Célia Hodent

Ubisoft is a leading international developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products.

My missions:

- collaborate with the operational teams to propose new ways of thinking and new ways of working

- explore new ideas, new methods and create the useful tools, test them and make them work into the related teams

- collaborate with the producers and game designers to create accessible games and efficient educational tools, by showing them how the human brain (child's or adult's) learns

Conference "The beneficial effects of video games", which took place the 28th of Septembre 2008, in Paris (Porte de Versailles).

Conference "Video games and the child development", which took place the 23rd of September 2007, in Montreuil (Paris suburb).

VTech creates educational toys and video games.

My missions:

- Evaluation of prototypes (ergonomy, design, pedagogical content) regarding to the target age (by testing the games with the children) and to the latest results of cognitive and developmental psychology research.

- Creating tools in order to guarantee a pedagogical consistency in all the toys and games.

- Participation into the VTech websites (« Guide de l’éveil » for www.vtech-jouets.com, description of the V.Smile Baby console for www.vsmilebaby.fr, « Nos valeurs éducatives » for www.vsmile.fr, etc.).

- Giving information to the consumers on the toys and games through blogs and webzines.
http://www.magicmaman.com/,le-jeu-video-un-outi...
http://lewebpedagogique.com/kidexpo/quest-ce-qu...

- Thinking about the impact of electronical toys, in particular video games, on the child development (speaker at a conference at the Institut of Psychology in the Fribourg University (Switzerland) in March 2007: Benefits and limitations of the use of electronical educational toys and games by young children.

- Communication of VTech's educational values for parental press.

- Participation to toy congresses.

- Creation and developement of several product ranges (infants & toddlers, preschool, computers, V.Smile, V.Smile Baby and VFlash video games) in collaboration with the Chinese engineers and the European coordination teams (localization and adaptation of the toys developed in Vtech Hong Kong):
# Adjusting the programs, the content and the design of generic and under licence toys and games;
# Improvement of the melodies in Midi format;
# Checking of the programs, voice recording (voice talent direction), translation (English/French), adaptation of manuals and packagings.

- Regarding to educational video games: creation or adaptation of the game design and gameplay, as well as the educational content (that must suit the French scholar program and the child cognitive development). Checking of the program versions, collaborating with the Honk-Kong QA.

I'm writing articles for the French scientific magazines Sciences Humaines and Cerveau & Psycho :

- Hodent-Villaman, C. (2007). Les jeux éducatifs le sont-ils vraiment ?, Cerveau & Psycho n°24, 15-19. (Educational games are they really so?)

- Hodent-Villaman, C. (2007). Qui ne joue - toujours - pas aux jeux vidéo ?, Sciences Humaines n°180. (Who - still - does not play video games?)
http://www.scienceshumaines.com/qui-ne-joue-_fr...

- Hodent-Villaman, C. (2006). Les jeux vidéo sont-ils bons pour le cerveau ?, Sciences Humaines n°178, 18-23. (Are video games good for the brain?)
http://www.scienceshumaines.com/les-jeux-videos...

- Hodent Villaman, C. (2006). Le langage gestuel des bébés. Cerveau & Psycho n°17, 48-51. (The baby's gestual language)

- Hodent-Villaman, C. (2005). Psychanalyse et neurosciences : vers la réconciliation ? Sciences Humaines n°166, 34-36. (Psychoanalysis and neurosciences: towards reconciliation?)

Research into the « Group of neurofunctional imagery » (GIN in French) Laboratory (Paris-Sorbonne & Caen University), under the direction of Olivier Houdé, PhD and Professor.
Research program in Cognitive & Developmental Psychology within a neuroscientific group:
- Bibliographic research & synthesis;
- Observation and experimentation within preschools in Paris (FR) and Oxford (UK): research upon the language and number interactions with 2 and 4-year olds;
- Writing of synthesis documents (articles, thesis);
- Exchanging with child experts and other researchers.

Publications and scientific communications:

- Hodent, C. (2007). Que deviennent les capacités protonumériques du bébé avec l'apparition du langage ? Lille: ANRT.

- Lubin, A., Pineau, A., Hodent, C. & Houdé, O. (2006). Language-specific effects on number computation in toddlers: A European cross-linguistic cartography. Cognitive Development, 21, 11-16.

- Hodent, C., Bryant, P. & Houdé, O. (2005). Language-specific effects on number computation in toddlers. Developmental Science, 8, 420-423.
Cette recherche a fait l’objet d’un article intitulé « Calcul et langage chez les bébés » dans le magazine Le Monde de l’Intelligence n°1 de novembre/décembre 2005 (pp. 11-13).

- Féron, J. & Hodent, C. (2002). Les capacités numériques préverbales et leur évolution. Intellectica, 34, 211-230.

- Hodent, C., Houdé O. & Bryant, P. (2001). Verbal reactions to expected and unexpected numerical events and singular-plural linguistic distinction with 2- and 3-year-olds. French/English cross-linguistic study. Poster présenté au 10ème Congrès International de Psychologie du Développement à Uppsala (Suède), 22-26 Août 2001.

- Participation au documentaire France 5 « Les aventuriers de l’esprit », épisode de la série « L’Ecole des savoirs » (2001).

Designing and writing the scenario of an adventure video game, based on psychology and targeted to teenagers and adults:
- Synthesis of the references on infant, child and adult development;
- Designing of the visual and conceptual universe (including creation of puzzle games);
- Writing of the synopsis and scenario;
- Elaboration of the game design and gameplay;
- Coordination with the different teams (programmers, graphists, etc.).