More than 5 million people under 25 are unemployed in EU today. According to “Rethinking Education” initiative (2012), in order to build “skills for the 21st century”, efforts are needed to develop skills such as entrepreneurship, which should be given particular attention, since they enhance employability of people. Entrepreneurship is included in national curricula to VET of many EU countries but despite that, according to the Final Report of the Expert Group (Entrepreneurship in VET) there is still a gap to be filled because: teaching methods are ineffective, the practical element of entrepreneurship is missing, Teachers are not fully competent. The main aim of the Gamify Your Teaching project is to support professional development of vocational competences of teachers and trainers of entrepreneurship and to enhance ICT teaching through an innovative pedagogy and approach to teaching with the use of gamification. To achieve this aim, the project puts forward two general objectives: - to create and test of simulation game with practical elements covering 7 entrepreneurship subject areas - to create and test methodology (didactic materials for Teachers) of teaching entrepreneurship with the use of the gamification The project will directly engage VET Teachers from Romania, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, United Kingdom, Spain and Greece. The Teachers will participate in various stages of the project expressing opinions and testing didactic materials prepared especially for them. Also the students will be directly involved in activities. At the beginning they will tell game creators about expectations regarding the game, they will test and evaluate it. Such direct participation is expected at minimum of 578 people. In addition to that, other participants from the area of VET education will be informed about the project results. Minimum of 275 stakeholders will take part in dedicated to the project multiplication events and others will be informed at different occasions and via internet. This number will be about 25000. Besides usual activities necessary for implementing a project, the partners will carry out activities leading directly to preparation of main results. In the first phase of the project the needs analysis research will take place in order to find out what are the game requirements (the level of ICT competence of VET Teachers and general characteristics of the game). Research will end with preparation of Needs Analysis Report which will be the base for creation of the game and didactic materials for Teachers. An attractive addition to the game will be the collection of case studies of successful businesses serving as an inspiration for students for opening up own businesses. As the project envisages wide dissemination actions, it is expected that the impact will be significant. It will be noted specifically on VET Teachers and the students who will use the products and in effect raise own entrepreneurial and ICT competences. In the long run the project will have impact on increasing sense of initiative and entrepreneurship not only the students who will take part of the project but also other young people that will be reached via different channels. In the long run also ICT competences of VET Teachers will be increased thanks to wide distribution of didactic materials.
More than 5 million people under 25 are unemployed in EU today. According to “Rethinking Education” initiative (2012), in order to build “skills for the 21st century”, efforts are needed to develop skills such as entrepreneurship, which should be given particular attention, since they enhance employability of people. Entrepreneurship is included in national curricula to VET of many EU countries but despite that, according to the Final Report of the Expert Group (Entrepreneurship in VET) there is still a gap to be filled because: teaching methods are ineffective, the practical element of entrepreneurship is missing, teachers are not fully competent. OBJECTIVES The main aim of the Gamify Your Teaching project was to support the professional development of vocational competences of teachers and trainers of entrepreneurship and to enhance ICT teaching through an innovative pedagogy and approach to teaching with the use of gamification. The project is in line also with aims of Strategic Partnerships, in order to develop basic and transversal skills: digital and entrepreneurship and enhance digital integration in learning and teaching through promoting access to and learning through OER) and support ICT-based teaching and ICT-based assessment practices. Implementing project internationally gave the possibility of exchanging knowledge and good practices of such diverse situation in entrepreneurship. MAIN ACTIVITIES The main activities of the project are aimed at creating and testing a game, in order to develop an innovative methodology of teaching entrepreneurship with the use of gamification. The activities are based on a specific research carried out by partners in the area of social research: the research took place in order to find out what are the game requirements such as the level of ICT competence of VET Teachers and general characteristics of the game. As a result of this, a Needs Analysis Report was produced and it was the base for creating the game and the learning materials for Teachers. Moreover, a collection of case studies of successful businesses was produced, serving as an inspiration for students for opening up own businesses. These are the Intellectual Outputs delivered during the project implementation: O1 Needs Analysis Report: the analysis provided the game requirements (the level of ICT competence of VET Teachers and general characteristics of the game). O2 the Game: it included 7 modules simulating activities teaching entrepreneurial skills divided into levels, based on scenarios and embedded content about entrepreneurship. Each level in the game is a complete and playable "scene" following case-solving approach, consisting of background (introductory) information, a number of possible learning paths to be taken in response to the decisions and actions made, and appropriate scoring measures defining player's individual performance. Here is le link to the game: http://play.gamify-project.eu/ O3 Didactic Materials for VET Teachers, aimed at supporting teachers in using the game during their entrepreneurship classes. The materials are in electronic form, available for downloading from the project website and directly from the game interface. O4 Collection of Case Studies: it consists in a publication showing 35 examples of successful businesses which serve as inspiration and motivation for entrepreneurial education. RESULTS AND IMPACT The project directly engaged VET Teachers from Romania, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, United Kingdom, Spain and Greece. The Teachers participated in various stages of the project, expressed their opinions and tested didactic materials prepared specifically for them. Also the students were directly involved in the project activities. At the beginning they told to game creators their expectations regarding the game, then they tested and evaluated it. Minimum of 578 people directly participated to the project activities. In addition to that, other participants from the area of VET education were informed about the project results. Minimum of 275 stakeholders took part in the project multiplier events and others were informed in different occasions (such us conferences, training events, workshops organized by the partners in their current activities) and via internet. The total number of reached people is about 25.000. The impact of all the dissemination actions implemented was significant, specifically on VET Teachers and on the students who directly used the outputs delivered and in consequently raised their entrepreneurial and ICT competences.