Sharon Feiman-Nemser once said, “Learning to teach is a huge undertaking that requires more than just university degrees, schools, experiences, or personal desires.” Teachers from different European Countries (Estonia, Hundary, Romania and The Netherlands) decided to combine fun with usefulness by participating in a five-day gamification training course in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. The training took place within the framework of our teachers’ Erasmus+ project “Having Fun in Learning: Gamification!”
On the first day,Veli Kilic, introduced the Dutch education system and gave an introduction to gamification. In the following days, they got to know the Lesson Up and Nearpod environments in more detail. The participants were paired up and each pair designed a sample lesson on a topic of their choice using the Lesson Up environment. They presented their sample lessons to the other participants and there was a possibility for discussion. They were able to figure out how to use these platforms in their own subject classes.
On the fourth and fifth day, a new trainer, Kevin Storm, joined them. He was an incredibly inspiring and interesting person who had worked as a teacher for ten years, including with juvenile delinquents. After ten years, he decided to become a freelance musician and has even performed on stage with an Estonian band called Metsatöll. He probably subscribes to Stephen Brookfield’s statement that “we teach what we want to learn. Many people become teachers to experience again the joy they felt when they first learned something they loved.” Kevin was also an excellent teacher, energetically engaging the whole group, sharing practical advice, and introducing different learning and teaching environments. They used Cospace the most out of all these environments.
In conclusion, the week was full of practical educational training days and cultural walks in historic Amsterdam. Spring is a time of awakening and rejuvenation in nature, and the gamification training was refreshing for both the mind and soul.
