based university
World Conference on Educational Sciences (WCES) 2010 Istanbul, Turkey
2010-02-04
Research Grants (4)
Spatial sound generation and perceptual-based rendering for virtual environments and serious games
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Grant $95,000
2014-05-01
This research project involves the development of serious games for surgical procedural training, looking at the cognitive aspects of the steps required to conduct it. He has developed a serious game for knee replacements surgery which is being used by health educators at Toronto’s world-leading Mount Sinai Hospital, and follow-up studies have shown its effectiveness. He has also developed a serious game to enhance plastic surgery techniques in collaboration with a plastic surgeon at the University of British Columbia, and his research is now studying its effectiveness. Development of a third serious game looking at cardiac surgery training is now underway. His goal is to improve surgical outcomes by more effectively engaging students in the training process through the use of virtual technology.
An engaging vision-based exergame for exercise and rehabilitation
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Engage Grants $24,509
2014-05-01
This research project involves the development of a physical rehabilitation device for the upper shoulder. In partnership with Spincore Fitness, Dr. Kapralos is using a physical-based training regime to map the effective movements of an avatar into a gaming world to promote rehabilitation and improve patient outcomes.
A serious game for medical-based cultural competence education and training
Ontario Simulation Network (Sim-One) Simulation Research & Innovation Grant $24,915
2014-05-01
Research has shown that the quality of care is compromised when healthcare providers respond inappropriately to patient language and cultural factors. Despite growing the awareness of cultural competence within the healthcare system, healthcare providers do not possess the attitudes or skills required to be effective within a culturally diverse healthcare setting. This work will see the development of a novel multi-player serious game prototype for the purpose of cultural sensitivity competence training aimed at healthcare providers and trainees. The proposed serious game will allow for a wide variety of realistic culturally sensitive scenarios to be easily simulated within a complex interactive narrative context. In contrast to the majority of existing cultural competence education approaches, the serious game will provide users the opportunity to learn in a highly engaging, interactive and interprofessional environment that is ethically safe, and cost-effective.
Observational practice and educational networking: extending the simulation-based education beyond the simulation laboratory
Ontario Simulation Network (Sim-One), Simulation Research & Innovation Grant $25,000
2014-04-01
The OPEN Minds working group extends simulation-based learning beyond the confines of the simulation laboratory. This collaborative group of researchers has developed the Observational Practice and Educational Networking (OPEN) learning environment. This internet-mediated environment merges video-based observational technology with social networking and game-play mechanics, enabling trainees to develop social relationships, maintain connections, and communicate in a supportive, engaging, and interactive manner. The OPEN Minds rely on a broad and strong foundation of research expertise in the roles that social networking and observational practice have in the acquisition of complex, clinical skills. In the current project, The OPEN minds examine the influences of variable observational content and gameplay scoring features have in enhancing the educational power associated with OPEN learning environment.
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