Third Round for Games In Schools MOOC
In the context of Safer Internet Day, Video Games Europe is happy to announce a third round of the online Games In Schools course for teachers, following a successful second edition which took place in the Summer of 2015 on the European Schoolnet Academy, a platform dedicated to the online professional development of teachers across Europe.
Games In Schools is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) that has developed into a large online community of teachers from around Europe. Participants of past and future editions can exchange views, resolve questions and share experiences via a public Facebook group. Similar to the first instalments, the Games In Schools course aims to instruct teachers about the potential of games in the context of the classroom. The course consists of six modules:
• Why use computer games?
• Using games for thematic learning
• Learning games – what games are out there that will help children learn?
• What can we learn from games?
• Designing games
• Why is it important to teach about games?
At the close of the second edition of Games in Schools, a prize raffle was organised for teachers who completed the course and submitted the best lessons plans. Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Ubisoft provided game consoles, video games and download vouchers for use in classrooms.
(photos: Güniz Çalışkan Kılıç)
A third edition will kick off in April 2016 for a duration of six weeks. Teachers can enroll for this MOOC in March on the website of European Schoolnet Academy. The modules will be updated with new content and in addition to the English subtitles, there will now also be subtitles in Italian, Greek and Romanian. The course will now also feature two webinars, live events during which participants can interact with the course instructors.
“This second round of the MOOC was as big a success as the first course, with 1370 new teachers enrolling from all over Europe”, says Simon Little, Managing Director of Video Games Europe. “There is a clear demand among teachers for more information on the use of video games as an educational and motivational tool, and we hope to reach, teach and motivate even more people with a third round.”
Some statistics from the most recent course (May to July 2015):
792 teachers actively engaged in the course, representing a 60% engagement rate, an above average score for a MOOC. Another unusually high score is the 38% completion rate: 301 people completed all modules within the given timeframe. 62% of all participants were secondary school teachers, nearly one in three (31%) teaches in a primary school. The course was especially popular with teachers from Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Romania and Turkey. An online survey showed an overall (99%) positive assessment of the course.
The Games in Schools course features as part of a catalogue of courses in the European Schoolnet Academy, which serves as a central hub for online training opportunities for teachers across Europe. The Academy is linked to other EUN projects such as the Future Classroom Lab, eSkills for Jobs, and the European Commission initiative eTwinning, which all run large-scale teacher networks and thereby mutually provide exposure amongst teachers.