The UNLOCK project – Creativity in HEIs through a game design approach – aims to equip HEIs with the knowledge, attitudes and skills required to design, set and facilitate escape room games in learning experiences and stimulate entrepreneurial skills in both students and educators, aiming at strengthening employability, creativity and new professional paths. A robust line of research has pointed that:1) games in education are an effective tool for learning in and across different domains;2) games in education can provide players with tools which may promote creativity;3) escape rooms, as games for pedagogical purposes, require a set of transversal skills; 4) the actual practices of teaching with games still remain severely overlooked. Thus, the UNLOCK consortium expects to contribute to strengthening Europe’s innovation capacity and fostering innovation in HEIs, businesses and the broader socio-economic environment by: 1) assessing how escape room games can be used for pedagogical purposes in HEIs and, specifically, to improve entrepreneurial skills;2) understanding how educators can be prepared to facilitate educational escape games when teaching, while developing innovative competences themselves;3) designing a gamified MOOC to deliver a new and innovative learning approach and OERs for HEIs’ educators to learn to design escape room games for pedagogical purposes and, so, promote excellence in entrepreneurial skills development for educators and students;4) testing and validating the results in live workshops and online environments; 5) elaborating OERs supporting educators to improve their role as facilitators of escape room games in learning environments and to be able to assess students’ developments; 6) disseminating the project’s results Europe-wide next to target groups to maximize their impact and sustainability;7) creating an online community, at European level, aiming to support peer learning.
Bringing new perspectives of innovative teaching in the fields of education and training, ensuring a positive and sustainable impact on educators, students and companies that are the key stakeholders for growth and innovation in Europe. This community will be empowered to interact and share their knowledge, entrepreneurial ideas, and creative solutions for the future of education and improving employability. This will certainly, drive the implementation of other innovative learning approaches.
The project emphasizes developing innovative teaching approaches, tools and resources for educators, providing opportunities to improve the quality and efficiency of education and enhance creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship. The project's main objective is to empower educators as facilitators of educational escape rooms (EERs) to foster creativity, employability and new career paths among (future) graduate students, shaping an innovative future in Europe.
<< Background >> The project emphasizes developing innovative teaching approaches, tools and resources for educators, providing opportunities to improve the quality and efficiency of education and enhance creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship. The project's main objective is to empower educators as facilitators of educational escape rooms (EERs) to foster creativity, employability and new career paths among (future) graduate students, shaping an innovative future in Europe. << Objectives >> Bringing new perspectives of innovative teaching in the fields of education and training, ensuring a positive and sustainable impact on educators, students and companies that are the key stakeholders for growth and innovation in Europe. This community will be empowered to interact and share their knowledge, entrepreneurial ideas, and creative solutions for the future of education and improving employability. This will certainly, drive the implementation of other innovative learning approaches. << Implementation >> The project clearly benefits from a diverse and multidisciplinary European consortium composed of 8 organisations between 4 HEIs, 2 private companies and 2 Foundation/Corporate University Networks from 6 countries (Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, and Lithuania).The selected partners bring together different competences, skills, knowledge and different perspectives and experiences on the topic, which helps to enrich the project for the achievement of the proposed objectives. << Results >> During the project, research resources such as reports, E-books, articles, and a pedagogical framework were developed. Practical resources such as the gamified MOOC, Handbook and Cookbook were also developed, which provided an innovative approach, how to creating and implementing educational escape rooms. National events, workshops and a final conference, attended by several experts in the field, were essential for the development of a community to share knowledge and promote peer learning.