Gamifying research in software engineering

Abstract

It is a non‐trivial task for research‐centric courses in the software engineering curriculum to compete and engage students on the same level as the practical, software development courses. Practical software development courses and projects are inherently motivating to students, as they provide necessary elements such as agency, relatedness, and the strong sense of competence upon completing software engineering tasks. In contrast, reading research articles and technical white papers feels dry and non‐engaging. Nevertheless, a well‐balanced MSc programme curriculum covers both, learning through construction and practical courses as well as research courses. The main motivation for the development of game‐centric approaches to the research aspects of curriculum is to improve students’ interest and engagement with those courses. In this paper, we present the methodology and initial evaluations from three gamification strategies used in the Master's degree programme. These are: the game of reading and discussing research articles (GoRaD), the game of arguing and counter‐arguing, and combining research and practice. The paper presents our experimentation and initial evaluations of the use of those strategies, as well as plans for future development and enhancements.

Technological Tools for Knowledge Apprehension and Promotion in the Cultural and Heritage Tourism Sector: Systematic Literature Review

“…It is context-dependent and varies by the target audience. Gamification provides engagement, motivation to users [45], increases team competence [46], and can convey information and knowledge with a game-based approach [47,48].…”

Using web‐based gamified software to learn Boolean algebra simplification in a blended learning setting

“…The term “gamification” refers to the use of game mechanics in nongame contexts [31,56], which are employed with the objective of increasing the user's participation [32], therefore, it has been used in several areas, such as in marketing [25], health [86], and education [18].…”

“…In 1956, E. J. McCluskey created the tabular method to simplify Boolean expressions containing more than six variables, in which each of the elements obtained with the method was denominated as a Prime Implicant (PI) [49]. The Quine–McCluskey (Q–Mc) method, therefore, simplifies Boolean functions, as occurs with the K‐Map method [56], but it determines all the possible PIs (or simple terms) of the simplified function, of which not all of the simple terms should form part of the function, given that some of them are redundant [72]. The response obtained by using the Q–Mc method and eliminating the redundant PIs, can be optimized through the method developed by Stanley R. Petrick [62].…”

Math Gamification and ICT for University Learning: Systematic Review Article

“…Likewise, digital competences converge in the learning of mathematics, with the inclusion of techniques mediated by these emerging technologies during the process of professional training, it is mentioned the word "emerging" because in a few days, weeks, months and years, technologies will overcome those that started education with these ICT, this makes ICT-based education profitable because it is innovative, and transformative, for this it must be taken into account that in order to make students develop quality learning , it is necessary that they feel emotionally well to enjoy the new digital tools (Encalada Díaz,2021), this makes students feel motivated to formulate practical solutions through verbal semiotic exchanges, which makes the interaction between students and teachers pleasant, seeking more opportunities for team and collaborative learning within the disciplines of science, engineering, education, medicine, administration, among all other professional careers (Chen et al ;Arias-Flores et al ; Neugebauer et al,2023) , (Ricce Salazar et al,2021) , (Nowostawski et al,2018) It is also mentioned that there is a limited use of the tools between teachers and students due to educator's work in universities that continue with the traditional teaching method, where the teacher takes the role-play as an educator who has all the knowledge and does not include the new formats to make a dynamic, practical and versatile education, where the student learns playing with technologies, especially for complex engineering courses if it were the case , (Zhao et al ;García et al,2021), (Simg & Trigueros,2022) Online teaching is fundamental in semi face-to-face and virtual education, in order to use E-learning tools and virtual platforms, the Flipped Learning or inverted learning, and a pedagogical approach with direct instructions to train the student with autonomous learning are applied; students spend time at the performance moment, so they can carry out the class verification and get a feedback of the learned or previous knowledge in a class section, this requires students to be disciplined with their preparation and professional training to achieve the academic objectives of the course given by the teacher, this approach improves the academic learning processes (Zakaryan & Sosa,2021), that can be used from cell phones, which is the most common tool among students and teachers, and one of its features is that the student can observe, memorize, summarize and thus obtain the knowledge prior to the class section from the teacher (Olivares & de Sotomayor ;Prieto et al,2022), (Zhao et al ;Rückert et al ;Jácome-Amores et al,2021), (Tundjungsari ,2020) (Pires et al,2019).…”