Finalising the third pilot in Portugal: exciting new steps in developing the EMPOWER platform
In early December 2024, EMPOWER’s Portuguese partners finalised the third pilot of the educational games, testing the latest updates in the field.
Date
Early December, 2024
Meeting
Portugal-Lisbon
Location
ISCTE
Introducing new features
One of the major additions during this piloting phase was the introduction of emotion-based games, designed to help children recognise and manage emotions. The feedback from the students on this was positive: the children seemed to really enjoy playing them, especially the mini games. They found the games engaging, and the children were motivated by the challenge of beating their own scores and advancing to higher levels.
The cognitive games also received some updates. For example, a new reminder feature was added to help children reflect on their previous answers and notice any mistakes. This made it easier for them to improve and build on what they had learned. For the inhibition-based games, the developers added a time limit for answering. This encouraged children to think quickly and stay focused, which worked well for improving their response time and impulse control.
The teachers were very positive about the games, with many of them recognising the potential of these tools in helping their students not only improve their emotional and cognitive skills but also in assessing their abilities in a practical way.
“The school psychologist asked when the games would be available for use in sessions.”
Collaborative work
One of the key things that made this piloting round successful was the collaborative approach. The team worked closely with teachers, children, and consortium partners to gather feedback and make improvements. The pilots are an ongoing, iterative process of testing, identifying issues, and making changes, with the feedback divided into three categories - what the children thought, what the teachers thought, and how the games were performing - which helped the team know exactly where to focus their efforts.
Looking ahead, some changes will be implemented based on the lessons learned during this pilot. For example, the setup was slightly too complicated for teachers to use, so it will be simplified to make it easier for them to use the tools on their own.
There will also be an updated version of the teacher app, which will have a dashboard to show real-time progress for each student. Teachers will be able to see how their students are doing, get feedback on which areas they need to improve on, and get suggestions for next steps. The algorithm that provided feedback to children was also updated to be clearer and more concise.
Looking ahead
The next big steps are the validation studies and the randomised clinical trial, which will help confirm how effective the games are, but based on the feedback so far, it’s clear that the games have a lot of potential.
The adjustments made during this pilot phase will help make the games even more engaging and easier for teachers to use in the classroom. With more testing, structural implementation, and collaboration, the goal is for these games to become a helpful resource as part of EMPOWER’s advanced educational platform.
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