Play4Literacy

Integrating the mechanics of game-based learning (GBL) into the elementary school curriculum to address literacy needs.

Context

It was recently highlighted that The EU has not yet met its benchmark to drop the number of underachieving learners below 15% by 2020, which impacts students’ chances to continue studying, find and maintain employment later in life, cope with fast-paced technological change, and develop as citizens. The trend needs to be reversed, for the EU to achieve its educational, social, political, and economical goals.

Digital technologies, and more specifically digital games, have a key role to play in shifting the above paradigm. By improving educational practices through the improvement of teachers’ competences in using innovative pedagogical approaches towards literacy, young learners will be more engaged, dramatically improve their learning, and their ability to tackle disinformation will be increased.

Objectives

• Develop the capacity of primary school teachers in applying game-based learning to their classrooms using open-source software for addressing literacy goals in line with the school curricula.
• Increase students’ motivation to participate in literacy activities through game play.
• Combat low levels of literacy and engage at risk students, by using technology creatively.
• Prepare students to meet the literacy demands of the 21^st century, continue studying, find and maintain employment later in life, cope with fast-paced technological change, and develop as citizens.
• Empower stakeholders to use innovative pedagogical methods and game-based practices through the utilization of open-source software to enhance students’ literacy skills.

Activities

• Research on game-based learning and methodologies to use for the development of related games.
• Piloting of the teacher’s toolkit for the development of games using open-source software.
• Workshops for building teachers’ capacity to create their own games using open-source software.

Resources

• Teacher’s toolkit for the development of games using open-source software (OSS).
• Play4Literacy e-learning platform for teacher to learn how to develop games for GBL.

Impact

• Modernization of school education with a focus on the schools’ digital transformation and the promotion of innovative teaching practices for the development of literacy skills in primary education.
• Provision of access to educational resources and open-source software which are considered major knowledge assets that teachers and other education stakeholders can use in their teaching practices.
• Enhancement of professional profile of primary school teachers by offering free and easy access to quality teaching and learning material for game-based learning in their national languages.
• Support of primary school students’ social integration.

Play4Literacy will impact:

• 50 Primary school teachers which will be directly involved in the project, enhance their knowledge, skills and attitudes on teaching literacy using game-based activities, modernize their teaching methods using open-source software for programming and game development.
• More than 2000 primary school teachers will be outreached through the project’s promotion activities and be invited to access and use the Play4Literacy results.
• Project stakeholders: schools, school staff, educational institutions, policy makers, educational institutes, research and development centres, researchers, and other key stakeholders who will be introduced to new teaching and learning approaches in game-based learning.
• Instructional designers, curriculum developers, and researchers will be involved in the project’s events and will be informed about the project’s innovation based on game-based instructional approaches.
• Partner organizations and staff directly involved in the project will exchange experiences and skills throughout the development of the project, will expand their network and will be equipped with innovative methods, training material and useful tools on teaching literacy to primary school students.

Partners

• UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE MADRID (Spain, coordinator)
• Fundación Siglo22 (Spain)
• CARDET (Cyprus)
• Doukas School – DOUKA EKPAIDEFTIRIA AE – PALLADION LYKEION EKFPAIDEUTHRIA DOUKA  (Greece)
• CESIE (Italy)
• Future In Perspective Limited (Ireland)
• E.N.T.E.R. GMBH (Austria)