Level Up

The free gamified courses under the Future Work 4's project help students master four key skills for the future: digital, green, entrepreneurial, and career skills. The 4 courses will stay accessible in English, Bulgarian, Italian, Greek and Czech by the end of 2027.
👉https://futurework4s.eu/

Technological, demographic, and climate changes are reshaping industries, making the need to upskill the workforce more critical than ever. Addressing these challenges, Future Work 4's project equips the workforce of tomorrow with four key 21st-century skills - digital competencies, green skills and environmental awareness, entrepreneurship and innovation, and social and career skills. 👉https://futurework4s.eu/

The project launched a gamified learning platform featuring four free massive online courses (MOOCs) with interactive exercises on these essential topics. The MOOCs have drawn over 720 learners—more than double the initial target of 300—with 410 participants already completing their training.

Feedback collected from 210 course graduates reveals that over 75% found the platform and courses aligned with their goals and provided a positive experience. Additionally, 83% acknowledged the courses’ contribution to their professional development, and 90% praised the quality of the training materials.

The Future Work 4s platform offers flexible, accessible, and interactive courses tailored to the modern labor market’s demands. Game elements such as quizzes, case studies, and practical challenges make learning engaging and effective. The well-structured materials and the option to learn at one’s own pace enable participants to balance their education with other responsibilities.

The training courses are free and open to an international audience, removing barriers that might otherwise prevent participation. Graduates receive microcertificates, formally recognizing their newly acquired skills and enhancing their career prospects.

Future Work 4s promotes inclusion by offering resources suited to various learning styles, making the platform accessible to a broad audience. The courses can also be integrated into university curricula or used as advanced training modules for employees.

The courses are available in five languages—English, Bulgarian, Czech, Greek, and Italian—and will remain freely accessible until the end of 2027, providing continuous opportunities for learners to develop the skills needed to succeed in a rapidly changing world.

Funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ program, the Future Work 4’s project is coordinated by Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", in collaboration with the Business Foundation for Education/Фондация на бизнеса за образованието in Bulgaria, the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague / Institut vzdělávání a poradenství ČZU v Praze, Link Campus University Università degli Studi Link in Italy, and Innovation Hive in Greece.

👉https://futurework4s.eu/

The allows trainers and career counselors to assess and validate skills that clients have acquired informally or autonomously. Thus trainees and job seekers can use the results for further development. This is particularly useful for low-skilled, and disadvantaged adults.
ASSESS_Plus_Project supports skills auditing through useful online learning resources👉https://assessplus.watt.click/en/
In the virtual center, trainers and career advisors could find:
▶️ Online courses on career planning, labor market transformation, transition support, improving team relations, conflict resolution, and skills audit.
▶️Guidelines for acquiring digital competencies.
▶️Training modules and the European Competence Framework in the audit of adult skills.

More Aspire-igen Group staff testing out the Level Up app during yesterday's Aspire-international Resource Open Day!

Even though the project has now come to an end, project partners continue to actively promote this digital tool which promotes VET (Vocational Education and Training) as a viable alternative to academic study.

Business Foundation for Education/Фондация на бизнеса за образованието Sataedu Internationale Projekte - Volkshochschule im Landkreis Cham e.V. Munster Technological University Caped Koala Studios Békés megye

CRAFT - Coworking in Rural Areas to prepare young people for Future Trends helps young people expand their knowledge about the labour market trends, 21st-century jobs, entrepreneurship, and the circular economy through a training program and a 3D virtual world platform with serious games. 👉https://craft-project.eu/

🧑‍💻The CRAFT training program expands young people's knowledge of different career opportunities, self-employment, coworking, and entrepreneurship. The 3 modules include a lot of practical examples, inspiring cases, and a prospect for the future of work.
✅The learners can test and further develop their knowledge in the 3D virtual world with game challenges, freely accessible through the platform. It offers an engaging way to improve various competencies, such as critical thinking, decision making, and problem-solving.
🏞️The 3D Virtual world transfers players into the environment of the Green Village – and creates a unique immersing experience, combining emotional and social learning. Players use their avatar to move, interact and overcome various challenges, thus testing the knowledge obtained in the training modules
available on the platform. The story puts the player in the role of a young person who settles in a village, which struggles to survive by establishing a coworking.
🤔The virtual journey includes 7 educational adventures which apply elements of digital educational escape rooms and create a highly engaging learning experience. The players have to demonstrate their knowledge about coworking places; identify business ideas that have potential in rural areas; and analyze how the changes in society affect skills and jobs.
🇬🇧The training platform is freely accessible in English. The materials can be used by the learners individually or in a group mode (in cooperation or as a competition by up to 5 players at the same time).
The modules can also be integrated into training seminars or career guidance sessions with young people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5gGhEM1ezg&t=5s

CRAFT 3D Virtual world promo final CRAFT 3D Virtual world transfers players into a futuristic environment- the Green Village – and creates a unique immersing experience, combining emotional an...

The Project Coordinator Aspire-international had chance to share the Level Up app with other Aspire-igen Group staff members at our Resource Open Day.

We also facilitated staff using 'My Career Path' resources, developed by EduCompass.

Business Foundation for Education/Фондация на бизнеса за образованието Sataedu Caped Koala Studios Munster Technological University Békés megye Internationale Projekte - Volkshochschule im Landkreis Cham e.V.

are a great tool for helping learners develop soft and hard competencies in an engaging and motivating way. The ELMET toolkit 👉 https://elmetproject.eu/ 👈 contains:
🟢 3 game scenarios for developing soft skills, digital and green skills
🟣 online training course for educational escape rooms
🔴 Guide for escape rooms development and implementation
🟠 online platform and manual for designing digital escape rooms.

1️⃣1️⃣0️⃣ trainers, career advisors and learners in Europe tested the developed training course, the guides and the platform for creating physical and digital escape room scenarios.
More than 9️⃣0️⃣% of the participants share very positive feedback on the inspiring and comprehensive materials.

“We’re seeing games feature LGBTQIA+ characters, q***r coming out stories, and q***r relationships,” says Stephanie DeBiase, gaming and future tech coordinator at the youth-focused It Gets Better Project. “More and more, games are giving players more options to create characters that reflect them, removing binary gender selection, building character customisation that allows for subversive and nuanced gender expression, including non-binary pronoun options, and more. Games that offer the opportunity for romance are starting to allow players LGBTQIA+ romance options. This representation is not only making games more enjoyable for LGBTQIA+ players, but also helping gamers explore their q***rness in safe, virtual spaces.”

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/jul/27/meet-the-gaymers-why-q***r-representation-is-exploding-in-video-games

Business Foundation for Education/Фондация на бизнеса за образованието Internationale Projekte - Volkshochschule im Landkreis Cham e.V. Munster Technological University Békés megye Caped Koala Studios Sataedu Aspire-international Aspire-igen Group

Meet the gaymers: why q***r representation is exploding in video games For decades, LGBTQ+ characters and stories were almost nonexistent – but now things have improved, and a new generation of q***r players are finding themselves (and each other) in video games

"But contrary to what we might think about games being good or bad for us, we found [in this latest study] pretty conclusive evidence that how much you play doesn't really have any bearing whatsoever on changes in well-being."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-62293235

Aspire-igen Group Aspire-international Business Foundation for Education/Фондация на бизнеса за образованието Caped Koala Studios Sataedu Internationale Projekte - Volkshochschule im Landkreis Cham e.V. Békés megye Munster Technological University

Gaming time has no link with levels of well-being, study finds Researchers analysed the gaming habits of 39,000 players of big titles such as Animal Crossing.

"Games are often considered to be recession-proof, but the industry is not impervious to macroeconomic turmoil. Some ebb and flow is natural, even if it spooks those investors who are hoping to make a quick buck out of a fad, whether that’s esports, virtual and augmented reality, free-to-play mobile games or the latest venture capital money pit, blockchain gaming. The rest of us needn’t worry: constant massive growth is demanded, because … capitalism, but it’s unsustainable."

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/jul/12/pushing-buttons-is-it-game-over-for-gaming-pandemic-boom

Business Foundation for Education/Фондация на бизнеса за образованието Internationale Projekte - Volkshochschule im Landkreis Cham e.V. Munster Technological University Békés megye Caped Koala Studios Aspire-international Aspire-igen Group Sataedu

Pushing Buttons: Is it game over for gaming’s pandemic boom? The global market grew to almost $200bn in recent years, but such massive growth isn’t sustainable. But the industry has a few things on the horizon to console themselves

UK psychologist Lee Chambers says that while the use of such video games in the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of mental health conditions is still in the early stages, it appears to have "potential".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62060542

Aspire-international Aspire-igen Group Business Foundation for Education/Фондация на бизнеса за образованието Caped Koala Studios Sataedu Internationale Projekte - Volkshochschule im Landkreis Cham e.V. Munster Technological University Békés megye

The video game prescribed by doctors to treat ADHD A US game has got regulatory approval to help treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

"We get a lot of positive feedback from our users, males and females, who are always happy to be better represented in the games they love”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-61916551

Aspire-international Aspire-igen Group Business Foundation for Education/Фондация на бизнеса за образованието Internationale Projekte - Volkshochschule im Landkreis Cham e.V. Caped Koala Studios Munster Technological University Sataedu Békés megye

The rise of the video game Arab hero Developers are moving away from stereotypes of Arab characters and depicting them more positively.

The Bulgarian partner in the Level Up project - Business Foundation for Education/Фондация на бизнеса за образованието is continuing its efforts to make VET more attractive. The ELMET project BFE participates in, promotes the game-based approach of educational escape rooms in C-VET to improve the key competencies of vulnerable learners.
Over the last year, the partnership has elaborated a toolbox of educational modules, guides and game scenarios, which are currently being translated in all partner languages and will be piloted with teachers, trainers and learners.

One year since the start of the ELMET project, the partnership has already developed the innovative training toolkit, which exploits the educational escape rooms methodology to support learners from vulnerable groups (elder, low-qualified or unemployed) in the acquisition of key transferable skills.
The ELMET toolkit includes 4 interactive training modules and a guide for the development and implementation of educational escape rooms, 3 scenarios for educational escape rooms, a guide, and a platform for designing digital escape rooms.

The consortium is coordinated by Arabako Foru Aldundia-Diputación Foral de ÁlavaVin Spain and involves Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλίας in Greece, Citizens In Power / Πολίτες Σε Ισχύ in Cyprus, Media Creativa 2020 in Bilbao, Spain and the Business Foundation for Education/Фондация на бизнеса за образованието in Bulgaria.

The partners met today to discuss the results of the beta-testing of our training toolkit for educational escape rooms from national experts.
We are thankful for the encouraging feedback from the Bulgarian NAVET Agency (Национална агенция за професионално образование и обучение - НАПОО) and for the valuable comments from education experts and trainers in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, and Spain:
👍"ELMET training course is very useful to learn how to design Escape Rooms in the field of training for employment - and not only for them."
👍"very detailed, user-friendly interface"
👍"I admire the idea vulnerable people to be trained in a way like this - it is so encouraging, gives opportunity they feel themselves in a different role - engaged, competent, responsible, able to take control of their life."
👍"This is a very useful guide. Not only it provided a detailed explanation on how to design an escape room but it went in-depth in the practical aspect of how to create one, including a number of examples and resources that can be used in the process."
👍"The scenarios look very complete, everything is well structured and described, the topics are very current and I think they will be interesting for the learners."

In the next months, the partners will translate all the materials into their partner languages and will start piloting with trainers and learners. Stay tuned for more information on our project!
https://elmetproject.eu/