Between April and May 2025, the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication at Sofia University held several demonstration game sessions as part of the activities under the international project Media Masters, funded by the European Union.
The goal of the workshops was to test and analyze the demonstration version of an educational board game aimed at enhancing media literacy and critical thinking among young people. The sessions combined a board game with a mobile application that adds personalized content through real-life scenarios related to fake news, social media, and disinformation. Participants were required to make decisions based on information analysis and collaborative discussion.
The workshops were moderated by Prof. Dr. Veselina Valkanova, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mila Serafimova, and Chief Assistant Dr. Yordan Karapenchev, who not only presented the project and the game model but also observed the sessions, took notes, and facilitated the subsequent discussions. The participants showed high engagement and actively contributed ideas for improving the gameplay and game logic.
The feedback gathered will be used to refine the board game and mobile application, as well as for research purposes within the project. The demonstration sessions confirmed the game’s potential as an innovative pedagogical tool in the field of media literacy—both in formal educational settings and informal environments.
A second series of demonstration games is scheduled to take place at FJMC in the fall. By then, significant improvements will be made to the game based on the feedback collected during the previous sessions.
The Bulgarian project team is also collecting data to prepare a scholarly article evaluating the potential of using board games as a pedagogical tool. In this task, the FJMC team is partnering with researchers from the University of Maribor (Slovenia), who are working in parallel by gathering and analyzing results from similar demonstration games.
The Media Masters project is supported by the European Union under the “Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values” Programme (CERV). The project, under grant agreement number 101148165, brings together partners from nine European countries working jointly to strengthen media literacy, resilience against disinformation, and the promotion of active civic participation among young people.