“Digital? Sicher!” – An Educational Game to Build Digital Competences

Abstract

“Digital? Sicher!” is a free educational game designed to build students’ digital competences in cybersecurity, privacy, tracking and datafication. The target group are students aged 14–16, although the educational game can be used by younger or older students. The game was co-designed in Austria by an interdisciplinary team together with 18 industry representatives, 157 school students and 11 teachers. To embed the game in teaching practices we also co-designed a pedagogical concept for teachers on how to integrate the game. Our evaluation showed that the game is functional, relevant and in combination with the pedagogical concept ready for implementation in classrooms. The game supports building young people’s digital competences to operate safely in the digital spaces. The development of critical digital skills at school is urgently needed which was the aim of the learn-app. Consulting with industry representatives and including relevant examples ensures also the importance of safe cyber skills for a future work life. The storyline of the game includes that players have to make decisions through interactive elements. They playfully experience real-life examples exposing risks and dangers the internet entails. We share design recommendations and an outlook based on evaluation results.