Research by the University of Amsterdam shows that gaming can make you smarter. Digital gaming has positive effects on perseverance, reaction speed, problem-solving skills, patience, collaboration, creativity and media literacy. Through play, children learn various skills that will enable them to function in a rapidly changing society in the future.
An E-zone has been set up at the location, and a GameGymWall will be used in the sports hall as an interactive tool to challenge and connect students. The conference offers a combination of inspiring plenary lectures in the morning and practical demonstrations in the afternoon.
The speakers announced so far are:
- Dion Bulkens, working as an esports, gaming and gamification (EGG) specialist at the Knowledge Centre for Sport & Exercise. (conference chair)
- Jeroen Strijbosch, Customer Success Manager on Microsoft's education team.
- Rob Hulsen, co-founder of Hulan. Hulan specialises in serious games and gamification for an extremely broad range of target groups and applications.
- Dennis Wilting, physical education teacher at Zadkine Sport and Exercise, Rotterdam Hoogvliet.
- Daniel van der Heijden, teacher on the Zadkine Sport and Exercise team.
There are five practical demonstrations:
- E-zone & VR headsets
- Mario Kart
- GameGymWall
- Real-life Madden, NBA2K, Tekken and Fortnite
- Smartgoals & Ballie smart ball
Practical experts will discuss the possibilities and limitations of applying gaming/esports, digitalisation and gamification in education, and challenge you to explore the possibilities within your organisation. Game education is a broad theme that affects every form and level of education. In this case, the annual conference is limited to secondary education for young people aged 12–15 and secondary and higher vocational education for those aged 16–25. You will receive answers to the following questions:
- How can esports and gamification help you better respond to the experiences and needs of young people and young adults?
- How can you use digitalisation and gamification to improve communication with and motivation of students?
- How can improving digital skills be given the right place within mainstream education?
- What is the current level of teachers' ICT competence?
- How can gamification be linked to encouraging physical activity?
- How can VR/AR be used structurally within education?
- What success stories are there to share, and what can you learn from them?
- How can you train students so that they can use gamification themselves in their future careers?
You can register for the conference here.