The GaLA motivation stems from the acknowledgment of the potentiality of Serious Games (SGs) for education and training and the need to address the challenges of the main stakeholders of the SGs European landscape (users, researchers, developers/industry, educators). A foundational fault issue in this context is the fragmentation that affects the SG landscape.
GALA aims to shape the scientific community and build a European Virtual Research Centre (VRC) aimed at gathering, integrating, harmonizing and coordinating research on SGs and disseminating knowledge, best practices and tools as a reference point at an international level. The other two key focuses of the project are (1) the support to deployment in the actual educational and training settings and (2) the fostering of innovation and knowledge transfer through research-business dialogue.
The NoE organizations aim to integrate their activities and resources in a long-term view structuring the activities along 3 major axes:
Research integration and harmonization.
Strong integration among leading researchers, users and business;
Strong concern on the current standards of education, in order to favour a real uptake and scaling of the educational games initiatives.
Address sustainability.
Joint research activities.
Identify key issues and address them through multidisciplinary teams (putting always the users – learners and teachers and stakeholders in the centre of the focus) that will be iteratively explored;
Promote Research and Development team forces – organized in thematic areas - that will do focused research (e.g. joint PhD and MSc projects on hot SG research projects, joint project proposals) and continuously inform the project about the latest developments in technology and education;
Spreading of excellence.
Dissemination of the NoE achievements as a flagship EU initiative in the TEL area
Strong coordination with EU TEL activities, offering a specialized focus and expertise on SGs.