Gamificating the Classroom Erasmus Project

Project Title

Gamificating the Classroom

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 Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Teaching and learning of foreign languages; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

Project context / antecedents
This is an ambitious project between four schools, of which only two (the Spanish and the British) had previously worked together in Euopean projects. The initial contact with the German organisation was obtained through the Spanish sub-coordinator, who had previously worked with another German school in the area, and the Italian contact was obtained through eTwinning. After several years of contact, it was agreed to carry out a project related to new technologies and their didactic application in the classroom, being the theme of gamification and the flipped classroom the central axes thereof.
Goals:
1. Promote the European dimension of our institutions.
2. Promote a methodological renewal through ICT-mediated collaborative learning using the eTwinning platform and introduce new practices such as Gamification and the inverted class (flipped classroom).
3. Improve linguistic competence and the promotion of multilingualism.
4. Promote interculturality.
5. Raise awareness among students of the importance of their origins and their culture.
6. Motivate students about the importance of their physical and natural environments establishing synergies with other educative fields such as sport and ecology.
7. Promote the development of basic/key competencies.
8. Widen the students’ horizons and their aspirations.
9. Contact agents outside the school (Town Halls, various types of organizations, etc.) to improve teaching and learning based on real experiences.

Number and profile of participants: In total, 16 students and 4 teachers directly participated in the exchanges, and more than 100 students and 23 teachers actively participated in the organization and carrying out of the activities. Likewise, some 15 families have been actively involved in organizing reception activities during the stay of the students of the partner institutions in Spain.

Description of activities carried out:
Many activities have been carried out throughout the project. The eTwinning platform has been the place to host activities. The page was designed according to the initial planning of the project, the following activities being carried out.
A1: Logo contest.
A2: Individual / group presentations in eTwinning.
A3: Video presentation of each location. A4: Multilingual Pictionary.
A5: Traditional sports workshop.
A6: Collection of restaurants / products d.o./ and visits to establishments.
A7: Geo-tourism workshops.
A8: Workshop and photography contest.
A9: Webquest of each locality.

Results and impact achieved:
Among the results, we can highlight is the internationalization of the schools and the creation of a strong association that aims to continue its journey in the future, opening the doors to new schools that enrich our alliance. It has managed to work collaboratively within each school, creating useful and usable products in the future. The surveys that the participants in the project have filled out unequivocally show the positive impact it has had on their lives, showing very high satisfaction and availability to participate in future projects. In our institution, a freely available subject has been created for 1 ESO which will be called “gamified English”, in which many of the applications that have been used in the project will be used. In addition, there have been several activities related to it: an interdisciplinary contest organized by the bilingual team using the ‘Quizzes’ application; A Challenge on the Olympics has also been carried out using QR codes and videos; Finally, a play by high school students was adapted so that the public could participate actively using ‘Mentimeter’. QR codes are used in projects carried out by students, which demonstrates the impact that our project has achieved.

Longer-term benefits:
Our partnership started 10 years ago between the Spanish and British schools. When we started with an eTwinning project and after organizing 2 bilateral Comenius projects, none of the professors who started the journey could imagine that, eventually, we would carry out this project with two more schools. The experience has been so positive in all aspects that there is no doubt that the long-term benefit is the sustainability of a reliable partnership; with professionals involved, families willing to host and send their children to meet new cultures and with students who will be given a unique experience and that will change their perception of Europe and relations with the countries around us.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 65020 Eur

Project Coordinator

IES SIERRA DE GÁDOR & Country: ES

Project Partners

• ISTITUTO COMPRENSIVO “VITALIANO BRANCATI”
• Graham School
• Gesamtschule Battenberg