Expected Results – ICT Tools
In the framework of the Erasmus + funded project “Enhancing critical thinking in schools for marine pollution using innovative ICT technologies (Sea4All)”, School games and educational portal for environmental consciousness raising and especially for marine pollution issues will be developed and used for educational purposes in schools as part of a special educational curriculum for enhancing environmental awareness in schools.
a. educational portal
The e-learning platform will be an on-line platform so that it can be accessed from almost everywhere (as long as Internet connectivity is available) and will support multilingual environment (at least the languages of the participating countries). Moreover, among other activities and resources that will be incorporated in the e-learning platform, packages will be created for training content to follow and conform to e-learning standards (e.g. SCORM), allowing to share, reuse and expand context.
Aim of the e-learning platform is to spread knowledge and training. The content will be elaborated appropriately for an e-learning platform, mainly contributed by the Technological developments in Marine Pollution and taking into consideration the educational aspects.
End-users will be utilizing web-based computing, as there is an indisputable need for tools that provide access to knowledge and learning from almost anywhere. The platform will be based on a learning management system, using and creating innovative features. The users will have the possibility to find among others courses and timetables, lecture materials, best practices, situational reports, social functionalities (forums, etc.). Furthermore, innovative educational material (ongoing development of contents will be ensured during the course of the project, on the basis of all project activities) will be produced and be converted in a harmonized format to facilitate the acquisition of the appropriate knowledge, and promote critical thinking in environmental context.
The e-learning platform will offer a well-balanced combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning methods. Synchronous e-learning will be realized, which demands additional technical solutions and specifications, as well as the training of all parties involved in the related tools and different ways of teaching. A virtual class room for conducting synchronous e-learning programs will be implemented and used in the e-learning platform, in the framework of the Sea4All project. The virtual classroom will conduct highly effective and on-line classes by enabling the on-line collaboration between the learning community using audio & video communication tools.
b. on-line learning game
Aim of this innovative ICT based on-line learning game (a “Serious Game”) is to advance the skills, promote and motivate in a playful manner the learners for responsible behaviors, achieving the greatest positive impact, through the use of ICT.
It will give the opportunity among other innovative features to present multimedia content, simulate processes and structured stories/scenarios (elaborated content appropriate for the game formats and mechanics, mainly contributed by the Technological developments in Marine Pollution. Furthermore, game design principles (such as fidelity, objectives, constraints, easy to learn, fun to master, success criteria, rewards etc.) will be used and following activities concerning conceptualization, iterative design process and prototyping, in order to create a useful and meaningful game, as well as to illustrate and design the context in which the game can be most effectively implemented. For the development of the on-line game not only innovative technologies are required but also sophisticated didactical usage concepts in order to be successful and effective for comprehensive educational tasks. The on-line game may deliver boards and levels where the learners become familiar with another way of learning by doing things rather than listening or reading having the possibility to improve their comprehension and information retention rate.
ICT learning games have the potential to be a significant tool for training due to the learner’s interaction that should be encouraged, the attractiveness of the games as well as the immersive activities. The innovative learning material that will be produced (ongoing development of contents and structured scenarios will be ensured during the course of the project) and used will be relevant to learner’s needs in order to acquire the appropriate knowledge, and to promote critical thinking in environmental context (i.e. marine pollution). The aspects of the game will also cover topics that will have the appropriate pedagogical added value of fun and competition for marine environment themes, attractive interface designs for the learners, maintainability, sustainability and feasibility within the Sea4All project framework and upgrade capabilities.
The game will support at least the languages for the participating countries. The language mechanism (support multilingual environment) will be developed in a way that could be easily be adapted to other languages. The learning game will be an on-line learning game so that can be accessed from almost everywhere (as long as Internet connectivity is available).