The official kick-off meeting of the new international project STEP_UP: Stop Epidemic Growth Through Learning, which addresses strategies to slow pandemic growth through learning was held on the 25 March 2021. The project began in December 2020 and is funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ program.
The international coordinator is SHINE 2Europe, a Portuguese SME and its CEO, Carina Dantas, revealed that “it is a pride to have Portugal leading European initiatives that can bring value, particularly at the present time, and develop innovative tools for our most pressing social challenges”.
Bringing together 5 partners (SHINE 2Europe, AFEdemy, ISIS, CIPH and Wise Angle), from different European countries, STEP_UP will develop a training tool for social workers and community stakeholders, using gamification.
The objective of STEP_UP is to develop an educational game, which can also be used as a recreational game, in which players will act so that a pandemic does not spread. A list of measures will be presented and the player needs to learn and understand them in order to choose those that would help to stop the virus from spreading without harming the economy or causing social problems. The game will also help people understand government measures and know how to distinguish true facts from myths and fake news. In addition to the game and the complete set of training tools, a manual on social and policy interventions will also be produced, which aims to provide targeted guidance to the target group on early detection, preventive measures, health interventions and social support, policy measures. and communication. The manual will be completed with real-life oriented user stories, good practices and lessons learned.