Learning by making educational games:

the MAGICAL project

Jeffrey Earp Institute for Educational Technology, CNR Italy

2GALA Summer School, Pori FI 21/07/2014

MAGICAL snapshot

What? game making for learning and transversal skills

When? 1 Jan. 2012 – 01 Oct. 2014 (33 months)

How? EU Longlife Learning Progamme KA3 (ICT)

Who? Institute for Education Technology, CNR (IT) Tampere University of Technology - TUT (FI) Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (BE)

GALA Summer School, Pori FI 21/07/2014

Main project objectives

• Investigate collaborative game making as a student-centred, hands-on approach to learning

• Shed light on benefits for transversal skills: collaboration, problem-solving, creativity, ICT literacy

• Support broader uptake of collaborative game making in education

GALA Summer School, Pori FI 21/07/2014

Target populations

• Primary & lower secondary school students

• Student teachers

• In-service teachers

• Practitioners in special needs (SEN)

GALA Summer School, Pori FI 21/07/2014

Core outputs

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Magos game making platform

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Learning design tool for game making activities

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• reusable activity plans • ready-to-use

educational games • guide for educational

practice • teacher training kit

Resources to support take up of game making

Library of Game Making Environments for Learners

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empirical evidence on

game making approach

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research base

Core activities

• teacher training (BE, FI, GR, IT, UK) • class experiments (BE, FI, GR, IT, UK) • analysis of data & outputs • iterative generation of tools & resources • dissemination of results and outputs to

support wider uptake

GALA Summer School, Pori FI 21/07/2014

Classroom experiences

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Magos Lite platform: Finland, Greece, Italy

Sploder: Belgium & UK

using different game editors

Italy & Greece

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Classroom experiences

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Italy: 7 primary classes (grades 3 to 5) 2 lower secondary classes (first form) 7 individual learners in SEN school = 170+ learners, 14 teachers, 7 SEN staff = approx. 50 hours

Greece: 10 primary classes (grades 3 to 5) 120+ learners, 10 teachers = approx. 50 hours

Classroom experiences

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a short video

another short video

Some preliminary findings

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• Most noticeable impact on motivation, engagement and collaboration

• High acceptance levels • Magos Lite most suited for grades 3 - 5 • Need for careful planning, preparation

and classroom orchestration

MAGICAL website http://www.magical-project.net/

Pedagogical Planner http://www.magical.itd.cnr.it/

Library of Game Making Tools for Learners

http://amc.pori.tut.fi/game-building-tools

MAGICAL bibliography on Mendeley http://www.mendeley.com/groups/1932391/magical-collaborative-game-design-for-learning/

Scoop.It! curated game making feed

http://www.scoop.it/t/game-making-and-learning

email magical@itd.cnr.it

my email jeff@itd.cnr.it

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MAGICAL links

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Thanks!

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https://tackk.com/0r6gmm

Jeffrey Earp

www.magical-project.eu

21/07/2014