When launching the 2013 Communication Opening up Education, the Commission highlighted that, despite many investments and initiatives in the field, between 50% and 80% of students in EU countries never use digital textbooks, exercise software, broadcasts/podcasts, simulations or learning games as tools to learn.
Also, according to the Communication, most of the teachers do not considered themselves as 'digitally confident' or able to teach using digital solutions at their full potential, even if a high percentage (around 70%) of them is interested in using innovative digital based approaches if backed up by more training and the necessary knowledge, skills and competences in using ICTs.

Within this framework Videogames and Apps are the two technological assets for which there is the highest gap between the existing and potential educational added value and the capacities of teachers to make full use of it.

The project identifies the following target groups and related needs:

Future teachers need to:

• develop an in depth picture of the actual state of art as far as educational videogames are concerned.
• develop the skills to follow the evolution of the market of educational videogames and apps and quickly adapt their teaching methods and contents to make full use of them.
• access to methodological, pedagogical and skills assessment aspects of the use of videogames and apps in educational contexts.

The project aims to:

• investigate the state of art as far as educational videogames are concerned, analyzing their characteristics and technical solutions, as well as their didactic potential and provide teachers with the skills to follow the evolution of the market and quickly adapt their teaching methods and contents to make full use of them.
• provide future teachers with a comprehensive reflection on the innovation of didactic methods through the use of videogames and ludic apps for mobiles.
• to provide future teachers with the basic knowledge of programming languages in order to make them autonomous in developing simple educational videogames and apps for mobile.

The project will impact on direct beneficiaries providing them with:

• Reviewed educational videogames describing their characteristics and the technical solutions they adopt, as well as their didactic potential to be used for educational purposes.
• The necessary skills to follow the evolution of the market and quickly adapt their teaching methods and contents to make full use of them.
• Innovative pedagogic and methodological skills and competences to make effective use of videogames and apps in their lessons and to plan an integrated, organic and effective educational plan including the most innovative products available on the market.
• Comprehensive set of guidance materials and operative tools addressing the theme of innovation of didactic methods through the use of videogames and ludic apps for mobiles and to perform the assessment of competences, skills and knowledge according to the principles of the ECVET and ECTS systems, applying them to educational Videogames.
• Skills and competences to create their own didactical products that exploit Videogames and multimedia technical solutions for educational and training purposes.

In order to achieve the above mentioned results the project will develop 3 Intellectual Outputs:

IO 1 – Videogames and Apps for education
Online database of educational Videogames and mobile apps as well as commercial Videogames and Apps that despite not specifically designed for educational purpose have a clear and strong educational potential.
The videogames and apps will be thoroughly categorized, analyzed and assessed in order to provide the users of the repository with a set of information aimed at making the Videogame/App effectively usable in teaching contexts.

IO 2 – Manual for the use of Videogames and Apps in education
Guide for future teachers on how to use videogames and apps for educational purpose, also in traditional teaching contexts.
The guide will be structured in modules organised in learning units highlighting the learning outcomes according to the ECVET principles.
The contents will be developed in order to make full use of ICT and Media, providing teachers with e-texts explaining the main aspects of the different subjects’.
Each chapter will contain at least 5 among practical activities, exemplary case studies and/or learning objects to put into practices the theoretical concepts, at least 2 real case scenarios to be used with the students and 1 interactive test to allow teachers to self-assess the knowledge acquired.

IO 3 – E-learning package on videogames and apps for education
E-learning based training package providing future teachers with the basic knowledge of programming languages and authoring tools in order to make them autonomous in developing educational videogames and apps for mobile learning.
The contents of the e-learning based training package will be structured in 3 modules, each being organised in learning units.
The contents will be developed in order to make 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 will contain at least 2 practical activities, exemplary case studies and/or learning objects to put into practices the theoretical concepts and 1 interactive test to allow teachers to self-assess the knowledge acquired.