Introducing Atish Gonsalves, a social technologist, entrepreneur and the founder of Gamoteca, a collaborative platform to easily create and publish micro-learning experiences that use human interaction and game-based activities. Atish has consistently implemented successful edtech solutions that have helped democratise learning for thousands of learners in difficult contexts.
Bridging the gap between remote learning and human connectivity, Gamoteca has developed human-connected learning games in a range of areas including coaching & mentoring, onboarding, design thinking, public speaking and gender bias.
Gamoteca, with its partners, uses design thinking and rapid, iterative co-creation to bring micro-learning experiences to life that are based on user needs. With its roots in the humanitarian sector and inspired by the needs of non-profit organisations, including the United Nations, Gamoteca has benefited from the combination of experienced learning designers, easy-to-use and scalable software and some incredible global partners & advisors.
Who has Gamoteca collaborated with?
ITCILO (Italy)
Norwegian Refugee Council (Norway)
Humanitarian Leadership Academy (Save the Children) UK
Quicksand (India)
Red Cross (Global)
UNESCO-IIEP (France)
IAAD – The Italian University of Design (Italy)
UNICEF (Global)
Fleet Forum (Switzerland)
So who is Gamoteca for?
- For learners – Collaborative, human-connected online learning experiences. Using real time, learner-to-learner and facilitator-to-learner interactions and feedback.
- For creators/learning technologists – A simple design tool and process to create, publish and manage micro learning experiences with teams of learners at scale.
- For users of open access platforms, Totara and Moodle
As a creator you can publish:
- Instant games for learners to self join via a link or LMS. Players can launch the learning experiences directly from within a course and invite their own teammates .
- Custom games for trainers to organise sessions to invite players with a game code, and chose team configuration.
As a learner you can:
- Join games via mobile or desktop
- Receive real time notifications with feedback from team and trainers
- Capture interactions with the real world and share from the mobile device (photos, video, text)
- Gameplay with teams in different locations, in different languages and time zones
- Have your game progress updated in the LMS
Humanitarian Leadership Academy
Gamoteca has worked with the Humanitarian Leadership Academy using their flagship learning platform Kaya. Kaya supports over 300,000 learners globally, and hosts a number of online learning opportunities for humanitarians. Kaya also hosts hundreds of Gamoteca game-based learning experiences that have helped to increase collaboration, sharing and human connection.
Coaching & mentoring
This game will help you to put into practice the coaching skills taught in the Introduction to Coaching and Mentoring course on Kaya. It will enable you to practically apply your coaching knowledge and skills, and assess the impact of your coaching practice.
The Flood
A storm and flooding strike your town, affecting many. This game gives you a view of the world of volunteering. Get ready to face challenges and make quick decisions – testing your abilities to be an effective volunteer.
Challenge gender assumptions
This is a game that deals with the associations and assumptions we often make about gender. Be prepared to express and reflect on your own notions and biases, and emerge more sensitive to the people around you.
UNICEF
UNICEF supports innovative learning for over 500,000 staff, partners and supporters through its global hub for learning, Agora.
The Gamoteca solution is integrated with UNICEF’s e-learning platform, Agora, a platform developed and maintained by Catalyst IT Europe, to make game-based learning available to all their staff, partners and supporters. The integration enables Agora users to easily login on the Gamoteca app with their Agora credentials and update their game progress information back to Agora through a Moodle plugin (using LTI).
UNICEF have also created learning games for their Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action (CCCs) onboarding playlists.
Gamoteca games allow any UNICEF learners on Agora to access a number of game-based learning experiences:
Staying Motivated while Working remotely
A game to interact with your colleagues or friends, and make working remotely a more fun and supported experience because working remotely doesn’t mean that your day-to-day work changes, it only changes where you do it from.
Design Thinking
This two-player game is a 5-step process with a combination of activities and exercises that will ensure a creative approach that places the end-user at its centre
Onboarding
A game for organisations to onboard new employees in a fun, engaging manner that accounts for the unique value that the organisation and new employee bring to each other.
Core Commitments for Children (CCCs)
The Humanitarian Learning and Development team at Unicef have been developing blended learning playlists on Agora for the Core Commitments for Children (CCCs) This constitutes part of their onboarding strategy.
UNICEF with Gamoteca worked closely with subject matter specialists through a series of virtual design thinking workshops. They were aware that without a close understanding of local contexts and organisations, their main learning objectives would be difficult to achieve. Using two-way role plays and scenarios the issues of gender equality and child protection have been brought to life. The best decisions are reached through mutual understanding and collaboration when facing a humanitarian crisis.
Co-creating games has been a great learning experience for the Gamoteca and UNICEF teams, and the goal has been to empower the Unicef team to take ownership of the game creation process, and use iterative user testing and feedback loops to keep improving the learning outcomes.
Interactivity, engagement and feedback in e-learning is vital to achieving learning objectives and positive behavioural change. Gamoteca offers a platform that allows trainers to easily create game-based learning. This is the current and future experiential path to allow users to practice what they have learned and to readily receive feedback from all other learners or facilitators they are engaging with.
To learn more:
• Try out one of the Gamoteca featured games by downloading the Gamoteca player app (Apple of Google)
• Try creating your game-based learning experience here
• Explore the humanitarian games on Kaya or Agora
