The context

Serious games have become a popular tool for knowledge transfer, behavioural, perceptual or cognitive change, but at the same time, their effectiveness has been analysed in several studies aiming to answer the question whether they are an effective instrument for behaviour change.

Confidence in behaviour changes through serious games, hereinafter referred by its acronym eConfidence, is a project that aims to answer this question, by testing and researching how the use of serious game can have a positive impact in positive behavioural changes.  As the core of the project is focusing on children, serious games and behavioural change, two such games will be developed and piloted in a school environment. The research results aim to increase the use of serious game in the classroom and mainly to reshape the ludic perception of games into a positive resource for young people, teachers, parents and carers.

eConfidence is a 24 months project that started in November 2016 and has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 732420.

What?

The eConfidence project will define a methodology and test it with two serious games developed considering behavioural aspects in relation with two themes: Safe Use of Internet and Bullying.

The game testing will be structured in pilot actions, to be undertaken in 10 European schools throughout the 2017-2018 academic year. It will address 12-14 years old pupils and analyse the potential risks and challenges of the two themes, and specifically how confidence in behaviour changes through serious games.

Why?

In spite of a consensus on the instructional potential of serious games, there is still a lack of methodologies and tools that encompass their design, support analysis and assessment. Filling this gap is one of the main aims of eConfidence.

eConfidence will provide new opportunities for tracking and analysing behavioural data and interpreting it in an educational meaningful way, improving the assessment of progress, performance, learning outcomes, game quality and user appreciation.

For whom?

eConfidence serious games and research methodology aim to be useful for a wide range of stakeholders, including:

• Academia and research community, by means of the scientific findings on Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and Learning Analytics (LA) applied to game design.
• Schools and young people, thanks to the methods and games to support understanding and acquisition of social skills in relation with safe use of the internet and bullying.
• Game industry, using more effective and successful games development strategies and business model, for higher return of investment through time-saving replicable processes, for serious and educational games
• Policy makers, through input for recommendations on the potentiality of gaming for behavioural change.