Northern Ireland Web Company is Game to Learn

Bangor based business, Omnisoft Services, which specialises in social media and gamification, was at the BETT (British Education and Training Technology) exhibition in London to launch a major new education initiative called Game to Learn. Pictured is Peadar Loughrey, researcher for Game to Learn and Shirlee Beggs, Operations Manager at Omnisoft.

A Northern Ireland web company has launched a major new education initiative called Game to Learn. Bangor based business, Omnisoft Services, which specialises in social media and gamification, was at the BETT (British Education and Training Technology) exhibition in London last week to launch ‘Game to Learn’ and its sister initiative, Game to Change which is aimed at community groups. Game to learn offers learning solutions for Key Stage One and Key Stage Two pupils through trackable gaming solutions that integrate gaming and learning into a single package which can be used in the classroom and at home to complete homework and extend the learning experience. Andrew Cuthbert, CEO of Omnisoft Services which created the online learning tool, said “Through Game to Learn we are trying to bring learning into the 21st century. Gaming has been proven to help improve children’s performance through increased engagement in a fun and relevant medium and is a great way to encourage pupils who may not be interested in traditional learning methods to take part in classroom initiatives. We have worked closely with teachers and the national curriculum to create a solution which works for educators and the children benefiting from it and we’ve had very positive feedback from the schools currently using online tool.” Game to Learn is an interactive game to encourage learning. Through the online game, pupils can create and personalise their own online character and persona. They can then log in to their own account both in school and at home when completing tasks and homework. The online learning tool allows pupils to enter virtual worlds, engage in quests and adventures whilst completing educational questions along the way, before progressing onto the next stage or adventure. Game to Learn evolved from a pilot exercise involving up to 250 schools across the UK with teachers regularly providing feedback that their pupils enjoy using Game to Learn as it has proven to be a great way of getting the whole class to interact with the learning process. Typically, in any class, there will be pupils at risk of falling behind because they don’t enjoy school or can’t relate to the subjects and the method of teaching. By bringing gaming into the mix, it provides a new and fun method of learning and gives pupils control over their education because they can use it at home too. The online learning system includes thousands of questions written by teachers which are preloaded into the software and is compliant with the National Curriculum in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Teachers can also set additional questions specific to their subject areas. Gamification refers to the use of game design techniques for non-game related tasks and can be used to help solve problems and create processes for engaging a target audience, for example alcohol awareness and social responsibility among young people. Omnisoft’s Game to Change software package can be used to tackle social issues and aid the behavioural development of young people, a generation which typically uses modern technology to communicate and interact. You can visit the Game to learn website at http://www.gametolearn.net and ‘Like’ the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/gametolearn for more information!