The project partners dedicated October, the last month of the project, to the organisation of succesful multiplier events, during which they presented the Intellectual Outputs to future teachers and educators, to professors and researchers interested in pedagogy and to policy makers in order to enhance the project visibility and sustainability. More information about the Multiplier Events are available at: https://v4t.pixel-online.org/conference.php
The contents of the e-learning based training package are now available on the Portal and easily accessible from the dedicated section: https://v4t.pixel-online.org/e-learning.php The course, structured in 3 modules, makes full use of ICT and Media, providing teachers with e-texts explaining the main aspects of the different subjects and references to existing manuals, demos, guidelines and wizards that are available on-line. Each module provides also practical activities, exemplary case studies and/or learning objects to put into practices the theoretical concepts and interactive test to allow teachers to self-assess the knowledge acquired.
The project partnership of the V4T project is currently preparing the E-Learning Package in order to have everything ready by September and for the Final Conference that will be held in Valencia and organised by the University of Valencia on the 5 October.
The Manual Videogames For Teachers: From Research To Action is now fully available on line in English and is currently being translated to make it available in all languages. The Manual contents are easily accessible from https://v4t.pixel-online.org/manual.php and will also be published from McGraw Hill publishing company. The Manual aims to provide future teachers with the necessary knowledge, competences and skills on how to effectively implement videogames and apps for educational purposes. The Manual contents are organised in three Sections and integrated by practical activities, exemplary case studies, learning objects to put into practices the theoretical concepts, real case scenarios to be used with the students and an interactive test to allow teachers to self-assess the knowledge acquired.
Project partner representatives participated into the Training week organised by Accademia di Brera entitled "Apps and Videogames in Education". The seminar was an important opportunity to in depth the thematic issues addressed by the V4T project, implementing a common reflection on: - The state of the art of educational Apps and video games in schools - The use of Videogames in the Teaching-Learning Processes - Workshops with future teachers of multimedia education. - Videogames and visual learning environment of educational Apps at School
The project partners presented the V4T project during different conferences dedicated to education and new technologies. Such activities are very important to provide visibility to the project outputs and create opportunities for their sustainability. V4T project and and its outcomes were presented: - in the 6thTechnology Transfer Exhibition – Patras Innovation Quest (Patras IQ), held in Patras from 12 to 14 April 2019. - in an educational event on 23 of April in Birštonas Public Library in Lituania, regarding to the establishment of new science and technologies area - During the eight edition of the New Perspectives in Science Education international conference, held in Florence (IT), on 21/03/2019,
The third meeting of the V4T project steering committee took place in Patras (GR) on 7 – 8 February 2019. The third meeting was an opportunity for the project partners to go through and share the results produced so far. In particular, the project experts shared and discussed the contents of the Manual for the use of Videogames in Education. The meeting was also an opportunity for the partners to make a detailed planning of the creation of the contents of the E-Learning Package on programming languages and authoring tools in order to make them autonomous in developing educational videogames and apps for mobile learning.
The V4T European project is currently in the second year of its life cycle and its results are getting more and more evident and available on the project website. This is the main reason why it is important to disseminate that information which can have a significant impact on project target users. And this is the main reason why the press review’ section – containing articles, web-articles and exchange links related to the V4T project aims, activities and results – has been recently updated and developed. It is available at: https://v4t.pixel-online.org/press-reviews.php.
The second product of the V4T project is represented by a Manual entitled after “Videogames for Teachers: from Research to Action”, which aims at providing future teachers with the necessary knowledge, competences and skills on how to effectively implement videogames and apps for educational purposes. The Manual contents have been organized in three Sections and will be integrated by practical activities, exemplary case studies, learning objects to put into practices the theoretical concepts, real case scenarios to be used with the students and an interactive test to allow teachers to self-assess the knowledge acquired. It is now possible to access to the Syllabus of the Manual and to the Abstract of the different Chapters at the following link: https://v4t.pixel-online.org/manual.php.
Teachers are the main users of the V4T project and of its deliverables. As the project aims at providing future teachers with a comprehensive reflection on the innovation of didactic methods through the use of videogames and ludic apps for mobiles, their feedback and contribution is essential. This is the main reason why, each entry available in the Online Database of Videogames and Apps reviews has been implemented with a box where project users, mainly teachers, can share their feedbacks, critics and doubts.
Once received the feedbacks by the teachers involved in the workshops, the Online Database of Videogames and Apps reviews has been implemented, reaching a total of 120 entries. In addition, for each entry the following criteria have been set and filled in: degree of required tutoring, subjects involved, educational potential, learning objects / suggested activities with students, skills and competences acquired. The updated version of the Online Database of Videogames and Apps reviews is available at: https://v4t.pixel-online.org/videogames.php.
Once produced the Online Database of Videogames and Apps reviews, project partners were asked to test it, organizing specific workshops and inviting educators from various educational institutions. Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) organized one of the testing workshops and produced a video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkN5a46fi-I.
A project like the V4T one, whose methodologies and results can be worldwide implemented, deserved a strong visibility, especially in conferences and events specifically addressed to lecturers, teachers and trainers. This is the main reason why the project has been presented in the framework of conferences, summits and festival. Information about the events and the conferences the V4T was presented in is available at: https://v4t.pixel-online.org/conference.php.
The first product of the V4T European project is represented by an online database composed by the best educational Videogames and mobile apps available on the market and the most suitable Videogames and Apps that, even if not specifically designed for educational purpose, can be used as teaching or learning tools with students. The Database aims at providing teachers with all the necessary information and hints to make full use of the Videogames and Apps in teaching contexts. The first 50 amongst videogames and apps are now available at: https://v4t.pixel-online.org/videogames.php.
The second meeting of the V4T project steering committee took place in Graz (AT) on 12 – 13 April 2018. The second meeting was an opportunity for the project partners to go through and share the results produced so far. Andrés Paya and Andrea Peraldo conducted the meeting and all partners contributed with the presentation of the activities carried out. The state of art of the Repository of Videogames and Apps reviews was analysed and discussed and a set of improvements were agreed upon. The project experts also further discussed the Manual structure and contents. The meeting was also an opportunity for the partners to make a detailed planning of the project future activities.
The first reviews of Videogames and Apps are now available in the Repository https://v4t.pixel-online.org/videogames.php. The Reviews explore the educational potential of Videogames and Apps also suggesting practical examples on how to use them with the students for teaching purposes and for making lessons more interactive and involving.
In the Videogames & Apps section https://v4t.pixel-online.org/videogames.php it is now available the provisional list of Videogames and Apps that the project partners' experts selected as the most interesting to be used for educational purposes. The selected Videogames and Apps will now be reviewed by the experts and the related information will be soon available in the online repository.
The kickoff meeting of the European project V4T – Videogames 4 Teachers was held on 17 - 18 November 2017 at Pixel site in Florence. During the first meeting, the European project partners introduced themselves as well as their project’s related experiences and expertise. The main activities to be carried out were presented and discussed.
The V4T – Videogames 4 Teachers project started officially in November and involves 7 organisations from 5 different European countries. The V4T project aims to promote innovation of didactic methods through the use of videogames and ludic apps and to provide future teachers with the necessary skills and competences to make effective use of videogames and ludic apps in education.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
The V4T - Videogames 4 Teachers project © 2018