  This paper will present a cross-European experience of game jams as part of a
Horizon 2020 funded project: No-one Left Behind (NOLB). The NOLB project was
created to unlock inclusive gaming creation and experiences in formal learning
situations from primary to secondary level, particularly for children at risk
of social exclusion. The project has engendered the concept of game jams,
events organised with the aim of designing and creating small games in a short
time-frame around a central theme. Game jams can support engagement with
informal learning beyond schools across a range of disciplines, resulting in an
exciting experience associated with strong, positive emotions which can
significantly support learning goals. This paper will disseminate experience of
two cross-European game jams; the first a pilot and the second having over 95
submissions from countries across Europe, America, Canada, Egypt, the
Philippians and India. Data collected through these games jams supports that
coding, designing, reflection, analysing, creating, debugging, persevering and
application, as well as developing computational thinking concepts such as
decomposition, using patterns, abstraction and evaluation. The notion of game
jams provides a paradigm for creating both formal and informal learning
experiences such as directed learning experience, problem-solving, hands-on
projects, working collaboratively, and creative invention, within a
learner-centred learning environment where children are creators of their own
knowledge and learning material.
