Information Literacy: a Game-based Learning Approach for Avoiding Fake Content Erasmus Project

Project Title

Information Literacy: a Game-based Learning Approach for Avoiding Fake Content

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 higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal)

Project Summary

Information Literacy: a Game-Based Learning Approach for Avoiding Fake Content (NAVIGATE) is a project that aims to identify and create the conditions for a more effective approach to IL by the HE students in the humanities. Play is the dimension identified by the NAVIGATE project implemented by the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (Bulgaria) together with partners from Italy (University of Parma and Fondazione Politecnico di Milano) and Sweden (University of Gavle) in order to bring students closer to IL and to support the work of librarians and teachers. The goal of the NAVIGATE project was to help in developing critical information skills by going beyond the mere information contained in textual and bibliographic sources (from Information Literacy to Transliteracy). From a survey on the students’ IL skills done in the first stage of the project, it emerged that students have little ability to evaluate the information they retrieve online and therefore do not know the preliminary stages of identification of specialized resources or even the important information management phase. A framework for the skills needed to avoid fake academic content was therefore developed as an interactive web tool consisting of five main pillars. The Competency Tree (https://www.navigateproject.eu/o1/competency-tree-as-a-wheel/) lists the skills that students must demonstrate at each of the stages of the research cycle. The aim is to guide students and their instructors to identify the skills gap. More information about the framework developed within the NAVIGATE project is available here: (https://www.justframeworks.com/#!/frameworks/32bc074c-9f64-e811-80c3-000d3ab2aaea). The Competency tree framework can be used both as a basis for game development as well as for direct teaching of information and digital skills to university students. It also served as the basis for developing a game-based model for IL training in the framework of the project. The model includes a plan for advanced modules with specific game-based activities to be applied by the academic libraries or integrated into the curriculum. Another important application of the NAVIGATE Competency framework was the selection and classification of the most relevant IL games in the interactive tool NaviGAMESearcher (https://www.navigateproject.eu/navigamesearch-tool/) to be used by librarians, teachers and students. The categorization of each game was done through the Competency tree and the following selection of technical specifications to be ranked from 1 to 10 points: playability, lastability, engagement level, user interface, and engagement level. As a next step two very different IL games in terms of objectives and architecture were developed by the project team. The games have versions in English, Bulgarian, Italian and Swedish and provide quantitative and qualitative feedback to the player. They were designed and developed in constant contact with students teachers and librarians in order to have direct feedback from those who would later become their main recipients. The timing in both games allows an easier use for trainers from an organizational point of view. The first game: Information Trap Manager (https://www.navigateproject.eu/itm/) is an adventure and strategy game simulating a university campus. It provides middle and advanced IL competences for undergraduate students. Each building of the campus represents a specific IL skill; then there are other environments (students’ dormitory, students’ cafe, students’ club, library, examination centre, classrooms, knowledge centre) that help make the game more varied. The second game: the Navigator (https://www.navigateproject.eu/navigator/) is a storytelling based mini-game simulating the social texting apps. It starts with a breaking news followed by a chat-based dialogue with an AI-based robot assistant. The game aims to raise the awareness of HE students in humanities about the risks related to the quality of information sources. The CRAAP test model (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose) was embedded in the Navigator game. In order to support the future users of the developed methodology for game-based learning approach to IL a multimedia training resource for the NAVIGATE games and outputs was created: NAVIGATE in 7 minutes (https://www.navigateproject.eu/summary/#/). The NAVIGATE project successfully met its main goal: to provide innovative learning solution by applying a common game-based approach to IL training at Bachelor’s level in Bulgaria, Italy and Sweden and developing a student-centered strategy for blended learning in IL of humanities students based on this approach. Except for the undergraduate students, the NAVIGATE games, tools and resources were made accessible to a wider target groups (teachers and librarians) and an interest to them was demonstrated not only by users from Bulgaria, Italy and Sweden but also from other European countries and the USA.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 290308,25 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITET PO BIBLIOTEKOZNANIE I INFORMACIONNI TEHNOLOGII & Country: BG

Project Partners

• FONDAZIONE POLITECNICO DI MILANO
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PARMA
• HOGSKOLAN I GAVLE