The COVID19 emergengy and the consequent adoption of online school sessions forced to a sudden acceleration of the use of digital tools in the school system. This phenomenon on one hand led to the adoption of alternative and more flexible ways of teaching and learning; on the other hand it highlighted the lack of innovative teaching approaches able to stimulate autonomy, motivation and involvement of the students. (Commission (SWD 2020, 209). Literature shows that quality and inclusive digital education requires time, skills and adequate resources for planning. GA.M.EL.EARN, starting from the analysis of needs examined by the partnership, aims to: 1) support the transition from “remote emergency education” (OECD, 2020; Hodges C. et al., 2020) to a systematic process of integrated digital didactic paths based on the game-learning pedagogical approach, very effective for increasing students' motivation in digital environments; 2) reduce the gap in classroom dynamics and in the interaction between distance and face-to-face learning; 3) improve school results by reducing anxiety and difficulties especially in subjects such as mathematics, science, mother and foreign language (Coleman Money 2020; Wang et al. 2018; Yusny, 2013). From a survey carried out among the partners, the following problems emerged: 1-Difficulty in designing courses by using the pedagogical approach of game-based learning. 2-Difficulty in conceiving digital game-based learning paths. The project target group is made up of second and third year teachers of upper secondary schools . The main beneficiaries are students. The general objective of the project is to increase motivation and participation of students through game-based, effective and quality digital teaching courses. The specific objectives are: 1) improved effectiveness in designing learning paths based on game-based pedagogy; 2) raised the quality of learning paths for an integrated digital teaching, where three intervening components effectively interact: (A) game-based pedagogy, game-based learning (B) digital (online synchronous / asynchronous) and (C) integrated (online and in person) 3) maximize the potential of integrated game-based digital learning in European schools. Schools that are called to effectively answer both to new learning styles of generation Z (dynamics and processes of the game and the digital environment) and to a progressive and massive integration of digital and face to face teaching. GAMELEARN will develop two intellectual outputs strongly practical oriented: IO1: a professional course in MOOC mode that provides teachers with the basics on how digital game-based teaching can be adopted in integrated digital teaching processes. Teachers can learn how to teach through the digital game-based approach. IO2: a curriculum aimed at students for the learning areas with unsatisfactory results in the OECD PISA survey: science, mathematics, mother language and foreign language. The curriculum is also equipped with some practical tools that guide teachers in its implementation. The IO will allow teachers to integrate, in a pedagogically effective way, digital game based learning resources that increase the level of attention and motivation of students to learn, by creating the conditions for improving school performance. It is also expected a learning activity aimed at teachers who will implement IO2. The project aims to produce positive impacts at local, national and European level, to a wide range of players; the main ones are: - Teachers (target group) - Students (beneficiaries) - Families / Parents - School leaders - Participating schools (project partners) - Staff of the school innovators and of the game-based innovator (project partners) - Stahekolders - Other schools. The project has different elements of innovation: ● IT TAKES THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE DIGITAL GAME-BASED (DGB) TEACHER, by innovating his approach to teaching. ● STUDENT LEARNING: games stimulate and increase the willing to learn. ● TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIP: it is radically innovated; it becomes dialogic and definitively overcomes the traditional approach. The GAMELEARN project is perfectly aligned with the Digital Action Plan 2021-2027 (COM 2018, 12), revised and updated after COVID 19 (COM 2020, 624).
The overall goal of the project was to increase student motivation and participation through effective and quality integrated game-based digital education pathways. The specific objectives were: 1) improved design effectiveness of learning paths based on game-based pedagogy; 2) raised the quality of learning paths for integrated digital didactics capable of effectively interacting the three intervening components: (A) game-based pedagogy, game-based learning (B) digital (online synchronous/asynchronous) and (C) integrated (online and in-presence) (3) maximize the potential of integrated game-based digital learning in European school contexts that are called upon to respond effectively both to new learning styles of Generation Z (recalling dynamics and processes of the game and digital environment) and to a progressive, and massive, integration of digital and face-to-face teaching. 4) integration of traditional learning dynamics with innovative teaching methodologies that would respond to the growing need for student-centered teaching 5) support for the conscious use of digital tools.
The idea for the Project was born in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic in which the forced adoption of digital and more flexible teaching methodologies brought to light the difficulties that teachers and students had in managing distance learning supported by technologies which are not always well mastered. In response of a rapid, sometimes unsuccessful, adaptation in the use of digital instruction, emerged the awareness that quality and inclusive teaching required adequate time, skills, and resources for design and that teachers needed tools to support the transition from traditional design to one referring to virtual environments. GA.M.EL.EARN, moving from the analysis of these critical issues, intended to facilitate the transition from remote emergency education to a systematic framework of the process of developing integrated digital educational pathways based on the pedagogical approach of game-based learning, which results are extremely effective in keeping students' motivation high, involving them in the learning process and keeping it active and constantly open.