After two years of fruitful and creative work, the research project "PLAY: Play, Learn, fight back AnxietY", in which with the Open University of Cyprus (OUC) participated with a research team of the Educational Technology Lab led by Dr. Thanasis Hadzilacos, came to an end. PLAY’s objective was to develop a 3D virtual world using the potential of a gamification-based approach to simulate real-life scenarios that familiarize students with various stressful situations, help them be better prepared for University curricular activities and ultimately assist them to reduce the anxiety they may face during their academic lives.
During the project’s lifetime, its five (5) partners, developed, tested and evaluated results for ten (10) 3D virtual and concrete game scenarios that aim to help students dealing with anxiety. Entering the PLAY 3D Virtual World students can either play a game scenario or have anonymous counselling.
The project was funded in the framework of the Erasmus+ KA2 - Strategic Partnerships programme. Project coordinator was the University of Patras (Greece), while the Open University of Cyprus, the Maiêutica Cooperativa de Ensino Superior Crl (Portugal), The Institute of Child Education & Psychology Europe (Ireland) and OptionsNet (Greece) were the consortium partners.
More information about the project is available on its website https://play2fightanxiety.eu/.