At LUDOVIA#BE, which took place in Spa, Wallonia, from October 22 to 24, 2024, we met several “gems.” Over the coming weeks, you’ll be able to explore a curated selection of articles and short videos that we hope will inspire your current and future projects.
Today, we’re excited to introduce Fabian Demily, a teacher with a degree in Educational Sciences and a pedagogy professor at the Haute École Robert Schuman.
“The principle of geocaching is an international game where you find treasures on a map; armed with a smartphone, you choose caches in your area and go search for these treasures,” explains Fabian Demily as he introduces the concept.
When you find the treasure, you mark that you’ve visited the location, typically answering a question, and “you can also leave small treasures and take others,” he adds.
During the lockdown, the idea came to him to engage students differently, since physical education couldn’t be held indoors due to health protocols.
“I had this idea in mind to send them somewhere while still being able to verify they had visited the requested locations,” he explains.
We’re talking about “Educaching,” meaning we’re putting an educational twist on geocaching. So, he proposed an alternative to simple geocaching, called “Bipper,” as geocaching has many limitations and rules.
Today, many teachers use it, especially in France. He gives the example of a kayaking instructor who “works in a geographically limited area of a cove, where, in pairs, participants are invited to find Bipper beacons using their smartphones while kayaking,” he describes.
Other examples:
- The University of Aix-Marseille used Bipper to introduce its campus by placing beacons at key locations.
- In Châlons-sur-Saône, a treasure hunt was organized with a Latin teacher, “to help students discover the Gallo-Roman passage.”
Thus, Bipper can be used to explore a place or landscape, but also for physical education, for orienteering courses, “where teachers can combine their IOF map with the Bipper.be site to verify passage at the beacon,” he adds.
Skills developed include spatial structuring, coordination, and collaboration, as well as strategy to complete the course.
What reassures teachers is that the app allows them to track students remotely. “It’s also a time-saver for teachers who don’t have to place the beacons before the activity; they can do everything from their desk!”
No app needs to be downloaded to your smartphone; you just need to enable geolocation on your web browser. It’s recommended to test the system before starting the “big hunt” by setting up two beacons around the school, “which helps identify students who have properly set up their phones,” he says.
“The major advantage of the tool is that teachers can create their own hunts on Bipper.be,” he concludes.
For more information: www.bipper.be
