The Learning Game, EU Comenius project

• Belgium
  INFOREF, Liège

• Germany
  Zentrum für empirische pädagogische Forschung, Zepf

• Greece
  University of Patras, Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, Graphics, Multimedia and GIS Lab, Patras

• Italy
  PIXEL, Florence
  Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milan
  Connectis srl, Prato

• Lithuania
  Vilnius Pedagogical university, Vilnius

EU Comenius project

The main objective of the LEARNING GAME Project is to promote the merging of elearning solutions and videogames and their effective application in a teaching and learning context.

This is the project web site and it is used only for project management purposes. The users of the web site are only the project partners.

More information on the LEARNING GAME Project as well as the project results are available on the Project portal.

The main objective of the LEARNING GAME is the implementation of e-learning solutions and methods in a teaching and learning context that make full use of the most advanced interactive and multimedia solutions, therefore including videogames.

The main project activities are:

Research, selection and evaluation of commercial videogames identifying their educational potential. Attention will be focused on the potential use of editors.

Research and selection of the most advanced technological solutions and software (that are open source, freeware or shareware) that implement interactivity and multimedia in the best way.

Start of bilateral cooperation between the project partners and the videogame industry to give educational institutions the means to access and use the selected videogame editors.

Development of online tutorials for the effective use of the selected tools, addressed to teachers so as to train them on the use of new multimedia interactive technologies, focusing in particular on their potential to create a learning environment characterised by interaction, immersion and simulation. 

Research, selection and review of the most relevant electronic contents (i.e. e-learning based courses) already produced in the framework of previous projects financed by the European Commission or developed by teachers both at secondary school and university level. The focus of this research is on the value of contents rather than the tools used to transfer them.

Agreements with each author of the contents identified in order to respect the Intellectual Property Rights (I.P.R). The already successfully experienced solution is that each author makes available their contents free of charge and in exchange has free access to the contents developed by others. 

Analysis of the communication language, cognitive dynamics and technical solutions adopted by videogames so as to understand why they have such an important impact on young generations and so as to reproduce the same solutions for educational purposes.

Analysis of how selected contents can be more effectively communicated using the new technical solutions identified appropriately.

Creation of the Manual concerning the use of technical solutions provided by Videogames and by advanced interactive software for training and educational purposes.

Creation of the Manual concerning the use of technical solutions provided by Videogames and by advanced interactive software for training and educational purposes.

• Technical
• Pedagogical

There is no game specifically developped for the project. But there are game reviews and video game reviews of the project web portal.

Project results are:

Database of commercial videogames identifying their educational potential. Each product will be presented according to a common format.

Database of the selected technical solutions and software that can be used to produce innovative e-learning based educational material. Each product will be presented according to a common format.

Tutorials, addressed to teachers, on the use of the selected tools. Each tutorial will explain how to make the most effective use of the selected tools included in the database (e.g. videogames editors) for teaching and learning purposes. Each tutorial will have the form of a step by step training course that will train the teacher on the use of a specific tool.

• Elearning course reviews
• Video game reviews
• Software reviews
• Pilot courses
• Tutorials
• Training manuals
• Workshops and conferences

There are tutorials and reviews on the project web site.

This a very comprehensive game review project.

The main objective of the Learning Game project is to promote the application of innovative strategies and solutions to education, making an effective use of videogames as teaching and learning tools.

The Learning Game Portal contains 3 databases where users can search for:

eLearning based teaching materials, focusing on the main subject areas taught in European secondary schools

Videogames which have been evaluated and reviewed for their educational potential by European secondary school teachers

Softwares that can be used to produce innovative e-learning based educational material and videogames with an educational purpose