SEGAN
Community of Practice for Teachers, Developers, Researchers and Students to share experiences about Serious Games.
VIRTUAL CAMPUS developed a social network to support SEGAN (Serious Games Network) Virtual Community of Practice for Teachers, Developers, Researchers and Students to share experiences about Serious Games.
Serious Games are specifically designed to change behaviors and impart knowledge and are widely used in training situations, such as emergency preparedness, training for leadership and even citizenship. These games have wide acceptance due to their challenging design and the social interactions that they generate. Research showed that games also develop mental abilities and skills such as strategy and decision making. They also promote digital competence and other key transversal competences for life and employability.
In the scope of the LLP programme and other preceding programmes, there have been several projects addressing this issue with good results. Looking at the ADAM, EVE and EST portals we can see that there are about 65 projects in total under this thematic. It is now the time to systematize the European approaches to Serious Games, combining theory, research and practice in a way that promotes Europe as the leader in this field.
The SEGAN (Serious Games Network) proposal addresses that need by getting together coordinators of those projects promoting a Community of Practice under this subject. The main objective is thus to create a stable consortium to exchange ideas and experiences related to Serious Games. This network will be supported by virtual tools and face to face events, in order to increase the visibility and awareness of the benefits and impacts of Serious Games for learning, and contribute to its uptake and efficient use. The planed objectives will be implemented through the creation of a social portal that establishes and supports the Community of Practice on Serious Games. The Community produces annual publications on the design, development, delivery and evaluation of serious games and organizes an annual conference and summer school.
Serious Games are specifically designed to change behaviors and impart knowledge and are widely used in training situations, such as emergency preparedness, training for leadership and even citizenship. These games have wide acceptance due to their challenging design and the social interactions that they generate. Research showed that games also develop mental abilities and skills such as strategy and decision making. They also promote digital competence and other key transversal competences for life and employability.
In the scope of the LLP programme and other preceding programmes, there have been several projects addressing this issue with good results. Looking at the ADAM, EVE and EST portals we can see that there are about 65 projects in total under this thematic. It is now the time to systematize the European approaches to Serious Games, combining theory, research and practice in a way that promotes Europe as the leader in this field.
The SEGAN (Serious Games Network) proposal addresses that need by getting together coordinators of those projects promoting a Community of Practice under this subject. The main objective is thus to create a stable consortium to exchange ideas and experiences related to Serious Games. This network will be supported by virtual tools and face to face events, in order to increase the visibility and awareness of the benefits and impacts of Serious Games for learning, and contribute to its uptake and efficient use. The planed objectives will be implemented through the creation of a social portal that establishes and supports the Community of Practice on Serious Games. The Community produces annual publications on the design, development, delivery and evaluation of serious games and organizes an annual conference and summer school.