We were excited to find out we were part of a successful Erasmus+ bid in August to make a brand new games-based learning resource with 5 academic partners from across Europe.
Erasmus+ is an European Union scheme to stimulate co-operation across Europe mainly between Universities. We’re obviously not a university but have been hired due to our expertise in GBL.
Our excellent academic partners in this venture are: the University of Brussels (Belgium), the University of Salzburg (Austria), the University of Cordoba (Spain), Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) and the University of Westminster (UK).
The project has kicked off with a 3 day transnational meeting in the very excellent Manchester, which was eye opening.
We have developed GBL resources with teachers, with local authorities and with a university before, but never with 5 partners! Trying to understand all the different requirements, the different contexts in each country, the different practicalities and meeting those requirements is quite a challenge, especially considering budget constraints.
As always I have been impressed by the linguistic ability of our European colleagues and after 3 days their endurance.
The enthusiasm to develop a GBL resource that impacts learning using a unique pedagogical approach and a real focus on the hopes/aims was enlightening. There have been significant concerns about how teaches would use the resource & the practicalities of using the resource in a class environment.
I particularly enjoyed hearing the debates in each country about the interaction between politics and education. I only heard the word PISA once!
We are really looking forward to working with our new partners and seeing the results!
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