“Game4U” Erasmus Project

Project Title

“Game4U”

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 youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Research and innovation; Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

CONTEXT:
Five million youth are unemployed in the EU which means one in five young people in Europe cannot find a job today (source: EU-community employment policies). One of the four main objectives of the Commission to tackle unemployment is developing skills that are relevant to the labor market. The lack of quality opportunities threatens an increasing number of young people with a sense of exclusion. The transition from education to independence and a place in the world of work is becoming longer and more precarious. And those with the fewest skills or the fewer opportunities are most at risk.
Non-formal teaching methods can contribute to building young people’s knowledge and skills and give them an understanding what it requires to seek and hold down a job or to become an entrepreneur. It makes them more employable and gets them back on track, in particular those who are marginalized or discriminated against and those who lack self-confidence. It also contributes to achieving social cohesion in society by the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities.
Youth engagement – whether defined as active learning, the assumption of meaningful responsibilities, opportunities for choice and voice, or actions that have real impacts – is central to, and an important product of, education reform. Research demonstrates that young people learn best when they are given an opportunity to take on active roles, have opportunities to make meaningful choices, and become contributors and change makers.

Brief description of the project:

The project with five countries (Sweden, Spain, Turkey, Czech republic and Belarus), focused on the development of an innovative non-formal game based education simulation tool to enhance and improve communication and presentation skills with a focus on entrepreneurship for young people and through play and practice, teach them basic presentation and communication skills, in particular enhancing their self-confidence in presenting themselves thus increasing their chances of finding and maintaining suitable employment or self-employment. The consortium brought different skills to the project ranging from technical, pedagogic, professional as well as project management.
We developed an interaction game that makes the social dimension the main element of the game mechanics but has also a competitive and collaborative element. In general games, which are not competitive can be considered interaction games, where there are no adversaries to beat, but where the goal of the game is essentially merely fun and interaction among the participants.
The main objective is to create a learning environment (game/simulation) which simulates the communication and presentation skills process and simulates the development of entrepreneurial attitudes and competences.

Activities we accomplished during the project’s implementation:

1) Project meetings (5 international and several local);
2) Project communication and visibility actions (Facebook (messenger communication), project web page, partner organization web pages, Skype using video-conferences)
3) Participant selection of youth to help assess the game in Sweden, Czech Republic, Spain, Turkey and Belarus
4) Local researches on gamification/entrepreneurship in Sweden, Czech Republic, Spain, Turkey and Belarus
5) Development of simulation game and materials as a non-formal tool;
6) Test concept with youth and discuss results (conceptual and Beta test);
7) Training for youth workers/trainers;
8) Production and distribution outcome materials – handbook, game (cards), game rules
9) Evaluation and dissemination activities;

The target groups addressed in the short (and long) term were in general young people (universities,school leavers, disadvantaged, unemployed) in need of improving their communication and presentation skills as well as having entrepreneurial aspirations.
The planned activities, working methods and the simulation game itself, which enhances communication, presentation and entrepreneurial competences, will no doubt contribute to the process of non-formal learning and to the promotion of social, professional and personal development competences of young people.

We have been teaching Game4U at both universities (7) and schools(4) in different countries (5). We even have been on prime television where entrepreneurship was discussed and Game4U was taken as an example of games used in education. The implication of course was huge as many people were able to see it on the news. We also introduced Game4U to organisations who are focusing on unemployed migrants, where the local municipality and school representatives as well as the labor office was present (approx 100 people present). The handbook(pedogocical) and the instruction manual how to use the game are very useful for trainers accompanying the game and specifically developed to train them in coaching the learners while playing the game.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 53822,5 Eur

Project Coordinator

Foxpopuli & Country: SE

Project Partners

• Sosyal Gelisim ve Egitim Dernegi
• Igrika
• o.s.Point – podpora a sociální integrace
• LIBERTAS INTERNATIONAL