13/08/2018

Right after the school vacation kicked in, eConfidence project partners gathered for two engaging outreach activities for teachers and education professionals.

On 3 July 2018 an online seminar was held on eTwinning live on ‘Gaming: from controversy to inventiveness'. The aim of the online seminar was to raise awareness about the usefulness of serious games as educational resources, using a variety of sources and approaches, including the experience of the eConfidence project and its serious games on bullying and safe use of the internet.  

eConfidence project partners from European Schoolnet opened the discussion defining the concepts of gaming, gamification and serious games. The presentation continued focusing on games at school, and how playful learning can benefit teachers and pupils in a creative activity in the classroom.

Key aspects for designing games for learning from different perspectives were also brought in, displaying the eConfidence approach on serious games that aim to:

• Foster positive behavioral changes
• Support positive societal challenges for young people
• Tackle bullying and safe use of the internet

To find out more about the eConfidence serious games, visit the website pages on safe use of internet (Go Online) and bullying (School of Empathy).

The online seminar feedback from eTwinning teachers attending was positive and encouraging for such professional development opportunities to continue supporting innovation in education. Did you miss it? Find the recording of the online seminar on the eTwinning YouTube channel.

To continue the engaging dialogue with teachers and educational professionals also beyond the eTwinning community, on 4 July 2018 eConfidence held a Tweet chat with eConfidence experts and teachers attending.

Some of the questions were: how can educational games tackling bullying and safe use of internet have a positive impact on players (pupils)? How were the characters of the eConfidence serious games created? What would be the main lessons learnt from working with teachers and pupils through serious games and how can teachers integrate serious games in the school curricula?

Check out the Tweet moments from our chat and follow us on Twitter to share your questions or comments.

UPCOMING LEARNING EVENT

eConfindence will also hold a learning event on ‘Gaming: from controversy to inventiveness', on 24 September to 12 October 2018. The learning event is an online course and will introduce the concept of serious games used in the classroom, aiming to debunk some myths around, showing, with practical classroom examples, how well-designed games can have a positive impact on pupils' behaviour. Stay tuned on our website for more information.