eMapps.com Motivating active participation of primary schoolchildren in digital online technologies for creative opportunities through multimedia -FP6-IST-020851

Czech Republic
Cross Czech
Romana Krizova
Coordinator

Spain
Ciberespacio
Daniel Weiss
IT expert, developer of Game-Based educational Pltaform

United Kingdom
MDR Partners
Rob Davies
Core partner, responsible for exploitation, evaluation and assisting CEE partners

CERLIM - The Centre for Research in Library and Information Management, Manchester
Metropolitan University
Geoff Butters
Core partner, responsible for Impact Assessment (Learning Impact)

Belgium
EUN - The European Schoolnet Partnership (European)
Roger Blamire
Core partner, responsible for the development of policy recommendations, dissemination (especially at governmental level), work on the sharing of learning objects

National coordinators – contact with schools, organising games, responsible for national exploitation

• Czech Republic
  CELN (Czech Efficient Learning Node)
  Barbora Parrakova
• Estonia
  Tiger Leap Foundation (TLF)
  Aimur Liiva
• Hungary
  Berzsenyi Daniel Foiskola
  Róza Frank
• Latvia
  Stende’s social care and development association “Mezazile”
  Solvita Ūdre

• Lithuania
  Institute of Mobile Technologies for Education and Culture (IMOTEC)
  Vilma Butkute
• Poland
  The International Center for Information Management System, Services (ICIMSS)
  Maria Sliwinska
• Slovenia
  University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Electrical Engineering (LTFE)
  Marko Papić , M. Sc.
• Slovak Republic
  Elfa s.r.o
  Miroslav Michalko

FP6-IST-2004-2.4.13 Strengthening the Integration of the ICT research effort in an Enlarged Europe

eMapps.com was a project funded under the European Commission’s IST 6th Framework Programme (FP6). Its focus was on demonstrating how games and mobile technologies can be combined to provide new and enriching experiences for children in the school curriculum and beyond. The work concentrated on Europe’s New Member States and school children in the age group 9-12. It supported creativity in the classroom and outside and contributed to practice for developing new teaching methodologies.

eMapps.com project has produced some significant breakthroughs related to innovative ways of learning, using computer games and mobile learning in schools. The results are of particular relevance to countries in the expanded Europe Union.

The following are among the key challenges which eMapps.com addressed:

1. The barrier to integrating games use in learning and the school curriculum, or at any level, as the perceived mismatch between skills and knowledge developed in games, and those recognized explicitly within education systems. The recognition of skill development achievable through games helped to break down these barriers.
2. Teachers needed to be engaged and to recognize the relationships between activities in games and the associated learning so that they could use the games within the wider learning context.
3. Many of the skills valuable for successful game play, and recognized by both teachers and parents, are as yet only implicitly valued within a school context. In future, learning will move increasingly from the classroom and into the learner’s environments, both real and virtual.
4. The problem of narrative, of integrating a linear storyline within an interactive game is widely acknowledged as one of the most intractable problems in the field of games design. eMapps games are dynamic and narrative, creating virtual worlds or Mixed Realities (outdoor and indoor) the actions of different players lead to completely different and credible outcomes.

The main outcomes of eMapps.com were the following:

• A web-based game learning platform for implementation with the target audiences, using games that can be played ‘live’ in the individual territory on a new generation of mobile devices using Internet GPRS/3G, SMS and MMS technologies. (See below)
• A Children’s Living Map of Europe which locates the content and games produced during eMapps.com in a format to inspire others and in which any school or locality can participate
• School teachers from each of the eight participating countries became qualified to implement and disseminate a game training course to other teachers through a series of local events.
• 15 dynamic and narrative pilot games developed by participating schools, creating virtual worlds or Mixed Realities
• Evaluation of the need, relevance, and practicality of the implemented Game-based learning model. (Report on learning impact, Exploitation plan) (See more below)
• A Handbook on using games for training in a variety of formats.
• Training courses and international conferences on using web-based Games for learning in schools and informal settings, presenting in particular the project methodology and findings in each of the participating countries.
• Exploitation and replication of the results emerging from the project through an extensive dissemination programme including an interactive project website
• Contextual policy analysis and recommendations across partner new member states (See more below)
• Dissemination workshops outside the project member countries: Bulgaria, Turkey, Malta, Romania and Cyprus

A web-based game learning platform for implementation with the target audiences, using games that can be played ‘live’ in the individual territory on a new generation of mobile devices using Internet GPRS/3G, SMS and MMS technologies.

Key target audiences for eMapps.com are:

• Policy makers in school education who become engaged with eMapps approach, gained assurance of the benefits of game-based learning and to support and invest in national initiatives
• Teachers who discovered the relationships between activities in games and the associated learning.
• Parents who gained a better understanding of the role which games can play in their children’s learning and development.
• Children who were stimulated and whose learning experiences and performance was improved by exciting adaptations of a technology they already enjoy.

• E-Inclusion

Teachers and cultural workers participated in defining the learning objectives, type of game (e.g. competitive, collaborative, role play, simulation), content, assessment, feedback and levels of difficulty. Parents have been involved in contributing ‘stories’ and content relevant to their localities. Teachers received extensive support in the early stages of implementing and testing the games platform, following initial training at summer schools.

The nature of the games resulted from the particular needs of the curriculum, but eMapps.com encouraged activity outside the traditional classroom. The pedagogical matrix is included in the description. Several different content games of varying complexity have been developed and updated, based upon eMapps platform, leading to the creation of generic and local Games Portfolios capable of adaptation by teachers.

The approach taken to games development was scenario-based and iterative, building on experience from each experimental ‘release’ in real world test environments. Content created by children and teachers was positioned, where possible on a multilayered map, then enriched with new content which enabled subsequent development of the game itself. The objects uploaded can be seen in Game Desk. (See Game portfolio under Games Toolkit menu)

eMapps.com platform supported the development of a number of game types drawn from popular genres such as: adventure/quest; simulation; race games; maze games; edutainment activities; creative model building; and shooting/arcade games. The concept involves adding or retrieving information reflecting the cultural diversity - the traditions, stories, music, monuments and languages - of the participating countries and regions through time-specific map-based screen displays.

Teachers Toolkit (D5)
The aim of the eMapps Teachers Toolkit is to point teachers towards the development of a multimedia toolkit for web-based delivery of the main Game Platforms, to support replication of eMapps.com activity in any primary school across the region. This Toolkit includes templates, examples, game scenario scripts, user support guidance etc.

Games Portfolio (D6)
The Games Portfolio has been developed in order to allow the visitors to understand the methodology used for creating the games by collecting to the different documents created in the game development process to one place. The Game Portfolio consists of four main collections of documents. The first three refer components of the games created by the schools and can compare them. The fourth one includes all guidelines developed for teachers on game development process.

Inventory of Available Learning Content (D7)
This deliverable presents the findings of a survey of the New Member States (NMS) lead project partners to identify suitable and available sources of multimedia learning content. In doing the research it has been realised that relatively few sites exist that are suitable and available for inclusion in this inventory.

eMapps Repository (D10)
This deliverable has been developed under eMapps project in order to expose reusable eMapps.com content to other projects and services through a standards-based and fully interoperable eMapps.com repository infrastructure: http://minor.emapps.eun.org

Report on monitoring of test implementation (D11)
This document provides a short end-of-project report on the progress made by the partners from each New Member State in implementing the game platform in the17 schools participating in eMapps.com. The report provides a basis for assessment of the extent and quality of progress across the 8 countries

Contextual analysis of the impact and potential of emapps on national policies in relation to strategic elearning initiatives at European level (D13)
A survey of national or regional policies in relation to the use of ICT in the curriculum, covering developments in national school curricula, in lesson planning and teaching methodologies as well as use of ICT in education was conducted. Results are available in the form of participating countries reports, that were updated in the January 2008.

Individual National reports are available for Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovakia.

Report on Learning Impact (D14)
The eMapps.com games were complex in terms of both of pedagogy and organisation. They took place in different countries with players using different languages; in different schools with very different curricula; with children of different ages and varying skills and abilities; and with teachers with different experience, training and skills. Despite this, it is clear that both teachers and children found them to be challenging and enjoyable experiences. This report is principally concerned with the impact of the games on the children’s learning.

Exploitation Plan (D16)
The Exploitation Plan for eMapps.com as described in the Grant Agreement, posits a consortium wide assessment of possible business models for sustainable roll-out of the eMapps.com solution, with findings to be made available for the project’s Final Conference which was held in Prague on 12 February 2008.

• Markland M, Butters G, and Brophy P (2007)
• The History of the Future: evaluating projects and service developments before they begin
• Performance Measurement and Metrics Vol 8 Number 1