Whoever is reading this post and happens to work in the field of project management is fully aware that a key factor for a successful project is periodical monitoring and evaluation of activities and results. This is particularly important especially when you are half-way through your project, which can usually be after one or two years of work since its official start… Well, with Playing 4 Soft Skills we are exactly at that stage…!
The P4SS project (as we like to call it among partners ) has started almost one year ago, in October 2020, after we received the news from the National Agency that our proposal was approved! This moment marked the beginning of a new adventure for all of us in Berlink, Axonforce and all our partners that are on board!
While looking back at the past year, it is amazing to reflect on how much knowledge and experience we have shared while working together as partners in the same project! And this looks even more astonishing when thinking about the fact that we started this project in the middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic, without being able to travel and to meet each other in person. Despite such obstacles, we have been able to adapt and exploit different online platforms (Skype, Google Meet etc.) to communicate and work together!
Despite only virtually, we could overcome physical distance and national boundaries and get to know each other a bit better during our firsts online meetings and the First Transnational Meeting, of course held online! We were able to collaborate and conduct a detailed research on which soft skills are perceived as most important across our target groups (students, teachers and employers). At the end of this process, and after careful evaluation, we were happy to release the Soft Skills Evaluation Report, the first Output of the P4SS Project, which presents our findings and is available on our project website, in different languages!
But we are not stopping here! Based on the TOP 5 Soft Skills identified (MOTIVATION, DEALING WITH STRESS, TEAMWORK, DESIRE TO LEARN, CRITICAL THINKING), we are currently going through a very creative phase of co-design among partners in order to develop the other three Outputs (Soft Skills Game Manual, Soft Skills Training Notebook, Soft Skills Training App). These, in fact, will guide students and teachers on how to play and interact with the new Educational Game and Digital App and activate their soft skills in new and creative ways. As you can imagine, these months are truly exciting and shall define the bulk of our projects results!
Overall, the greatest feeling that this first year of Playing 4 Soft Skills left many of us with is excitement for what we have discovered…but also for what still remains to be done over the next months of work! Despite we could only communicate online, over this year we have experienced that virtual communication has not prevented us from sharing knowledge and ideas, cooperate, co-create and co-design. Despite speaking different languages and coming from different backgrounds, we as partners have rediscovered, once again, the value of collaborating in European projects, broadening our horizons and changing our realities!
While this was still possible by meeting virtually, we can’t wait to finally meet each other IN PERSON, which should finally happen this coming October during our Third Transnational Meeting in Malaga! So please stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram, as next time we will hopefully be posting NOT another screenshot, but our FIRST PHOTO TOGETHER!!!
