Portal Project – transition of LARP to the field of adult education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Portal Project – transition of LARP to the field of adult education

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Recognition (non-formal and informal learning/credits); New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning

Project Summary

LARP – Life-Action Role Playing

The main beneficiaries of this project are members of “Portal Community” (around 40 people). It is an informal group of larp-designers from Easter-European countries who meet on yearly basis during weekend events called Portal Convents since 2013. Their interest in Larp is of various nature: fun, business, hobby, escapism, therapy, education. In most cases, they actually follow the best quality standards of non-formal education, even if they do not run it under “EDU” label. The twist of this project is to try their games as a structured tool of non-formal education for adults. Uncovering the learning values of Larp games will also empower the games’ designers and their organisations. Within this project, they will develop their competences as educators and organizers, and also acquire tools for evaluating larp games (“larp-assessment tool” ) and promoting their activity on the local (collaboration with municipal institutions) and European (“Portal Webpage”) level. They will learn from each other the advantageous skills of managing an European project and professional design of educational games. Moreover, this project will strengthen their international contacts, thanks to Guests from external countries who will visit be learning/teaching activities hosted in Greece and in Poland.

The Portal Project is based on innovative games which are not yet widely recognized as educational tools. The main spin is to produce a special tool of recognition of skills gained by the participants of LARP games. The tool will be shared in EPALE Platform, on the Portal Webpage and on other online portals for educators. If the tool succeeds, other larp games and their creators would get recognition withing the framework of non-formal education. Following, the larp-scenarios will be shared with a wider audience, including educators who don’t know this methodology yet. Last but not least, the Portal Community expects to establish for itself a reliant position for further development in the field of adult education.

A wider group of beneficiaries are the participants of the larp-games performed within the Project – adult learners coming form difficult social background (around 140 people). The trick is to include adult people who are otherwise reluctant to learning by the use of a catchy larp setting (be it fantasy, S-Fi or just the real world with a fictional plot). Once the participants are in the game, the magic of LARP will start transforming their complicated relations to other players inside the game into more open and inclusive attitudes towards real people after the game.

Advantages of LARP in the field of adult education:
– catching adults reluctant to educational activities into the gamification net
– strong potential to transform social attitudes by playing on first-hand emotions personally experienced by each player of the game
– stimulating the social inclusion by simulating the experience of social exclusion (migrants, convicts, unemployed people) in a safe sandbox of the game
– problem-solving tasks precisely designed to train key competences: learning to learn, literacy, communication, negotiation, intercultural competences, digital skills
– lifting up learning barriers and individual behavioral patterns by playing a fictional character in a fictional world
– challenge stereotypes and the mechanisms of radicalization
– experiencing a strong emotional learning impact within a single 1-day event

The Portal Project consists of 7 Mobilities supporting each other:
– 3 Transnational Project Meeting – to raise up the level of cooperation and exchange of practical skills
– 2 Traineeships – to deepen the cooperation and raise up the quality of the results
– 2 Short-term learning activities, which will include two Portal Convents for 60 people each, with external Guests who will share their professional knowledge with participants of this project

A permanent result of this project will be The Portal Webpage, containing:
– a history of Portal Community and material gathered during previous Portal events
– 20 videos of lectures and workshops performed during the Portal Convents
– 5 complete Larp-scenarios, edited in a downloadable form, including a guide
– 3 articles explaining the potential of edu-larp as educational tool for adults
– the online tool for assessing the educational outcomes of a larp game
– a summary of the Portal Project with reference to Erasmus+ funding
– an offer for external partners to join future cooperation and educational and business level
– an invitation to educators, social-workers, larp designers and players to join the Portal Community

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 89530 Eur

Project Coordinator

FUNDACJA EDUKACYJNA NAUSIKA & Country: PL

Project Partners

• Parallel Worlds Foundation
• Terrible Creations Ltd.
• RPG4kids IKE
• LARP – BULGARIA Roleplaying Society