Mobile devices used by students have the potential to enhance motivation and improve learning outcomes. The literature provides evidence of the learning opportunities enabled by mobile devices with augmented reality (AR). However, there is a noticeable gap in teacher training in areas such as mobile and game-based learning.

The EduCITY project (https://educity.web.ua.pt/) has developed a disruptive Smart Learning City Environment to promote education for sustainability. This includes a mobile app with AR games and a web platform to create these games without programming skills. The EduCITY app supports games that intend to promote interdisciplinary learning in outdoor environments.

An accredited 50-hour training workshop for in-service teachers was developed to promote teaching innovation through mobile technologies, AR experiences and games. This workshop focused on the collaborative design, production and implementation of mobile games supported by the EduCITY app, integrating digital educational resources, including AR. The workshop also included the evaluation and refinement of the games and educational resources created by the participants. Finally, 5 games for different grade levels were developed and are openly and freely available to the community via the EduCITY app.

This paper reports on a qualitative study driven by the research question: What is the impact of a 50-hour teacher training workshop on classroom practice? This impact was analysed by:
i) assessing the quality of the games teachers created; and
ii) identifying teachers' perspectives on their own learning and its applicability to their future practice.

The method involved document analysis of the games produced and of the individual reflections written by teachers at the end of the training.

Teachers created high quality AR games focusing on different aspects of the sustainability pillars with an interdisciplinary approach to school curricula. They also created high quality educational resources by experimenting with online media platforms, such as Canva, to develop videos and images or artificial intelligence to generate images related to the content being explored. Some teachers also used 3D models to improve the attractiveness of the game.

In terms of teachers’ learning, they considered the workshop as an opportunity to improve their digital skills, particularly in relation to mobile devices and AR. They also recognized mobile AR games as a new and valuable teaching method, mainly due to their potential to motivate students. This new learning is seen by the teachers as highly applicable to their practice, as many plan to continue using the created game, the app and the web platform in their teaching practice.

The primary aim of this teacher workshop was to inspire teachers to innovate their practice and ultimately improve students’ learning. The results support this aim, as teachers emphasized how they integrated mobile AR games to foster interdisciplinary learning. In addition, the curricular themes chosen by the trainees were identified as having a high potential to effectively address learning objectives through mobile game-based learning.

Keywords: Teacher training, mobile learning, game-based learning, augmented reality, digital educational resources, interdisciplinary education.