Abstract:

Gamification is the use of mechanics of games in non-ludic environments and applications with the objective of encouraging motivation, concentration, effort, loyalty and other positive common values to all games with didactic purposes [1]. Literature shows positive effects in students when using gamification such as a better cooperation, concept reinforcement and better results on tests [2]. With gamification a new strategy for students of exact sciences and engineering is reveled; these students are expect to learn concepts of their fields, since assembly manuals, application, programing and tasks related to this field of studies use a varied range of terms [3].

In this paper we describe a Virtual Learning Environment [4] based on gamification that uses Jeopardy game as reference, which has its fundaments on a game TvShow from the 90’s in the USA. Using Jeopardy game as a reference, some rules are re-defined to implement in a more didactic way the dynamics of the learning scenario. With the strategy, the teacher organizes the students in small groups (3-4 students) incorporating in a session no more than five groups. The virtual whiteboard integrates themes in the columns, with scores that increase as you go down in the selection of rows (from top to bottom). Unlike the original game, the clues present in the form of questions and participants provide answers; through this dynamic students practice the theoretical concepts involved in the subject to reinforce; depending on the accuracy of the response increase or decrease the points of the team.

The Virtual Learning Environment was development in HTML; to use it requires to be hosted on a web server, and for its execution requires only a web browser

Keywords:

Gamification, Jeopardy, Virtual Learning Environment.