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Field experiences: “ProActive” and “T3 -Teaching to Teach with Technology” Projects

15 January, 2016 - 09:48

Two projects funded by the EU Leonardo Da Vinci Life Long Learning Program,“ProActive” (project website: www.proactive-project.eu) and “Teaching to Teach with Technology - T3” (project website: www.t3.unina.it), are designed to validate an innovative teacher/trainer program, demonstrating realistic ways of exploiting advanced techniques within the real constraints facing teachers in their work. Both projects employ a platform for the creation of educational role-playing game called EUTOPIA, that will be better described below.

This game editor is particularly aimed to train and improve soft skills. In addition to the theoretical and technical education, training agencies are also in charge of transferring to students a set of behavioral skills that are a necessary background to deal with professional communities and society. Examples of such skills are the ability to manage emergencies, the ability to negotiate, to take decisions collectively, the attitude to understand others’ view points. In general, the teaching of soft skills is primarily linked to experience, where a teacher organizes, supervises and encourages small groups of learners to take part in role playing and simulation.

Most of these techniques for learning soft skills can be transferred in digital platforms and online technologies. There are many different educational games (serious games) in which the player-learner has a specific role and must pursue a goal assigned by the teacher / trainer. Trainers can find games that are dedicated to the transfer of a particular segment of knowledge/skills (closed systems) and platforms that enable teachers and learners to develop and edit their own educational scenarios with specific goals (open systems).