"The world of media is changing and school has to adapt new methods of teaching and learning. ""Over the last ten years, the way in which education and training is delivered has changed considerably with the advent of new technologies.""(ECGBL 2016). Learners are getting more and more used to mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. They play on these devices and the number of apps concerning education is increasing. In learning theory the field of game-based learning is becoming more and more important. Little games have always been used in schools to foster motivation of the students, but improvements in technology have lead us to new experiences and new potentials. IT-supported educational games offer both learning and a focus on the vibrant and dynamic world.Using games in education can be done with more or less media and IT support. In games for educational purposes the learning processes are supported concerning several aspects. For example, leaners are forced to focus on solutions for problems and critical thinking or they are encouraged to combine competencies from different topics and areas. Moreover, they are often also encouraged to work in a team or to get in contact with other team members and improve their social skills.Therefore schools and teachers nowadays can't ignore these new approaches. But the problem is that they have to know how to integrate modern game-based learning approaches in their teaching. Most teachers are not really skilled in this field.This is where the ERASMUS+ partnership project GameON makes a difference. The aim of GameON was to get an overview on game-based learning in schools and the needs of teachers in this field and then create a book that introduces teachers to the concept of game-based learning and gives them an overview. The book also takes teachers through several useful serious games in a hands-on approach that helps them understand how the game can be integrated into their classes. The book contains a section on future development of game-based learning, providing a detailed overview of which opportunities technology will provide in the coming years (for instance, individualized learning through learning analytics), and what should be developed in the field of game-based learning in order to take advantage of these opportunities.The book can freely be downloaded as a PDF from he website but it is also available as a free ebook on ebook stores. It will soon be available in several languages as a printed book as well, and it was already widely shared with teachers all over Europe. The consortium sees the result as an important milestone in taking advantage of the opportunities that game-based learning already provides and as an important push forward that helps improve the world of education and prepares it better for future generations of learners."

Non-For-Lesl addresses the challenge of Early School Leaving (ESL) at the stage of school level-intervention. The cooperational basis together with EU countries is to meet the headline target set in the EU 2020 Strategy to reduce ESL to less than 10%. Research has shown that ESL is a complex phenomenon that can cause serious consequences, on the students and their families, as well as on the society and the economy as a whole. ESL is a process rather than a one-off event. It often starts in primary school when students can experience time school failure and growing alienation from school for the first time. School failure often affects students’ perception of themselves, which leads them to adopt restraining characteristics: Growing sense of alienation from school, disruptive behaviour, high level of absenteeism and a lack of confidence and self-esteem. These characteristics might cause them to drop out of school. At the same time, it is well known that a “rich source of human capital” is achieved deliberately or incidentally (OECD) in everyday life. Non-For-Lesl helps students to make their everyday skills, knowledge and competences visible. The consortium developed and pilot-tested MyKey (www.my-key.online). It is an innovative, multi-dimensional OER validation tool and can be used by students additionally to school assessment procedures. MyKey is based on a holistic view of student’s learning while it draws away from boundaries caused by subjects. It presents and validates skills, knowledge and competences acquired through non-formal and informal learning related to the key competences and transversal skills. With MyKey students get the opportunity to showcase their progress and achievement. Throughout their work with MyKey they are engaged in a continuous reflection process towards their own learning. To document the outcome of their additional activities students are able to generate a certificate which is monitored by their school. With this certificate, they can apply for internships and on the job market.The project consortium is made up of six partners: The coordinator, the Institut für Didaktik der Demokratie of the University of Hanover, has a focus on civic education, specialising on key skills and social competences. It has a strong record for developing state of the art educational tools, curricula and teaching material. Platon School is a private school in Katerini with experience in EU projects and the development of learning material and e-learning platforms. Pixel from Florence is a very experienced non-profit organization (NPO) and education and training centre, accredited by the Ministry of Education of Italy with a special focus on ESL. Ingenious Knowledge from Cologne is an SME enterprise, specialized on IT-solutions and is involved in many e-learning tools. Emphasys is a Centre for Education for ICT Training and non-formal learning specialist and provider, accredited by the Cyprus Ministry of Education. Finally, EuroEd is a NPO, which delivers educational services and international training courses, accredited by the Roman ministry of Education. Very experienced in implementing EU projects, they received several awards for the quality of implementation.The project was completed in 25 months and includes six main Intellectual Outputs in following order: 1) a Comparative Study Analysis in which the issues under investigation were analysed and the opinions of the target group (students and teachers) were collected with the use of questionnaires; 2) a framework and a system for the validation of non-formal/informal learning within school based on the key competences; 3) the OER MyKey, 4) step-by-step guides for students, teachers and administrators with background information on the project and on how to use and implement MyKey successfully; 5) an implementation phase of 5 month with an implementation report in the form of case-studies and finally 6) an overall comparative implementation strategy and evaluation: a “ready made – ready to implement” pack for operation.During the whole project, a three-step dissemination strategy was implemented: starting from the school, growing from local to national and arriving at international level. The evaluation has shown a strong and positive impact on the students’ self-esteem, identification with their school and their relationships with their teachers. They see themselves as full-fledged human beings. MyKey received very positive feedback and support from schools, stakeholders and ministries. Several schools will implement MyKey in 2017. They believe in the benefit of MyKey and how it will help their students in the long run. They will gain motivation and higher self-esteem which results in reducing the risk of ESL drastically.

The main aim of the project EU-StORe - European Standards for Open Education and Open Learning Resources is to conceptualise and implement a European inventory of open learning resources, to analyse open learning scenarios and open learning resources, and to create shared common European standards and guidelines for open learning.Open education and open learning resources are actually one of the main educational topics in the EU. In the vision paper on open education 2030 J. M. Pawlowski stated that education is distributed on a global market. Therefore, he argued it is crucial for Europe to engage a broadcommunity in cross-border collaboration to be successful in this field. In the vision paper ´Open Education 2030´ he comes up with six recommendations: (see Pawlowski, p. 78)1. to create an inventory of OER and OEP2. to integrate existing communities3. to integrate curricula4. to create regional networks5. to create global outreach programs6. to support open education policy building !One aim is, that like in a huge store, online learning resources and open learning should be provided all over Europe for free. Although it is a big chance to make education available for a broad European group of interested learners, teachers, and trainers, there is no quality assuranceof the courses, learning resources, and open measures. Pedagogical material and education will be risky, if there are no standards to make sure that the content is correct and didactically well-prepared concerning the aims of the project, the didactical methods, the structure, the level of difficulty, the provided information and tasks as well as concerning the needs of the target groups. In former educational concepts experts wereresponsible to design the curriculum, courses and the learning materials. Nowadays, with unstructured and widely varying creation of content we have to create standards and guidelines to ensure these quality aspects and foster quality to fight social disadvantages, which can occur via wrong, unstructured or misleading information and knowledge. Especially disadvantaged and marginalised groups in European society can suffer from misleading information due to the fact that they face lots of challenges. For example it might be possible that they have fewer chances to identify problems and quality deficits of provided open educational resources themselves. This is the point where EU-StORe comes into action. It is based on the recommendations of Pawlowski and the EU and builds an inventory of online learning resources. Moreover, experts analyse these materials and courses and create standards for open learning activities, which provide a high quality. This leads to guidelines and standards that can be used (a) to create open learning scenarios in the future and (b) to rate existing open learning activities and resources. To integrate this information in the European learning community the standards are provided on an online platform where the inventory is also accessible. This is a basis to foster curricular design and the work of regional networks. The guidelines and standards have to be combined with policy papers, which engage ministries, the European Commission and multipliers in the field of education in different European countries in the process of implementing the standards.In order to conceptualize the inventory, to analyse it and to create standards EU-StORe uses partners who are experts in:• Didactics and open learning / training courses• Developing e-learning concepts• Developing online technology and platform design, ICT design• Dissemination activities and exploitation• Standards and norm creating• Evaluating education programmes• Policy counsellingIn former times educational concepts experts were responsible to design the curriculum, courses and the learning materials. Nowadays, with unstructured and widely varying creation of content we have to create standards and guidelines to ensure these quality aspects and foster quality to fight social disadvantages, which can occur via wrong, unstructured or misleading information and knowledge. This was the point where EU-StORe comes into action. It was based on the recommendations of Pawlowski and the EU and builds an inventory of online learning resources. Moreover, experts have been analysed these materials and courses and created standards for open learning activities, which provide a high quality. This leaded to guidelines and standards that can be used (a) to create open learning scenarios in the future and (b) to rate existing open learning activities and resources. In order to integrate this information in the European learning community the standards were provided on an online platform where the inventory is also accessible. This is a basis to foster curricular design and the work of regional networks. The guidelines and standards have been combined with policy papers, which engage ministries, the European Commission and mu

"<< Background >>The project idea of EU-CERT directly relates to four core aspects of EU policy (a) ""Recognition of skills and qualifications"" (https://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/european-policy-cooperation/development-skills_en), (b) ""EU initiatives on transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications"", (c) the “Reinforcing the development of key competences” which is in line with the Council (d) “Recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning”. Apart from these research- based needs recommendations by several authorities, each of the partners express their own needs to enhance practitioners practice and to make high quality visible and transparent in adult education. It is important to show relevance, effectiveness, create transparency based on transparent and clear processes to ensure that high quality results from adult education are usable in the future. In adult education it is crucial to get credibility. Adult education providers see a challenge in signalling their own high quality of workIn our needs analysis with 200 trainers from adult education and at 50 adult education providers, which we conducted before this aplication in winter 2020 many users (87%) complain about intransparency and weak quality of European adult education project results which cannot be transferred into daily adult education practice. Here the EU-CERT project comes into action and tries to enhance quality in adult education and helps to ensure that adult education providers are able to find high quality adult education results which can be used in practice and which base on excellent adult education projects. While the need of adult education trainers is to know exactly how he has to adapt his teaching method in view of better results for all learners, they have also the challenge to find (a) adequate high-quality materials and distinguish them from those of lower quality and (b) to stay up to date with the rapidly changing environment, society and economy. Here EU-CERT steps is and shows via accreditation processes and certificates, excellent ways of work. Moreover, there is the need of adult education providers to signal on the adult education market that their own activities and measures are of high quality to attract interest of costumers / adult learners. Also, in this aspect the certification and accreditation system of EU-CERT is an excellent tool and supports these tasks.The partnership applies for a grant combine all expertise of the partners to a new framework. A project EU-CERT is needed to profit from each-others’ knowledge and experience to improve weaknesses in the field of recognition and use of high quality results from EU projects in adult education.<< Objectives >>One of the core ideas od EU-CERT is to promote adult education results created within ERASMUS+ projects and to ensure high quality in adult education by an accreditation based on transparent criteria. Typically, there is no certification or accreditation of those.The aim of EU-CERT is to develop a mechanism to monitor the effectiveness of adult education projects via an accreditation system which is based on clear criteria and a solid accreditation procedure and to provide accreditations and certificates for adult education, which can be used as proof of high or excellent quality. The goal of the EU-CERT accreditation is to ensure that institutions of adult education meet acceptable levels of quality. EU-CERT accreditation aims to determine if an institution or adult education provider meets or exceeds minimum standards of quality.In addition to that, it helps adult learners to determine acceptable institutions or adult education providers for enrolment.It also offers the chance to assist adult educators in determining acceptability of transfer credits.With regard to employers EU-CERT aims to determine the validity of adult education programs and whether a person is qualified.Moreover, the EU-CERT idea enables graduates to sit for certification examinations.With EU-CERT we also create goals for institutional self-improvement in adult education as well as improvements with regard to adult education projects fostered by the EU.Due to the fact that EU-CERT is a adult education specific approach, it aims to provide a self-regulatory alternative for state oversight functions concerning adult education.This will help to support common shared values in adult education and is the basis for civic engagement which is fostered by excellent adult education approaches. Moreover, it fosters the participation of European adult educator in a high-quality adult education network with ensured standards. An accreditation system for projects which run under adult education promotes the idea of ERAMUS+ and offers another way of transparancy and visibility in Europe. All seniors and all European citizens get a possibility to find excellent adult education resources via the accreditation information and standards. This is the crucial basis for enhancing quality assurance in adult education. To involve all generations in education is an important task in Europe and adult education plays a crucial role in this field. Accreditation is the determination and demonstration of competence. The body applying for accreditation defines the scope within which its competence is assessed. Accreditation is granted for the scope in which the applicant's competence is demonstrated. The goal of accreditation is to demonstrate the reliability of the results and/or the credibility of the certificates issued by the body. Certification distinguishes between three main sectors: certification of systems, products and personnel. The purpose of certification is to demonstrate that specified requirements are met. The requirements are usually based on criteria and/or international standards.The aim is to work with transparent procedures and criteria like (a) The methods are validated and appropriate, (b) There is use of suitable equipment. (c) Learning Assessments, tests and teaching are made in a traceable manner and according to transparent quality standards, (c) Adequate quality assurance and supervision, (d) Regular participation in internal or external comparisons, (e) Fit to the needs of adult education, (f) addressing up to date needs of the learners, society and economy.<< Implementation >>In EU-CERT we will address adult education trainers and adult education providers as well as EU project results in the field of adult education. We will create a network and provide information on the EU-CERT accredition and certification approach. While implementing this network, we create the accredition and certification criteria and implement the databases, the programming and the step-by step approaches and processes for the accredition of the adult education providers. This means we have to make the criteria transparent and have to desribe and explain the processes od accredition. We will collect statements of interest, create a membership system and run the accredition based on an online submission of information and a check via at least two evaluators. This is followed by the implementation of the the accredition feedback and the accredition overview. With regard to the certification of courses, project results from EU project, we have to implement a collecting system of project results to check the quality according to the created criteria and standards for quality of adult education tools and results designed within the project EU-CERT. To certify the adult trainers, we need a third set of criteria with are speficly looking at pedagogical and didactic skills of the trainers, but also on their use of digital media which is besoming more important these times (Corona situation etc.). In the project we will implement the structures of the EU-CERT the step-by-step approaches for the three fields of action (adult education trainers, adult education providers, EU project results) but also the programming of the tool, the design of the certificates and the accredition charter, the development of policy recommandations and the laymans´ report. To ensure that the implementation is sustainable and easy to follow and that the target group possess all cor einformation we create a handbook for accreditaion and certification which will be implemented via publishing as a OER book as well as via the project website and the EU-CERT accredition platform.The EU-CERT tool can be used for European project to have a common standard on European level.It can be adapted to national standards and offers benefit for adult education providers in different regions.Comparing the quality of approaches is easier with criteria and EU-CERT helps to use these criteria and certification and accreditation processes on all educational levels:(1) Local level:Local adult education providers can use the certificates for the learner and ensure innovative and quality assured documentation for the measures.(2) Regional level:For learners it will become easier to distinguish the quality of different adult education providers and governmental institution can also focus easier on high quality education.(3) National level:The accreditation ensures a criteria-based way to compare adult education approaches and the EU-CERT tool offers the opportunity to get in contact with best practice and high qualityresults of educational projects.(4) European level:EU-CERT ensures a common European approach on quality assurance of project results and adult education. Certificates can be compared on a European level while officialEuropean regulations like the existing EC-VET and ECTS are also taken into account.<< Results >>The EU-CERT project results are:(a) the online EU-CERT accreditation and certification tool for (1) accreditation of project results, (2) for accreditation of adult education measures, (3) for accreditation of adult education providers- EU-CERT Accreditation process for adult education providers- EU-CERT Certification process for adult trainers- EU-CERT Certification process for EU project results in the field of adult education- EU-CERT Certificates and Accreditation Charter(b) EU-CERT Network for adult education(c) the description of the accreditation and certification processes(d) the development and description of the EU-CERT accreditation criteria and the development and description of the EU-CERT certification criteria- 3 EU-CERT Criteria setting for the three core target groups of the project (adult education trainers, adult education providers, EU project results) (e) research report on accreditation and certification in Europe(f) more than 100 accredited measures, projects and adult education providers in a database with information on the projects, tools, measures and adequate links and contacts(g) best practice insights by videos(h) handbooks on the use of the online EU-CERT tool and the accreditation and certification processes(i) an EU-CERT Policy Paper with recommendations to adult education, policy makers and teachers(j) an EU-CERT Layman´s report with recommendations to a broad audience(k) the EU-CERT research results from a survey on the use of the online tool and the benefits of accreditation(l) the EU-CERT research reports on the project itsself(m) the EU-CERT website with information on the project and links to the tool and the platform(n) the EU-CERT dissemination material (flyer, poster, leadlets, videos, social-media, etc.)- EU-CERT flyers and leaflets- EU-CERT posters- EU-CERT website- EU-CERT social media accounts- EU-CERT newsletter- EU-CERT direct contact guide- EU-CERT videos- EU-CERT presentations- EU-CERT publications and newspaper articles- EU-CERT information days material"

The COVID19 emergengy and the consequent adoption of online school sessions forced to a sudden acceleration of the use of digital tools in the school system. This phenomenon on one hand led to the adoption of alternative and more flexible ways of teaching and learning; on the other hand it highlighted the lack of innovative teaching approaches able to stimulate autonomy, motivation and involvement of the students. (Commission (SWD 2020, 209).Literature shows that quality and inclusive digital education requires time, skills and adequate resources for planning. GA.M.EL.EARN, starting from the analysis of needs examined by the partnership, aims to: 1) support the transition from “remote emergency education” (OECD, 2020; Hodges C. et al., 2020) to a systematic process of integrated digital didactic paths based on the game-learning pedagogical approach, very effective for increasing students' motivation in digital environments; 2) reduce the gap in classroom dynamics and in the interaction between distance and face-to-face learning; 3) improve school results by reducing anxiety and difficulties especially in subjects such as mathematics, science, mother and foreign language (Coleman Money 2020; Wang et al. 2018; Yusny, 2013).From a survey carried out among the partners, the following problems emerged:1-Difficulty in designing courses by using the pedagogical approach of game-based learning.2-Difficulty in conceiving digital game-based learning paths.The project target group is made up of second and third year teachers of upper secondary schools . The main beneficiaries are students.The general objective of the project is to increase motivation and participation of students through game-based, effective and quality digital teaching courses.The specific objectives are:1) improved effectiveness in designing learning paths based on game-based pedagogy;2) raised the quality of learning paths for an integrated digital teaching, where three intervening components effectively interact: (A) game-based pedagogy, game-based learning (B) digital (online synchronous / asynchronous) and (C) integrated (online and in person) 3) maximize the potential of integrated game-based digital learning in European schools. Schools that are called to effectively answer both to new learning styles of generation Z (dynamics and processes of the game and the digital environment) and to a progressive and massive integration of digital and face to face teaching.GAMELEARN will develop two intellectual outputs strongly practical oriented:IO1: a professional course in MOOC mode that provides teachers with the basics on how digital game-based teaching can be adopted in integrated digital teaching processes. Teachers can learn how to teach through the digital game-based approach.IO2: a curriculum aimed at students for the learning areas with unsatisfactory results in the OECD PISA survey: science, mathematics, mother language and foreign language. The curriculum is also equipped with some practical tools that guide teachers in its implementation. The IO will allow teachers to integrate, in a pedagogically effective way, digital game based learning resources that increase the level of attention and motivation of students to learn, by creating the conditions for improving school performance.It is also expected a learning activity aimed at teachers who will implement IO2.The project aims to produce positive impacts at local, national and European level, to a wide range of players; the main ones are:- Teachers (target group)- Students (beneficiaries)- Families / Parents- School leaders- Participating schools (project partners)- Staff of the school innovators and of the game-based innovator (project partners)- Stahekolders- Other schools.The project has different elements of innovation:● IT TAKES THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE DIGITAL GAME-BASED (DGB) TEACHER, by innovating his approach to teaching.● STUDENT LEARNING: games stimulate and increase the willing to learn.● TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIP: it is radically innovated; it becomes dialogic and definitively overcomes the traditional approach.The GAMELEARN project is perfectly aligned with the Digital Action Plan 2021-2027 (COM 2018, 12), revised and updated after COVID 19 (COM 2020, 624).