Final GLAT conference was successfully held

Erasmus + project GLAT – Games for Learning Algorithmic Thinking was concluded with the final conference held on Friday, September 20, 2019 at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Rijeka.

In the beginning of the conference, the project leader prof. Nataša Hoić-Božić presented the GLAT project and project activities with a focus on education for primary junior grade teachers, which was organized in cooperation with the Croatian Education and Teacher Training Agency (AZOO) from Rijeka. The education was held for a focus group of about 20 teachers from Rijeka region and included three face-to-face workshops and online teaching using the learning management system Moodle MoD. During the workshops, teachers had the opportunity to learn about various innovative teaching methods using ICT: Game Based Learning (GBL), Problem Based Learning (PBL) and Inquiry Based Learning (IBL). After each workshop, their task was to apply the lessons learned in designing learning scenarios for the chosen subject and apply it with their students.

Project team coordinator from the Faculty of Teacher Education dr. Jasminka Mezak expressed her satisfaction with the project activities and thanked all the participants for the successful collaboration.

Dr. Martina Holenko Dlab presented the project results that are available on the GLAT web site. The results include a syllabus with lessons plans and materials, and a set of learning scenarios created by the teachers – participant of GLAT education. With the support of mentors from the project team, participant developed 62 learning scenarios on the following topics:

  1. Game Based Learning (GBL) and unplugged activities
  2. Problem Based Learning (PBL), online quizzes and logical tasks
  3. and Inquiry Based Learning (IBL), games and tools for programming

Outstanding learning scenarios were translated into English. One particularly noteworthy result is the set of scenarios involving digital games designed by teachers and their students and created by university students using Scratch. Games that can be used to practice math or learn about nutrition, the seasons, cultural and historical monuments and many other topics are available in the Scratch studio GLAT.

After presentation of results, the participants Mate Verović from Primary School “Pehlin” Rijeka and Bojana Lanča and Tašana Bobanović from Primary School San Nicolò Rijeka described their experiences during the project and presented examples of good practice. On behalf of all the participants, teacher Tašana Bobanović thanked the members of the project team for their knowledge and advice and patience during the mentoring. She expressed hope that there will be opportunities for further education in the future and that successful collaboration will continue.

In the final part of the conference, all participants of GLAT education were awarded diplomas for participation.

Participants were addressed via video messages by project team members from partner institutions from Slovenia, Estonia, Bulgaria and Northern Macedonia. They thanked them for their hard work in developing the learning and teaching scenarios and congratulated them on their diplomas. The partners noted that they shared the results of the project with teachers in their countries and that they would continue to do so.

The conference was concluded by Senior Advisor Ivana Jurjević Jovanović from Education and Teacher Training Agency who emphasized the great importance of GLAT education topics for teachers in the context of implementing the curricular reform programme School for Life.

GALLERY