Learning through fun and games
International project works on educational games for mobile devices.
Münster. From 15th until 17th January, organisations from Germany, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Poland and Italy had a kick-off-meeting of the project “Mobile Games In The Youth Work” in Sofia in Bulgaria. The project, which is among others realized by the Bennohaus Münster (Arbeitskreis Ostviertel e.V.), deals with the integration of educational eGames for mobile devices in youth work.
During the last ten years, computer software was developed with which children and adolescents were able to gain knowledge and enlarge their competences through fun and games. Lately, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets became more important and made it possible to access the nearly infinite knowlegde of the internet from everywhere. Educational games, designed for mobile devices, are still rare. But this kind of software could be used in youth work and enrich the competences of youth workers. The project mGames aims to close this gap.
Among others, one ambition of the project is the devolopment of some educational games making it possible for children and youngsters to enlarge their knowledge in the areas of intercultural learning, green thinking, and entrepreneurship. The outcome will be available in the App Store, Google Play Store and on the internet platform of mGames for free download. Moreover, 120 youth workers will be trained in dealing with the software. They will learn how to integrate educational games for mobile devices into their work as well as how to develop those games by themselves. Also, youngsters and youth organisations are supposed to learn about the development of educational software.
Arndt Selders, department manager of “International work” in the Bennohaus in Münster, is project manager of mGames and took part in the kick-off-meeting. He looks forward to the new possibilities the project will open up for youth work. “Since we have not used eGames so far in our work, it will be interesting to help to create these and to see how they can be integrated into our regular work as an additional new tool”, he explains.
The project started on 1st January and will end on 31th December of this year. The next meeting will take place in Maribor, Slovenia, from 28 to 30 May.
Erasmus+ programme and Arbeitskreis Ostviertel e.V. are sponsors of the project.
At the picture above, representatives of the organizations discussed about educational games for mobile devices in Sofia.
