Context

In the years 2006 – 2008, the European Commission, Directorate General Education and Culture, in the framework of the Socrates Comenius Programme (Project Nr. 128967-CP-1-2006-IT-Comenius-C2.1), funded the project entitled The Learning Game.

The Learning Game project investigated the potential of a change in perspective towards videogames and multimedia that should be used to bridge the communication gap between teachers and learners and to enhance the attractiveness and interactiveness of teaching methodologies.

The project gave teachers and trainers the access to three on-line databases, the database of e-learning courses, the database of software to create multimedia based educational contents, the database of videogames with educational potential. The project also developed simple videogames to be used in education and training as an integration of traditional and/or e-learning based teaching strategies, for the teaching of specific contents (e.g. A videogame on mathematics and Pythagoras, a videogame on energy savings, a videogame on the process to Galileo, etc.). The results are all available on the project portal at http://www.learningame.org.

The Play The Learning Game Project intends to further exploit and transfer the results of the former project involving teachers and trainers in updating, expanding and testing of the Learning Game Portal.

Objectives

In the context described, the Play The Learning Game project intends to improve and further expand the Learning Game Portal through:

• The involvement of teachers from 5 European countries who will contribute to the development and testing of the project contents
• The identification and evaluation of the videogames available onto the market that have an educational and training potential
• The accessibility of e-learning courses to be used to implement innovative technical solutions for education and training
• The acquisition, by teachers and trainers, of the necessary the skills to make full use of advanced interactive and multimedia solutions for educational purposes

Target Groups

The target groups of the Play The Learning Game project are:

• Teachers working in vocational education and training schools
• In-company trainers working in the fields graphic design, advertising and photography

Activities

The project is organised into 3 main actions:

1) Preparatory activities
The preparatory activities include:

• Creation of a transnational network of vocational education teachers and trainers interested in the innovative and effective use of Multimedia and Videogames for educational purposes.
• Updating of the Manual “Multimedia Application for Education”.
• Review of existing videogames and e-learning products in order to assess their potential in being used to develop Multimedia and Videogames educational products.

Results

• Transnational network of teachers and trainers interested in exploiting multimedia and videogames for educational and training purposes
• Updated version of the Manual “Multimedia Application for Education”
• Updated database of reviews of Videogames that can be used for educational purposes.
• Updated database of reviews of e-learning based educational and training materials to be exploited with the new technical solutions.

2) Test of the Learning Game portal
The test will be based on:

• Organisation of workshops addressed to vocational education teachers and trainers to test the Learning Game portal
• Testing of the “Multimedia Application for Education”
• Creation of pilot courses exploiting the potential of videogames, multimedia and e-learning based solutions for educational purposes
• Promotion of a transnational discussion among teacher and trainers focusing on the exploitation of the educational potential of multimedia and videogames

Results

• Teachers and trainers acquiring the necessary skills to exploit the potential of multimedia and videogames for education and training.
• Collection of pilot courses exploiting the potential of videogames, multimedia and e-learning based solutions for educational purposes
• Transnational discussion and exchange of knowledge during which the teachers and trainers will share and compare their opinions related to the use of videogames and multimedia for educational purposes

3) Exploitation activities
Objectives of the exploitation activities will be:

• Develop contacts with public and private bodies involved in the definition of the educational and training policies of the countries represented into the partnership
• Further promote the use of the portal within vocational education systems so as to become a point of reference for those interested in the exploitation of multimedia and videogames for educational purposes.

Results

• Insertion of the The Learning Game portal into national education and training systems
• Involvement of associated partners into the project