serious games

The project has been implemented through the following phases:

The first phase is aimed at the development of a specific SMILEY methodology enabling the teachers involved in the project to apply the multimedia technologies having as final aim engaging the students on different social issues and problems such as bullying, violent attitudes, ethnic and religious discrimination, etc...

The second phase is oriented to practical training of Referring Teachers in the use of ICT in education. The specific objective of this phase has been achieved through the design and implementation of integrated courses and through  the provision of specific textbooks designed to allow teachers to make the best use of digital potential and to facilitate the transmission and dissemination of the SMILEY  methodology to other teachers in the respective countries.

The third phase will be addressed to the direct involvement of students through the experimentation of “Your Town”, an educational role-playing game (ERPG) as an interactive tool of testing and stimulating the students' level of social mindedness. Through a game-based learning approach and within a safe virtual town scenario, this exciting new game encourages players age 10–16 years to think about various positive and negative social issues and situations with a view to promoting constructive, co-operative, social minded behaviour. 

The GaLA motivation stems from the acknowledgment of the potentiality of Serious Games (SGs) for education and training and the need to address the challenges of the main stakeholders of the SGs European landscape (users, researchers, developers/industry, educators). A foundational fault issue in this context is the fragmentation that affects the SG landscape.

GALA aims to shape the scientific community and build a European Virtual Research Centre (VRC) aimed at gathering, integrating, harmonizing and coordinating research on SGs and disseminating knowledge, best practices and tools as a reference point at an international level. The other two key focuses of the project are (1) the support to deployment in the actual educational and training settings and (2) the fostering of innovation and knowledge transfer through research-business dialogue.

The NoE organizations aim to integrate their activities and resources in a long-term view structuring the activities along 3 major axes:
•    Research integration and harmonization.
      -    Strong integration among leading researchers, users and business;
      -    Strong concern on the current standards of education;
      -    Address sustainability.
•    Joint research activities.
      -    Identify key issues and address them through multidisciplinary teams, putting always the users – learners and teachers - and stakeholders in the centre of the focus;
      -    Promote Research and Development team forces that will do focused research and continuously inform the project about the latest developments in technology and education;
•    Spreading of excellence.
      -    Dissemination of the NoE achievements as a flagship EU initiative in the TEL area
      -    Strong coordination with EU TEL activities, offering a specialized focus and expertise on SGs