Gamified and Online Activities for Learning to Support Dual Careers of Athletes

GOAL is a Collaborative Partnership project focused on the area of “EU guidelines on dual careers of athletes”. The project aims to support active and non-active athletes in the development of their professional endeavours. GOAL identified and tested gamified learning and training activities to form best practices for supporting dual careers of athletes using digital technology such as games /gamification in sports. GOAL Consortium has followed the submitted and accepted work plan and activities. Therefore, has produced all the envisaged outputs. The project includes appropriate phases for preparation, implementation, monitoring, evaluation & dissemination. The phases were not sequential but interrelated and implemented in the 6 following WP:- WP1: Needs Analysis & Educational Design: It has made a needs analysis (D1.3.1) of 800+ athletes in all over the Europe concerning educational needs of active and former athletes towards a dual career. In order to collect data about athletes understanding of BIPS an online inventory (http://goal.csd.auth.gr/first-inventory/) was created by experts in the project consortium in 6 languages (D1.2.1). Also, a Survey on Dual Career of Athletes has been created (D1.1.1). The analysis of all these data was the basis for the dual career program of studies (D1.4.1) and for the implementation of the digital services, MOOCs, Serious Games and GOAL virtual Community of Practice (VCoP).- WP2: Platform & Content Development: Based on WP1 results, WP2 implemented the digital infrastructure to support dual career program of studies (D1.4.1) by (a) designing and developing 2 serious games for cultivating athletes’ skills required for their second profession (D2.1.1); (b) creating educational content (D2.2.1); (c) designing and developing 6 MOOCs (D2.3.1); (d) designing and developing synchronous learning services based on free and open videoconferencing technologies (D2.4.1); (e) designing and developing a distant psychological support service (D2.5.1); (f) designing and developing e-mentoring service (D2.6.1); and (g) designing and developing of a main platform integrating the above tools, components, content and services to support a CoP for dual career of active and former athletes (D2.7.1, D2.7.2). This WP followed the ADDIE model.- WP3: Evaluation Pilots: It concerns the deployment and evaluation of the GOAL services by experts and by end-users. An evaluation plan has been created (D3.1.1), experts have evaluated the alpha and beta version of GOAL ecosystem (D3.2.1, D3.2.2) and then the pilot evaluation by end users have been conducted. The results are presented in the following deliverables: D3.3.1, D3.4.1, D3.5.1, D3.6.1, D3.7.1, D3.8.1, D3.9.1. In general, the acceptance and satisfaction of the users concerning the GOAL services, MOOCs and Games is high. - WP4: Dissemination & Exploitation: The project has created a very detailed and ambitious dissemination plan (D4.1.1) updated in the mid of the project (D4.1.2). The dissemination activities were inline with the project application and D4.1.1. The dissemination activities done are presented in D4.1.3. Also, an Exploitation & Sustainability Plan has been elaborated (D4.6.1).- WP5: Management & Implementation Monitoring: This WP encapsulates the financial, administrative & research coordination to the project. In the context of WP5, the 10 formal meetings have been organized. - WP6: Quality Control & Impact Assessment: This ensured successful achievement of project goals, within planned time and budget frames, applying high quality standards. The QA Plan (D6.1.1) and the Internal Evaluation Plan (D6.2.1) have been created the first project months to this direction. The internal evaluation report is presented in D6.4.1. Also, the Impact Assessment Framework has been elaborated (D6.3.1) to assess the impact of project activities. The impact assessment presented in D6.5.1 with positive results.