About EduGenZ
Gamified educational framework for GenZ using affective and immersive technology
36-Month Research Project · H.F.R.I. FundedProject Overview
EduGenZ is a 36-month research project funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.). The project develops an innovative educational ecosystem for cultivating Systems Thinking skills among Generation Z pre-service teachers.
EduGenZ combines immersive serious games, affective technology, educational analytics, and explainable Artificial Intelligence to support future educators in understanding complex sustainability challenges and developing 21st-century competencies.
Motivation
Modern societies face increasingly complex challenges related to sustainability, climate change, digital transformation, and technological innovation. Education has a central role in preparing future citizens to understand these challenges and act responsibly.
A key competence for this transformation is Systems Thinking — the ability to understand relationships, interconnections, feedback loops, and complex systems across different domains and scales.
EduGenZ focuses on pre-service teachers because they will become the future educators of society. Supporting them in developing Systems Thinking skills can contribute to more sustainable, inclusive, and forward-looking educational practices. At the same time, current pre-service teachers belong to Generation Z — a generation familiar with rapidly evolving digital technologies who prefer learning environments that are visual, interactive, personalised, and game-based.
Project Vision
EduGenZ aims to empower GenZ future educators with Systems Thinking competencies through a personalised, immersive, and gamified learning experience. The project envisions an educational ecosystem where learners can engage with complex sustainability-related problems, receive personalised feedback, and develop a deeper understanding of how systems work.
Through its interdisciplinary approach, EduGenZ seeks to bridge educational sciences, artificial intelligence, immersive technologies, serious games, affective computing, and learning analytics.
Objectives
- Identify the needs of relevant stakeholders and engage them in the development of the EduGenZ framework.
- Investigate key obstacles that affect the adoption of Systems Thinking in GenZ educational settings.
- Define educational metrics and digital phenotype metrics related to learners’ progress, affective state, and gaming behaviour.
- Develop trustworthy and explainable AI models for Systems Thinking learning assessment.
- Design and implement an AI-adaptive personalised immersive serious games suite.
- Validate the EduGenZ ecosystem through pilot studies with pre-service teachers.
- Promote openness, visibility, dissemination, communication, and future exploitation of the project outcomes.
Methodological Approach
EduGenZ follows a user-centred, co-creation and agile methodology, actively involving pre-service teachers, educators, researchers, and other stakeholders throughout the design, development, and validation stages.
Establishment
Defines user needs, explores the state of the art, identifies relevant datasets, and sets the foundations for the project’s ethical, inclusive, and trustworthy AI framework.
Research & Development
Develops educational metrics, digital phenotype metrics, explainable AI models, the immersive serious games suite, EduGenZ app, and dashboard.
Data Collection & Validation
Conducts pilot studies with pre-service teachers in Greece to collect data, evaluate developed tools, and validate the effectiveness of the EduGenZ ecosystem.
What EduGenZ Develops
AI-Powered Immersive Serious Games
A personalised immersive serious games suite designed to support Systems Thinking learning through interactive, gamified experiences.
EduGenZ App
A digital application that supports data collection, learner interaction, and feedback related to Systems Thinking competencies.
Dashboard
A web-based tool for educators and researchers, providing analytics and insights into learners’ progress and interaction with the ecosystem.
Explainable AI Models
Trustworthy AI-based models that support Systems Thinking assessment and provide transparent, understandable, and personalised feedback.
Educational & Affective Metrics
Educational metrics, digital phenotype metrics, and game analytics that help capture learners’ progress, affective state, and interaction patterns.
Expected Impact
EduGenZ aims to generate scientific, educational, social, technological, and long-term societal impact. The project contributes to educational innovation by exploring how immersive technologies, serious games, affective computing, and explainable AI can support Systems Thinking learning.
In the medium term, the project aims to engage a community of at least 300 pre-service teachers from two Greek universities, together with faculty members and stakeholders from education, research, technology, and policy.