As it is the case in the European Union (EU), especially during the last period of time, large migration waves of people in need of international protection arrive from countries and territories that suffer from war disasters, dictatorships, etc. in pursuit of a new home and of actual living conditions. According to Eurostat, the number of first time asylum applicants in the EU member states has almost tripled in the last quarter of 2015 (as compared to the same quarter of 2014), and it is a fact that if these refugees are to live, work and prosper along with the receiving communities they will need to be integrated into the host countries’ environment; the most effective way to accomplish this is by learning to communicate with the local population and get acquainted with their cultural particularities and their lifestyle.Our project “BIG STEP: Learning through Gamification – Integration of the vulnerable groups” will use the Gamification methodology which is the application of typical elements of game playing (e.g. point scoring, competition with others, etc.) to other areas of activity, such as teaching, to encourage engagement, learning flow, evaluation, etc. of participants. In that notion our project “BIG STEP” will develop a novel educational 2-D serious video game which will help refugees engage in learning their host country’s language by playing and interacting digitally, while combining local cultural aspects (e.g. what time do they have lunch in Belgium? etc). The game will be tailored to the respective needs and educational level(s) of our target groups, who will be reached through the official structures in place by the member states, and will enhance their media and literacy skills to a great extent, competences that are going to be very useful when looking for a job eventually.“BIG STEP” will be addressed to at least 550 stakeholders from the 5 participating countries to receive feedback during the Testing & Implementation phase, while our target group will be contacted during the Preparation & Research phase as well. The number of users is expected to multiply after the Evaluation of its Development and the inclusion of the potential suggestions for improvement, and the final version of the game will be presented during the final Dissemination event.In line with the Open Educational Resources (OER) scheme, the game will of course be free of charge and will stay online after the project ends to increase its impact. This will enable easy access to everyone who is interested to learn basic language skills and information regarding the countries that will participate in the project – with a view to extending the variety of languages, levels of difficulty and cultural depth available in future endeavours.The project’s outcomes will be addressed to the EU as a whole, as all member states face the challenge of integrating a number of refugees or other minorities to their communities as effectively as possible. The impact will be multifaceted, as apart from enhancing the participants’ skills and competences, it will also enhance their access to innovative educational context and reduce social and economical disparities. Also, the consortium envisages creating an alternative paradigm and influencing policy-making bodies, formal and non-formal education institutions and other organizations, in order to initiate progressive changes in the education contexts of EU countries in line with the Paris Declaration.
As it has been the case in the European Union (EU) during the last few years, large migration waves of people in need of international protection have arrived from countries and territories that suffer from war disasters, dictatorships, etc. in pursuit of a new home. In order for those people to live, work and prosper along with the receiving communities, they need to be integrated into the host countries’ environment – and this has been the greatest challenge for almost all EU countries. The most effective way to accomplish integration and social inclusion has proven to be by learning to communicate with the local population and get acquainted with their cultural particularities and their lifestyle. In this regard, the main objective of “BIG STEP: Learning through Gamification – Integration of the vulnerable groups” has been to develop an innovative educational 2-D serious video game, which helps refugees, immigrants and other vulnerable groups to integrate through learning core elements of their host country’s language, while also familiarising with local cultural aspects. To do so, we have used the Gamification methodology, which is the application of typical elements of game playing (e.g. point scoring) to other areas of activity, such as teaching, in order to encourage engagement, interaction, learning flow and evaluation of participants. The participating organizations were brought together in the base of common objectives and formed a cohesive partnership in which each partner complements each other in terms of expertise, skills and knowledge, as well as in terms of operational and functional background. In addition, all 6 partners have extensive knowledge of their local needs and were able to make a unique contribution to all project activities. More specifically, UCLL, a Higher Education Institution (HEI) from Flanders, has been the lead partner as it possesses the gamification knowhow, having built similar game-engines for other contexts with success. Neapolis University Pafos is another HEI from Cyprus with valuable scientific and technical research background as well. University Rehabilitation Institute from Slovenia has a major experience in supporting and working with disadvantaged groups. OECON Group from Greece brought its quality assurance experience from previous EU projects’ implementation. Komunikujeme from Czech Republic added value to the communication and dissemination activities. Last but not least, the Institute of Psychosocial Development from Greece brought its expertise in counseling and supporting disadvantaged individuals. To achieve the planned objectives, the project was divided into 3 main activities (Intellectual Outputs) that are shortly described as follows: 1. Research and Preparation – each partner conducted primary research through questionnaires in order to gather information regarding our target groups’ needs, literacy skills and ICT competences. Also, each partner conducted a nationwide desk research to formulate cultural particularities reports that included all necessary country information that a foreigner should be aware of in order to live and integrate in the respective country. 2. Design and Development – the information from the questionnaires and reports of the previous activity was used for the development of the game’s chapters, with variations based on the target groups’ needs and on each country’s particularities. 3. Testing and Implementation – after the first versions of the game were developed, the project’s experts tested them in the reception, protection and support structures of each partner’s region, in order to receive feedback and improve the game. In this direction, the main practical results attained have been the following: - 5 National Reports, 123 Questionnaires and 1 Overall Final Report summarizing all the findings and information gathered during research; - 1 functioning online Game, freely available and translated-modified in all partners’ languages and country particularities, without an expiration date; - 1 Instruction Manual for utilizing the Game, translated in English, Arabic and in all partners’ languages; - 130 Questionnaires received after the testing of the Game from our target groups. The project’s impact and longer-term benefits can be summarized as follows: - Introduction of an innovative educational method that combines learning while having fun; - Integration of users to the host countries through enhancement of their literacy skills, ICT competences and cultural awareness; - More active participation, more positive attitude and increased employment opportunities for the target groups and experts involved; - Exchange of good practices between organizations internal and external to the project, and establishment of synergies; - Interaction between research, business and policy (the triple helix).