The second Innovation Week of the digiTED project took place in early April at Högskolan i Borås, Sweden, bringing together 16 teacher educators from partner institutions for a dynamic, four-day training event. This intensive program was structured around challenge-based learning, a methodology that encourages participants to tackle real-world problems through hands-on collaboration. Throughout the week, participants worked in transnational, interdisciplinary teams, focusing on creating educational escape games as tools to enhance their teaching practices. Each team worked towards designing, testing, and refining a prototype for an escape room game, sharing insights and feedback to ensure it could be integrated into their own educational contexts.
Participants reported that the Innovation Week’s hands-on approach was highly valuable, offering a unique opportunity to explore new digital teaching tools, enhance teamwork skills, and exchange ideas with colleagues from diverse backgrounds. Highlights included practical sessions on digital escape room creation, workshops on innovative teaching tools, and the collaborative environment fostered within the program. Many colleagues found inspiration in the exposure to new methods, describing the event as well-organised and tailored to their professional needs. Participants especially appreciated the structure of the training day, which allowed them to focus on relevant tools based on individual interests and teaching goals, creating a supportive learning environment where networking was possible.
Reflecting on ways to improve future Innovation Weeks, participants suggested integrating more time for practical work with specific tools, particularly those used in escape rooms, like Actionbound. Many felt a brief introductory session on key tools could help streamline the game design process and provide clarity. Additionally, there was interest in adding a final session for reviewing the escape rooms, where groups could discuss their experiences with the tools in greater depth. Overall, the week was a success, with many participants leaving inspired to bring these collaborative, digital learning experiences back to their institutions, where they hope to introduce similar projects to encourage interdisciplinary learning and digital innovation among their colleagues and students.
The digiTED week in Boras far exceeded my expectations of how much I would learn and how fun it all would be. Thank you ever so much for all your hard work!
