SIGE – Social Inclusion Through Gamification in education

​SIGE – Social Inclusion Through Gamification in education is the newly approved Erasmus+ KA204 Projects coordinated by ELA! 
​The partnership will count on the engagement of 7 institutions all around Europe: Fundacja MODE (Poland), Primary school “Sveti Sava” (Serbia), CFIE de Ebro (Spain), Craft College (Croatia), Demetrius Association (Romania), The Comparative Research Network (Germany). 

The project partners will engage in exploring the educational potential of Gamification and game-based learning as an innovative instrument for enhancing active participation, engagement and inclusion in education and in society. The main objective of the project is to support the social inclusion of low skilled adults with a migrant background or belonging to a minority by contributing to the development and increase of a flexible blended gamified learning offer. To this end, the partnership will design a modular blended upskilling learning coursethat addresses the key competences in an innovative way and allows for the recognition of prior knowledge. The course will integrate game-based mechanics and game thinking to turn the learning process as a whole into a game as well as practical apps and tools to use games as part of the learning process. The project aims additionally to empower adult educators to use Gamification and game-based learning to deal with diversified groups and improve the quality of their teaching practice.

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​Intellectual Output of the project

​The Intellectual Output foreseen in the project are:
- O1 Adult education course "Upskill through Gamification" is a blended course that aims to provide a unique gamified learning opportunity for the target group to upskill and enhance their key competences and foster their integration and inclusion into society and the labor market.Five modules have been foreseen in the project design phase (Language Competences, Mathematical Competences, Digital Competences, Cultural Competences and Preparedness, Soft Skills) and will be revised after the Need Analysis has been conducted in all the partner countries. The course will be implemented at the local level in each partner country, empowering 105 migrants (25 per partner country) and 28 educators (4 per partner country) to experience an innovative educational and training experience.
- O2 “SIGE Handbook for Adult Educators working with low skilled people with a migrant background”is a manual to support adult education staff working with the target group in using game-based elements and app in their teaching. The manual will deal with key principles, goals and aims of gamification; state of the art gamification techniques; most frequently used game mechanics and elements; most of all it will report the lessons learnt and good practices from the first editions of the course "Upskill through Gamification".

Activities planned during the project

Several activities are foreseen in the project in order to reach the objectives and support the creation of the Intellectual Outputs.

Research the learning needs of the target group in relation with key competences through a desk and field research. The partners will consult relevant data and state of art research on the education needs of the target group in order to increase knowledge of the local and national contexts.Aquestionnairewill be then submitted to 280 people (40 per country) and interviews with adult educators working with then will be conducted in order to investigate the specific needs to be addressed in the blended education course. The main goal of the research to confirm or having the project partners revise the contents and target competences addressed in the blended education course.

During the second transnational project meeting ELA will organize a short intensive training course on e-learning and gamification for the other partners, with the aim of supporting the partners' staff in working on the blended education course and in becoming familiar, deepen and sharing knowledge about gamification principles. All partners will in turn organize and implement a training module on e-learning and gamification to the Adult Educators interested among the associated partners and stakeholders. Based on interest and engagement of participants, the partners will select the28 Adult Educators (4 per each partner) who will participate in the Local blended education course to test O1.

One local blended education course will be organized in each partner country to test O1. 28 Adult Educators (4 per each partner) will be identified based on the real needs, active participation, commitment and motivation showed during the training delivered to associated partners and local stakeholders after the development of the blended education course. Each Adult Educators thus selected will in turn select 15 migrants who will take part in the training (105 in total).This experience will provide the project partners with the possibility to get a real feedback on O1 and discuss about possible modifications and improvements. At the same time, the local blended course will provide the Adult Educators involved with a real opportunity to put into practice an innovative methodology and the learners involved to experience an engaging learning experience.

Dissemination activities are also crucial in order to ensure that activities and results are properly promoted to the external audience. Besides traditional social media reach, the project partners will engage in meeting with local stakeholder and in the creation of the “SIGE Network” for cross-sectoral cooperation serving the purpose of creating new gamification learning opportunities involving diverse stakeholders at the EU level. The main dissemination activity will be 7 information Multiplier Events (1 in each country) involving at least 300 (60 in Italy, 40 in each of the other partner countries) participants among Adult Educators, Adult Education Representative and Representatives of Migrants and Adult NGOs. In particular, the events intend to illustrate the project achievements while raising awareness on the benefits of gamification education with disadvantaged groups and the possibility of adaptability of the project outcomes.

Expected impacts

​SIGE is expected to impact on several levels:

• At local level we expect to register the greatest impact, adult educators will in particular get acquainted with innovative methodologies to teach and foster the integration of people with fewer opportunities, in turn becoming active agents of similar new initiatives. The local migrant community and minorities will in turn be motivated to engage in adult training.
• At the regional and national level, we expect to see an increase and innovation of the educational offer for migrants. More and more subjects, even among fragile ones, will be included in lifelong learning activities. The contribution of associated partners and stakeholders can encourage, at this level, a positive change also in terms of public policies able to support the integration of migrants into education.
• At European level, thanks to the creation of SIGE network for cross-sectorial cooperation at EU level, other European adult organizations and NGOs will be able to learn about our project, access the blended education course and adapt them to improve and innovate their activities. This will develop a greater sense of belonging to Europe, the creation of new transnational projects and synergies and the development of new teaching paths with an international scope.