In mid-April, the EMPOWER project consortium met in the beautiful town of Bergen, Norway, for an inspirational and engaging project meeting. The halls and meeting rooms of the Western Norway University of Applies Sciences – with some spectacular fjord views – were the backdrop of a three-day encounter with our project partners from across Europe. What did we discuss and what are the next steps?
A brief reminder, the EMPOWER project is all about how technology-augmented education can contribute to the development of neurodiverse children, especially through the use of computer games. Led by the University of Valencia (Spain), EMPOWER is a European interdisciplinary research project that aims to develop and deploy a unique technological learning platform to enhance personalized education structures.
In Bergen, last April, the consortium met for the fourth time to discuss the current state of the project, including upcoming pilots. We kicked off our meeting on 21 April with an interesting guest talk by Carsten Helgesen, who explained to the consortium basics about eye tracking systems and several ways of trusting data that can be collected by eye-trackers. Then, a role-playing game took place, which allowed the participants to really engage with the EMPOWER platform. The second half of the morning was dedicated to Work Package 3 and consisted of UVEG, HVL, and UTC going over respectively the latest updates on the presentation of the prototypes, the current process in eye-tracking measures, and insights in the measurements from the wearables.
After lunch on day one, Work Packages 4 and 2 discussed a basic approach to algorithmic design and the progress on the framework (presentations led by RU, INESCD-ID, HVL, and UTC and ISCTE and UBB). Then Work Package 5 was presented by RU, delving deeper into the ins and outs of the conceptual framework for ethics. The first meeting day ended with an excellent project dinner in a traditional restaurant in the quaint harbour of Bergen.
On the second day, the project partners first started freshly with some important updates from Work Package 7, regarding communication, dissemination, and the website. This WP is led by Autism-Europe and ITC, who joined in a shared presentation on the latest in this department from the previous period as well as some ideas for the upcoming months, stay tuned for more (also, be sure to follow the project on social media)!
After this, the consortium discussed the upcoming work for the pilots and joined forces for a technical meeting, covering important questions around the topic of ‘emotion’, and what role it plays in a new game to be tailored designed for the EMPOWER project. After the break, the group split up: the (hybrid) GA, General Assembly, of the project was held in one part of the university’s building, while the rest of the consortium gathered in another room to bring theory to practice as it was time for some demonstrations and playing of the developed games.
The meeting was concluded that same day with a final gathering, and an epilogue took place on the morning after, where some of the partners came together for some final closing remarks.
We thank our team for this fruitful meeting and look forward to seeing everyone in Lisbon in the Autumn. Follow EMPOWER on social media and join the conversation for more!
