The workshop emerged as a strengthening strategy for professors and academic leaders participating in the Erasmus+ BeGlobal project.
On July 10, 2025, the team from the General Academic Vice-Rector’s Office at UNIMINUTO led the workshop Playing Seriously: Designing Educational Experiences with Purpose. The Center for Educational Innovation and Faculty Excellence (CIEEP), in coordination with the Center for Learning Experience Support (CaEx), guided and directed the session, which was aimed at professors and academic leaders from Fundación Universitaria Juan N. Corpas (Colombia), Universidad Católica del Maule (Chile), and Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción (Chile).
The workshop emerged as a strengthening strategy for professors and academic leaders participating in the Erasmus+ BeGlobal project, who, as a team, are advancing in the creation of serious games. These games are designed to address pressing social issues from a critical and problem-solving perspective, with pedagogy mediated through serious gaming.
The design, planning, and execution of the workshop proved highly valuable for the project, as it represented a gain for all those involved. For the Center for Educational Innovation and Faculty Excellence, it was an opportunity to deepen the methodology of serious games and to make a didactic transposition that provided participants with pedagogical, methodological, and technological tools to advance in the creation of their games. Furthermore, the collaboration with the Center for Learning Experience Support enriched the workshop by integrating broader perspectives into the tools and approaches shared.
The planning meetings included members from the Sub-directorate of Teaching and both Centers: in total, the UNIMINUTO administrative team held three planning sessions to finalize the workshop design.
The purpose of the workshop was to highlight key methodological, pedagogical, and technological elements for designing educational experiences based on serious games. The 3-hour session was structured into six stages:
Stage 1: Participant introduction.
Stage 2: Game design proposal.
Stage 3: Badge collection: The Design Compass.
Stage 4: Badge collection: The Educational Game Architect.
Stage 5: Badge collection: The Key to Worlds.
Stage 6: Closing and metacognition.
The methodology guiding the workshop was grounded in game-mediated learning, which led to a highly meaningful experience. Activities were designed to meet participants’ needs for understanding and internalizing the methodology of serious games, ensuring that each step aligned with their professional expectations. This approach reinforced both conceptual understanding and hands-on practice, underscoring the value of games as a strategy for educational and social innovation.
Finally, all these efforts will culminate between October 27 and November 30, when the project’s progress will be presented at the University of Côte d’Azur in Nice, France. This will be an opportunity to share the achievements made so far and to open new pathways for academic collaboration and international exchange around the design of educational experiences with serious games.
