Mario Barajas University of Barcelona TEACHERS AS GAMES DESIGNERS: TOWARDS CREATIVE TEACHING

CREATIVITY & INNOVATION  European Parliament and the Council ›“Europe needs innovation, and learning systems which inspire innovation” ›Creativity should be seen “as a driver for innovation and as a key factor for the development of personal, occupational, entrepreneurial and social competences”

CREATIVITY & INNOVATION Council conclusions on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (‘ET 2020’) Strategic objective 4: “Enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training.”

CREATIVITY AT WORK Ferrán Adrià, head chef of El Bulli, the best restaurant of the world for 5 years  “At the beginning I just copied what others did…to be creative is precisely to not to copy.”  “If you want to be creative you have to work very hard”

CREATIVITY IN ART

CREATIVITY & LEARNING “Education has the dual power to cultivate and to stifle creativity” (UNESCO, 1972)

THE CREATIVE TEACHER “Using imaginative approaches to make learning more interesting, exciting and effective” (NACCCE, 1999)

GAME-BASED LEARNING TEACHING CREATIVELY “Using imaginative approaches to make learning more interesting, exciting and effective” (NACCCE, 1999) GAME-BASED LEARNING (GBL)  Enhances learners’ motivation  Increase players’ immersion, attention span, and learning outcomes

›Provide challenging experiences that promote intrinsic satisfaction of players ›Risk-free learning environments ›Enable learner’s self-evaluation GAME-BASED LEARNING “Players have fun while playing a game—they have to learn it” (Prensky, 2001)

GAME-BASED LEARNING  Video games as genuine learning environments, allow for ›Active Learning ›Exploratory Learning ›Meta-cognitive skills ›Problem-Based Learning

GAME-BASED LEARNING  Barriers to games in formal learning ›Teachers' expectations ›Integration into the curriculum ›Managers’ and parents’ concerns

THE PROACTIVE APPROACH TEACHER Designs his / her own GBL scenario Puts the GBL scenario into practice with his / her students

THE PROACTIVE PROJECT KA3 - ICT January 2010 – December 2011 FOSTERING TEACHERS’ CREATIVITY THROUGH GBL

 Universitat de Barcelona (coordinator) - Spain  Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma - Italy  CAST Ltd. - UK  Università di Napoli - Italy  Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Spain  Universidad de Bucharest - Romani a THE PROACTIVE PROJECT

TEACHERS AS GAME DESIGNERS Design of GBL scenarios tailored to specific teaching contexts and students’ profiles Creative GBL teaching and learning practices Creative teacher

FIVE METAPHORS FOR LEARNING  Imitation  Acquisition  Participation  Discovery  Exercising

TEACHER TRAINING AND CO-DESIGN TEACHERSRESEARCHERS DESIGN OF A GBL SCENARIO › Planning of GBL activities › Development of an educational game using and EUTOPIA editors

GBL SCENARIOS  58 GBL scenarios ›29 for schools ›15 for vocational training ›14 for universities  A wide range of subjects covered ›Local history, medical education, physics, negotiation skills, forensic skills, ICT, etc.

GBL SCENARIOS  Examples of games created by teachers

MAIN PROJECT OUTCOMES  Adapted release of EUTOPIA and game editors  Collection of Templates and libraries

MAIN PROJECT OUTCOMES  A repository of 60 GBL scenarios

 GACET’11 Conference - Games and Creativity in Education and Training  Conference book MAIN PROJECT OUTCOMES

 Psycho-pedagogical Framework for Fostering GBL Creativity  Handbook for the Production of Creative GBL Scenarios  Guidelines for Game-Based Learning Practices

IMPLEMENTATION IN THE CLASSROOM  18 GBL scenarios tested  9 pilot sites with ›More than 120 school students ›Around 100 university students ›Around 100 vocational training students

OPPORTUNITIES  Game design is fun  Collaborative game design is richer than working individually  Game design allows for using different learning metaphors (for mostly participation and discovery)  GBL enriches the role of teacher

OPPORTUNITIES  GBL is a way to get closer to students  GBL stimulates self-regulation and learning by doing  GBL encourages collaboration among students, and competition, too  GBL helps improve the visibility of the institutions

CHALLENGES  GBL design requires training and support  GBL design requires a big time investment  Technical constraints can limit creativity

FINAL REMARKS: Organisational level  the school system remains content oriented.  Limited support to innovation: time constraints and lack of incentives

FINAL REMARKS: Pedagogical level  GBL allows for using different (combinations of) learning metaphors  GBL breaks the boundaries between formal and informal learning  To innovate teaching practices through GBL at school requires to integrate it in traditional practices

FINAL REMARKS: Professional development  Technology (GBL) is not enough: promote training that is seen as meaninful, and professionally effective  Promote teachers training that is shared with colleagues, within the school activities

Thanks for you attention. Mario Barajas University of Barcelona