School and Home use of Advanced Digital Online Worlds in a Serious Game Erasmus Project

Project Title

School and Home use of Advanced Digital Online Worlds in a Serious Game

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 school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Natural sciences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

In the SHADOWS project the consortium intends to build a serious game as a showcase to integrate learning content and cooperative learning from a school curriculum into a game that is highly motivating. The consortium will develop the game for mobile devices and make it available for free so that thousands of learners can benefit from it. It will also study the quality of learning achieved through the game, thus contributing to the further development and advancement of mobile learning and game-based learning.

Young generations grow up in a world which is vastly different from the world that existed just a few decades ago. However, educational methods are very slow to change and don’t appropriately reflect the way that young people prefer to learn. For instance, many young people don’t read books for entertainment any more, so learning from a book feels “unnatural” for them. In order to offer great chances of learning that resonate with its target groups the world of education should further explore new approaches and methods of integrating them into school. We have also seen recent developments, such as the Covid-19 crisis that has closed many schools across Europe, which highlight the importance of alternative education solutions that are easy for schools to implement.

In recent years serious games have shown an interesting potential to motivate young learners. However, so far very few well-working examples exist that successfully combine high motivation and fun with a solid learning experience. For this reason it is necessary to continue the study of new game approaches that integrate learning content seamlessly into the gameplay.
In the project SHADOWS the consortium intends to develop a serious game that can be played on mobile devices and meets the challenge of helping the player acquire knowledge while at the same time being fun to play. The idea is to create a game in which the learners play heroes in a fictional kingdom overrun by darkness. Symbolically the darkness represents ignorance, and the learners need to work together to return light (which symbolizes knowledge) to the kingdom. Their heroes can defeat the darkness by vanquishing the forces of ignorance in combat which is powered by successfully answering questions before running out of time and solving little tasks at various difficulty levels. Thus, in order to be successful the learners need to acquire knowledge and skills related to different subjects in school. For instance, the players might have to clear an area in which they need mathematical skills.

Cooperative learning plays an important part in this game because learners play together against the computer, and they benefit a lot from helping each other acquire knowledge and skills. The game will be designed as a mobile learning tool with the intention of complementing teaching at school. While classes at school are often focussing on knowledge transfer, the app will help with memorizing, practicing, and applying the knowledge, something that teachers often don’t have enough time for in school. In order to make the approach a good tie-in we will make the app customizable, so teachers can create their own learning modules that are relevant for their students and share them with their class. This of course requires teachers who are able to embrace mobile learning solutions. For this reason we will also supply the with a handbook and instructional videos that promise to explain the use of the mobile learning app in less than 10 minutes, even if teachers have know previous experience or knowledge about using apps to enhance their learning.

In the project the game will be linked to several school subjects and the consortium will study the effects the game has on the learning process. Teachers and students will be involved in the design process to make sure that the game can adequately meet learning requirements as well as pique the learner’s interest.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 175828 Eur

Project Coordinator

Grenaa Gymnasium & Country: DK

Project Partners

• Ingenious Knowledge GmbH
• Primary School Trnsko
• Escola Secundária de Lagoa