"Time has now come to try new ways of bringing people out of poverty and promoting growth and well-being not only for, but also with citizens." Commission: Empowering people, driving change: Social innovation in the European Union, 2011 "About 80 million people have low or basic skills, but lifelong learning benefits mostly the more educated." Commission: Europe 2020 Gamification for hard-to-reach adults will 1) Identify and operationalize powerful digital gaming strategies for entrepreneurial empowerment 2) Build gamification readiness among adult mentors 3) Include groups of hard-to-reach adults in immersive gamification processes and empower the adults to 4) Produce experienced based documentation to share among adult educators and mentors across Europe. The European citizens mostly needing lifelong learning are the ones not benefitting and not engaged – and not reachable. These are the clear word of the Commission. We call them hard-to-reach-adults, as they are not motivated to engage in the learning and training provisions offered by formal and non-formal adult education – for multiple personal, social, economic and psychological reasons. The hard-to-reach-adults does not constitute a homogeneous group of citizens, however they are characterized by a combination of different forms of dead-end situations and lack of motivation or capacity to change this situations through taking action, learning or engaging in the community. They are, so to say, hard-to-reach for the overall rather traditional adult education provision, still based on teaching and classroom. Many efforts have been made to alter this situation and to re-attract groups of such adults into education and learning, however most attempts remain punctual, superficial and unsustained. The described situation can be called one of the major failures in European lifelong learning. Thus Europe2020 calls for dramatically different and innovative approaches to reach these adults. In fact this is the major challenge to adult education today. Such innovative approaches need to break away from traditional adult education didactics, but also from traditional “empowerment” methodologies, ad these still lack an entrepreneurial taking action mentality. The basic approach in this project is to change mentality though taking action in the community. Gamification is one of the most promising emerging approaches to reach and re-mobilize groups of these adults. The project builds directly on the comprehensive Joint Research Group report from 2013 entitled Digital Games for Empowerment and Inclusion, missioned to support Commission policy in the field of inclusion and empowerment within the Europe 2020 strategies. Key resources in the partnership worked with the Joint Research Group to form this policy. The Joint Research Group was headed by Mr. James Stewart who will be invited to be a special advisor in the project. The research literature and case studies explored in this report shows that digital games-based approaches provide adaptable, motivating and engaging techniques that can be used to empower individuals and communities in ways that lead to social inclusion. Digital game-based approaches include gamification. Gamification in an inclusion context means exploiting powerful motivational and entrepreneurial methods in digital gaming to re-mobilize the initiative-taking of demotivated people, to help them change behaviour and to empower themselves through taking action in the community. Gamification for hard-to-reach adults is one of the first systematic attempts to explore in-depths the powerful potential of gamification for mentality and behavioral change. The project will offer the following key results: Open virtual platform: www.H2Rgame.eu Gamification for overcoming dead-end life and work situations Gamification and serious gaming for inclusion and empowerment of adults in dead-end situations 10 hand-outs on the most powerful elements in gamification of dead-end situations - win and lose with gamification for adults in difficult life situations – lessons learned through immersive practice H2Rgame open business opportunity H2R gaming towards deeper knowledge and new open opportunities Policy paper: The inclusion potential of gamification in connection with hard-to-reach adults The project is proud of its partnership including adult educations, knowledge partners, gamification experts and entrepreneurial bodies from all over Europe: from France, the UK, Spain, Italy, Romania, Finland and Turkey!
CONTEXT The job situation is still very problematic in Europe, including for the hard-to-reach adults. How to ensure a social inclusion to this type of public, how to ensure that they get offered job opportunities, when they lack self-esteem and confidence? Which method could apply and make the difference? Some methods don't work anymore; then arises the question of a new approach. An innovative method is necessary in order to offer an alternative to traditional methods whose limits we can observe. This project is offering a solution, at an experimental level. OBJECTIVES The Gamification project aims at remobilising hard-to-reach adults and to foster their entrepreneurship spirit, through different ways. The innovation part of this project lies on the use of the game in the different sessions with hard-to-reach adults. The game, considered as a dynamic and participative tool; we use games with our kids. We consider its values for respecting the other, for personal development and learning about ourselves, for opening ourselves to the others, for communicating. Why not using these benefits for another kind of target group? It is important for hard-to-reach adults to get confidence. This two-years experimentation at the European level helped mobilise soft skills for these hard-to-reach adults through games. PARTNERSHIP AND PARTICIPANTS The project was implemented by nine European partner organizations, each one of them with different profiles and roles. The practice partners were seven; they were in charge of implementing the experimentation at the local level. The knowledge partners were three, and through their expertise, helped the practice partners in understanding the gamification process and giving advice. Then a quality manager was ensuring the good implementation of the project within the limits of the application form and ensuring a good management of the project. KNOWLEDGE PARTNERS The University of Coventry (United Kingdom), through its serious game laboratory, Cookie Box (Spain), company working in the field of gamification and transmedia storytelling, and then the University of Chester, through their combined expertise in the gamification domain, helped the partnership through a modelisation of the process. Their knowledge fed the experimentation process in each territory of test. PRACTICE PARTNERS Fantom and ASSE associations (Romania) are very active in the development of their communities through European and national projects. Within the frame of this project, Fantom could rely on the local ressources and start a community centre in the town. The Chamber of Commerce of Sabadell (Spain) is a public institution which aims at promoting the economic development of the area, including through the development of entrepreneurial skills. The continuous training centre of the University of Helsinki works in the field of adult education, including towards hard-to-reach adults, and people over 45 years old. The Foundation Risorsa Donna (Italy) aims at promoting microcredit and works with isolated people. The social department of Ankara (Turkey) aims at promoting social inclusion of its citizens. Then, Pistes-Solidaires (France) promotes innovative solutions in order to foster social inclusion within the community, young or adults, through non-formal and informal methods. ACTIVITIES & RESULTS Each organization started first to create the activities in order to foster personal development of the participants, and keeping in mind the gamification aspect (with the help of the knowledge partners). Then, groups were constituted at the local level, trough the network of the press. The activities helped the participants to regain confidence in themselves, to mobilize their knowledge, their capabilities, their desire, et then to see doors opening. Some of them started a new job (local crafting, teaching, in a company), others got involved as volunteers in local organizations, or others were recruited in companies. A very diverse accomplishment but still very positive.