THE PROJECT LABOUR MARKET IN TOUCH: NEW NON-ROUTINE SKILLS VIA MOBILE GAME-BASED LEARNING
Authors: Putz Thomas 
Published: February 2023

The project Labour Market in Touch: new non-routine skills via mobile game-based learning
is implemented from November 2010 until October 2012,
involves people from 8 project partners in 7 European countries (SE, LT, IT, UK, FR, AT, BG),
enables nearly 1600 person-days resources,
involves more than 600 employees in more than 100 SME all over Europe
is supported by the EC in the Lifelong Learning Programme .

This 2 years project aims to spread an innovative approach enabling new generations of workers from business services SMEs to develop their crucial non-routine skills via mobile Learning. On the bases of the EU recommendations described in the document “New skills for new jobs”, the partners will design an ad hoc mobile training environment teaching crucial non routine skills in a labour market, flexible and technological oriented way. The partners will design an ad hoc innovative m-learning kit for working adults about crucial “non-routine” skills, exploiting the new technologies of smartphones for creating open and mobile didactical environments.
Designing the Game-Models
In the course of the project the top 10 European skills for Competitiveness in the future business service SMEs have been identified. An ebook illustrating the top 10 crucial transversal skills for non-routine tasks according to the European employers and managers was issued in August 2011. Such skills will be translated into learning outcomes – defined in terms of knowledge, skills and competence needed by employees for performing non-routine tasks.
Based on the skills and learning outcomes 30 situational learning cases for competitiveness will be elaborated and a report describing the most crucial non routine tasks for competitiveness are developed.
Advantages of pervasive games
The basic idea is to use the potential of the mobile phone communication channel and combine it with the possibilities of digital learning games in order to create a new and improved learning environment. The concept of pervasive gaming lends itself to this purpose, in that the real world fuses with the virtual world (Walther, 2005). In this context, one can speak of pervasive game learning, an expansion of mobile game-based learning.
Pervasive games take place in the real world, and the player communicates with his fellow players and the remote control system via wireless technologies. Various communication channels are available for this, among them the mobile phone. Additional core technologies needed for pervasive gaming are portable displays, which render the digital content tangible in the real world independent of location, and sensor technologies, such as cameras, through which the status of the player can be ascertained (Benford et al., 2005). These technological prerequisites are fulfilled by modern mobile phones, which therefore offer an ideal medium for the execution of pervasive games.

Design decisions
The basic idea is to use the potential of the mobile phone communication channel and combine it with the possibilities of case-study-based learning and digital learning games in order to create a new and improved learning environment. The use of the potentials of pervasive games lends itself to this purpose. Unfortunately, although the use of pervasive games has numerous advantages, it is also often associated with high development and implementation costs and consequently a limited mass appeal. Technologically complex equipment is often needed, which makes practicable and seamless application in a learning context nearly impossible. Based on this problem, the objective of this section is to develop a pervasive game that does not require costly equipment, such as head-mounted displays. Value is placed above all on a high degree of mass appeal and economic feasibility in the learning context, because it is only under these basic conditions that comprehensive practical use is realistic.

The Game-Models
Game Model Quiz
Learning goals are decided by the game author:
Content goals: eg Facts (after Prensky, 2001)
Activity goals: eg Questions (after Prensky, 2001)
Process goals: eg Remember (after Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001)

Key objectives of game-play:
gain points for fast and correct answers

Game Model Simulation
Learning goals are decided by the game author:
Content goals: eg Facts (after Prensky, 2001)
Activity goals: eg Simulation (after Prensky, 2001)
Process goals: eg Decision making (after Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001)

Key objectives of game-play:
gain points for good, fast, independent decision-making
learn from the quality of decisions
reflect on success of one's decision-making strategy.

The player is confronted with a scenario where there are 4 critical cases to handle.

Game Model Story telling
Non-routine skill: decision making
The user reads the story and has to take two decisions, in two different moments of the story, by clicking on the answer-button.
The feedback is the result of the combination of the two choices:
selecting first the A answer and then the A or B answers the user goes to the best feedback; instead, selecting the C answer he goes to the second best feedback;
selecting first the B answer, the user can reach all the three feedbacks: the best choosing the A answer at the second decision moment, the second best choosing the B answer and the third best choosing the C answer.
selecting first the C answer, and then the A answer the user can reach the second best feedback; instead, choosing the B or C answer he reaches the third best feedback.

Game Model Labytinth
Non-routine skill: strategic thinking
In the first screen is described a company typical troubled situation. To solve the problem is necessary to talk to different divisions or to other members of the company
In the game screen is shown a map which represent the plant of the company with the work positions of the characters.
Aim of the game is to find the path to solve the problem by selecting in the correct order the divisions or the characters to talk to.

Game Model Planning
Non-routine skill: team work
At the beginning of the game we have the description of the scenario.
The user has to help the main character to choose the activities concerned in improving team work among the ones listed.
Only four of the six listed activities are actually necessary.