Press Release #4 - Templates for Gamified E-Learning Programs: the New ePublication of the Sparks Project Consortium

PRESS RELEASE

The COVID-19 pandemic and the related containment measures have severely hit the labour market. Nevertheless, it has been a catalyst for processes already in place: the digital revolution, the greening of the economy, and the search for new development models. Our interconnected and hypercomplex society has set the stage for renovating its economic system. This renovation process is driven by three factors: geopolitics, sustainability, and digital innovation. Nevertheless, all our cultural and thinking models cannot process and respond to the accelerated increase in social, economic, environmental and technological complexity. In this new scenario, the world of education has a great challenge: providing the tools and knowledge to let this epochal shift become an opportunity. However, overcoming the barriers to change requires the right motivation, and games can be powerful enablers for this purpose. Games represent for us a natural language that helps us represent complex and interrelated concepts, build relationships and actions capable of arousing emotions and triggering our ability to construct new meanings. They create a sense of community and reward intensity and effort over time and the quality of the activities we are engaged in. Games and education have never been so complementary.

Building on the results of international research on gamification and game-based learning and an innovative Conceptual Framework for Gamified E-Learning Programs, through this publication, we aim to share new guiding tools to enrich the toolbox of teachers and trainers to support them in creating their gamified programs. Particularly, the publication collects a set of Templates of Gamified e-Learning Programs, designed together with over 100 education and training experts in our six countries, using Sparks' Conceptual Framework.

The publication also includes a "Facilitator Guide" collecting a set of guiding questions and possible actions for implementing our Conceptual Framework and designing gamified eLearning programs with VET teachers and trainers through Co-creation Labs.

The publication can be accessed and downloaded via the open-access archive Zenodo or via the project website.

ABBRUZZESE Gianluca, LANZETTA Miriam, ACOMI Nicoleta, ACOMI Ovidiu, BOCHNIARZ Joanna, CASTRO ANTONIO Ana María, FRANCO Joana, GONÇALVES Duarte, ILLÁN RODRÍGUEZ Area, KOSTERSKI Maciej, LIPINSKA Anna, LÓPEZ CRUZ María del Carmen, MELISSINOU Raina, & PISTOFIDOU Fenia. (2022). Templates of Gamified E-Learning Programs (Version v1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6835594