Invited guests of Gamechangers Fest
“The two days of Gamechangers Fest in Saint Petersburg were really amazing from many perspectives. First of all, as a youth worker I was very interested to get an overview about new educational games and methods that are used by other specialists in the sphere of non-formal education. Also, it was amazing possibility to make new contacts and share experiences with great people with similar interests who are from Russia. It was very interesting and developing for me personally.
During this weekend, all participants had the opportunity to visit different workshops. I attended a session on Technology of game modification and it was truly inspiring. We even created our own team-building activity on the basis of one traditional Russian game, tested it with other participants as energizer and it was pretty fun.
I also got a deeper knowledge about the social aspect of verbal role games, enjoyed getting to know new board-games (especially about a trip around the Baikal lake, it was like a teleport to some quick hiking among mountains and forests with bears and other animals I hadn’t heard about and which I know now) and experienced on myself a challenging quest that was highlighting smartphone addiction and showed us how cool is real life contact and doing something together.
I would love to thank Shokkin Group for these amazing two days full of developing, creative and inspiring activities that I already use and that will also be used in future as I find this knowledge really important and useful!”
Maria Kazlovskaya
Invited guest to Gamechangers Fest
“An Educational Games Festival sounds like a lot of fun, and indeed, it was. On the 15-16th of February, I had a chance to participate in an extremely interesting, fruitful and awesome-people rich festival in Saint Petersburg. Me and Maria arrived to St. Petersburg in the early morning on Saturday, meaning that we had hardly slept the night on the road. Nevertheless, the day was so intense and vivid that at the end of it we were full of energy and ready to explore the city in the free evening. What what so interesting and important during those two days?
On the first day, participants were introduced some educational games developed on the Gamechangers program some months before the festival. I was impressed with the variety of interesting games you can play with and for youth while learning about important topics such as active citizenship, mental health and more. At the end of the day, I was really inspired to come home and make my own educational game.
On the second day of the festival we had different workshops, discussions, open space and product fair which encouraged us to share our experience connected with the educational gamification among other attendees. All in all, I got a lot of inspiration and useful information about youth work and left St. Peterburg with a smile.”
Julia Divonina
Invited guest to Gamechangers Fest
“I, like everyone else, played different games in my childhood, but I never thought that games had the power to change people personally and society as a whole in such a positive sense. Within a short period of time, I learned a lot, and most importantly, I discovered a new way for me to solve the problems of youth that I met in my homeland in Azerbaijan. I am grateful to all the organizers, facilitators and participants of this wonderful festival!”
Gasim Khasmammadli
Invited guest to Gamechangers Fest
I work in a public school where almost all my colleagues are kind of old-fashioned, and sometimes I feel alone and frustrated because of that. It is hard to cooperate with them and to organize something cool for our students together.
That’s why I just loved Gamechangers. It gave me so many new friends in the educational field. It gave me a lot of inspiration, new knowledge and new skills on developing educational games.
Participants of Gamechangers Program
“I had never thought that educational games could be so cool! I always thought that these are boring cards with no interesting learning points, but when I was creating educational games by myself during “Gamchangers”, it turn into an exiting journey! I have learned a lot about gamification, game design, different game technics and engines and how to create especially educational games and make then fun and motivational. I will definitely develop more games and use them to improve the learning processes at my work and help my “game team” to make and run games together. Thanks to the Gamechangers program for this opportunity.”
Georgi Lugovskoi
Participant of Gamechangers program
“Thanks to Gamechangers I have become aware of what educational games are. It turns out that it’s not difficult to create them at all, for it is possible to use any topic, and it is just essential to think the strategy of the game thouroughly. I have tried many games from the project with my students. The project showed me the new methodology of active education, which I shall use with the great pleasure at work with children. It was great, interesting, informative and useful!”
Asja Jatsenko
Participant of Gamechangers program
“For me it is very important to be around like-minded people. I work in a public school where almost all my colleagues are kind of old-fashioned, and sometimes I feel alone and frustrated because of that. It is hard to cooperate with them and to organize something cool for our students together. That’s why I just loved Gamechangers. It gave me so many new friends in the educational field. It gave me a lot of inspiration, new knowledge and new skills on developing educational games.
But anyway, people are the most important part of all the experience. Our trainers created such a warm and friendly atmosphere: we could talk freely and safely about everything, we spend time from the early morning until the late evening learning, sharing, creating and playing games together. And I, as a deep introvert, was not tired of communicating with people at all! That was a big pleasant surprise for me :).
Participant of Gamechangers program
Gamechangers was another fascinating learning journey in my life! I could not imagine that gamification is so fun! Especially if you create educational games for young people. During the course I learned about civic education, the gamification process, how to use different game technics and methodology. But the most important part was creating our own educational games! The trainers inspired us and gave useful advices and tips. I was surprised that in the end of the training course I could present my own game and even test it several times.
Additionally, we are still in touch and meet with participants in Estonia to exchange our ideas for future games and projects, play board games and have fun together! Thanks Gamechangers team and Shokkin Group for this amazing community!