Engage Learning Portal

The experiences in previous and on-going game related projects show that there is; a high potential in the application of games for learning; a strong interest amongst an increasing group of practitioners in the introduction of new game-based approaches; a lack of awareness amongst other stakeholders of the potentials of games for learning and for curricular contents; a lack of information about where to obtain resources and good practice relevant for curricular contents; and a lack of awareness regarding quality issues in the context of games used for learning.

The ENGAGE activities are structured to have a wide-ranging impact: (i) the objective is to prove that GBL is a method applicable for all five sectors of education, (ii) the ENGAGE tools will support adaptation of GBL regarding local and cultural issues, and (iii) the valorisation activities are defined to cover directly 12 EC countries and to initiate further dissemination and uptake of tools and methods in the rest of the countries.

• The specific objectives of ENGAGE are:The creation of a European Games-Based Learning (GBL) Portal: a central information resource for people interested in games for learning and using games for curricular contents. Using a combination of Web 2.0 technologies (forums, wikis, blogs, podcasts, webspaces) the portal will provide:

• Documented methodologies for developing and implementing game-based learning for practitioners, developers, and other stakeholders of the learning community.
• A basis for a Europe-wide dialogue on the role of games and game-based approaches in Education and training and their acceptance by and effects on society, focusing on localisation and cultural issues as well as safety and rating agendas.
• For the dissemination for existing eLearning and Minerva project outcomes (e.g. UniGame, SIG-GLUE, etc.), as well as for ongoing projects related to the application of games for learning and the valorisation of these.

• Offering targeted workshops thus creating the future by:

• supporting practitioners/teachers/tutors in developing a predictive and proactive capacity to select games,
• assisting stakeholders in the adaptation and adoption of learning games in their teaching and learning processes, thus increasing the pleasure of learning,
• collaborating with game designers/producers in the development of new educational products.

• Increasing the monitoring capacity of policy makers on the development of Game-based learning (GBL) in Europe and on the promotion of quality approaches to education and learning supporting the motivation to learn thus also the pleasure of learning.

ENGAGE is a European Network for Growing Activity in Game-based learning in Education offering:

• Creation of a European Games-Based Learning (GBL) Portal.
• Documented methodologies for developing and implementing game-basedlearning for practitioners.
• Europe-wide dialogue on the role of games and game-based approaches in allsectors of education and training.
• Acceptance of GBL by society, focusing on localisation and cultural issues.

ENGAGE will support practitioners/teachers/tutors by:

• Targeted workshops in 12 EC countries.
• Assisting stakeholders to introduce games in their teaching andlearning processes.
• Online tools for adaptation and adoption of learning games.
• Collaborating with game designers/producers.