Gameful approaches for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion education

Project Information

GAMINCLUSIVE

Grant agreement ID: 101029543

DOI

10.3030/101029543

Project closed

EC signature date 29 April 2021

Start date 1 September 2022

End date 31 August 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 190 680,96

EU contribution

€ 190 680,96

Coordinated by

TAMPEREEN KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR
Finland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GAMINCLUSIVE (Gameful approaches for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion education)

Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The variety in people’s demographics, beliefs, experiences, and preferences (e.g. gender, ethnicity, race, religion, socio-economic situation, sexual orientation) contributes to improving many aspects of our society. The benefits of this ​diversity of representations, models, and heuristics include more efficient problem-solving approaches, accurate forecasts, and creative ideas; broader and deeper evaluations; and better discerning about the facts; while outperforming homogeneous teams in several situations. Despite the advantages, ​inclusive practices that recognize and value personal differences to the detriment of inequalities and discrimination are still an ongoing public need.

Education can and must play a significant role in tackling these systemic issues by empowering individuals with the needed knowledge, skills, and attitudes to reflect and change their own actions. Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) education integrates prevention and response to discrimination incidents through the mitigation of implicit biases, raising awareness of behaviours that might have inequitable effects and emphasising policies to investigate prejudice.

GamInclusive proposes a framework to guide professionals and enthusiasts in designing gameful EDI educational approaches that promote cognitive, behavioural, and attitudinal learning to mitigate implicit bias and empower individuals in reflecting, exercising, and upholding each others’ rights, by:
- Integrating theories, design methodologies, and existing outcomes of gameful design and EDI educational approaches through a systematic review of the literature and applications to consolidate the union of these topics;
- Quantitative and qualitatively ​analyzing empirical results of a gameful EDI educational system within University settings by designing, developing, and evaluating EDI instructional materials, interactive prototypes, and a gameful web application;
- Defining a framework to design gameful EDI educational strategies that cognitively raises awareness about social issues and engages individuals with behavioural and attitudinal changes, based on theoretical​ and empirical evidence.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Over the course of the project, significant progress was made in all three main work packages (WPs), each contributing to the overall objectives of the project. In WP1, the project began with a systematic literature review that provided a comprehensive overview of existing research in gameful design and EDI education. This work led to the successful development of a state-of-the-art report and a manifesto that outlined the limitations, challenges, and future directions for ethically using gameful approaches in and for EDI education. These findings were consolidated in a journal article and a book chapter, contributing to the theoretical foundation of the project and setting the stage for empirical and practical applications. In WP2, the project moved into the empirical phase, focusing on the development of high-fidelity prototypes for a gameful EDI educational system. Using a participatory design process, instructional materials and gameful prototypes were co-created with diverse user groups, particularly students from the host institution. This approach shifted away from the originally planned controlled experimental setup to focus on more qualitative, people-centered evaluations. The prototypes were tested through a simulation with 30 students who had not participated in the design process. Data on interactions with the system, including the frequency and duration of engagement with gameful elements and educational content, were collected. Additionally, the GamefulQuest questionnaire was administered to measure participants' experiences, providing insights into their cognitive, behavioral, and attitudinal learning outcomes. These evaluations helped refine the prototypes and contributed to a more inclusive and impactful design, producing key insights for future development, while addressing an empirical gap in researching gameful EDI educational approaches. WP3 focused on synthesizing the theoretical and empirical findings into a comprehensive framework for gameful EDI education. This framework offers best practices for different stakeholders looking to create inclusive educational experiences using gameful design. The results were shared through a workshop and a booklet, which were disseminated both within academic circles and to a broader public through the GamInclusive newsletters.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Given the priority of EDI education on both European and global scales, and the gameful approaches' potential to promote psychological and behavioural change​, GamInclusive will make a novel breakthrough by integrating both gameful design and EDI education research fields on theoretical, empirical, and practical levels. GamInclusive innovative aspects include:
- Bridging ​computer science and social psychology methodologies to understand and address discrimination effects through and in EDI education and gameful design processes (e.g. implicit and algorithm biases);
- Creating gameful EDI educational prototypes to raise awareness about inequality issues and engage individuals in social change through cognitive, behavioural, and attitudinal learning;
- Investigating different gameful design approaches based on individuals’ demographics and preferences, and the cognitive, behavioural, and attitudinal learning outcomes in experimental settings;
- Disseminating the empirical results, and defining the first framework to guide academic and non-academic audiences in designing gameful EDI educational strategies, based on theoretical and empirical evidence;

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