In the Social Seducement online game, the role of gamemaster (our name for facilitator) is crucial in accompanying and supporting players through their learning journey across the game levels.

Facilitators are not trainers, but experts in group animation and motivation. They are able to facilitate the work of groups playing the game, enhancing their capacity of team work, motivating players and supporting users to access the right information to move from one level to the next. As a consequence users acquire all the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes to become a social entrepreneur along the way.

15 facilitators will be involved in the piloting of the Social Seducement game, soon to be starting across the following countries: Belgium, Italy, Spain, Sweden, U.K.

We had the chance to meet our facilitators in the frame of the Facilitators’ Training week that took place in Rome in October 2016.

The 15 experts had been selected and recruited through coordinated focus groups, workshops with VET organisations, employment offices or third sector organisations and specific calls in the different countries. All the interested people had presented extremely rich CVs and a lot of experience in facilitating unemployed or disadvantaged people to recover from exclusion and find a way back to job inclusion, self-estimation and empowerment. In addition, among them there were also experts in the use of serious games in training processes. The selection was not easy.

Coordinated by Le Mat, all partners prepared the programme in Rome and arranged the logistical details in order to facilitate the week. The work took place in an event centre managed by a social cooperative interested in the Social Seducement project. We found a welcoming environment and this was quite useful for our work.

The 5 days in Rome were rich and successful. During the first day, a lot of time was dedicated to presenting the participants and their very interesting experiences in the different countries. In addition, their valuable expectations and ideas on how to use the game were collected. At the end of the first day the pedagogical model inspiring the game was presented and discussed with specific focus on the role facilitators will play during the piloting phase of the game. The following three days were dedicated to game testing by facilitators.

The whole work and and learning event has been characterised by the fruitful exchange of professional experiences in the different countries. The aspiring Social Seducement facilitators worked in groups, and their feedback was extremely useful and important.

In addition, the atmosphere was fully collaborative, and so it became possible to start to also discuss the creation of a European Network of active facilitators working with the Social Seducement game.

At the end of the meeting, the facilitators and the partners agreed on a common agenda for the coming months in order to start the piloting process in the different countries.

Meeting and working with facilitators face to face was extremely useful for the project for various reasons: it allowed us to gather fresh feedback on our game and general approach; it enhanced an environment of collaboration between the project and the group of facilitators and – last but not least – it created a very good climate among the 15 facilitators coming from different countries, thereby paving the basis for the Social Seducement network of European facilitators.

Facilitators and their role in the Social Seducement game

Stefania Aceto

Call for shadow test facilitators

Discussing our challenging mission locally: the Social Seducement seminars

An overview on the pedagogical approach of the Social Seducement game

What’s up? on Social Seducement