Abstract:

In recent years there has been a need to explore new teaching strategies, which promotes a more active role by students and encourages their motivation to learn. Among these methodologies, the flip teaching and gamification are highlighted. In the technique of gamification, game mechanics are applied in areas that are not normally playful. Any activity can be gamified, enhancing the involvement of students through rewards or “stars".

This methodology is being applied in the subject "Energy and Sustainable Development" of the Master's Degree in Industrial Engineering (MUII) in the Technical School of Industrial Engineers (ETSII) of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), mainly aimed at small groups of exchange students. The subject analyzes aspects of the energy problem related to the environment and sustainability, giving special relevance to cases and examples from European countries.

In this subject, with an eminently practical approach, several gamified activities are proposed in the renewable energy chapters. It involves carrying out, in couples, the energy planning of an imaginary country that includes some economic and environmental restrictions.

The objective of the dynamics is twofold. On the one hand, learning to design and perform the calculation of the wind, photovoltaic, biomass and hydraulic power systems and, on the other, making the students aware of the need to use as many technologies as possible to guarantee the supply.

The approach of gamification is to obtain "stars" for challenges which are represented by activities related to the calculation of design, economic and environmental parameters. The team that best manages to adapt to the demand, using a greater number of technologies with the lowest investment and generation cost wins the competition. In the dynamics, some “stars” are given to the rate MW/€ and others depending on the score obtained with the Socrative tool. Besides, the students adopt the engineer role due to the realistic activities in the field, and this improves their motivation for the activities.

The gamification lasts the whole course. At the end, the teams present their energy planning. During the presentation, the professor assesses the overall work carried out by the students, their reasoning ability, the willingness to engage in a debate by contributing or refuting arguments and the quality of the exhibition. They also interact with other colleagues, who value the performance of the other teams. Thus, it is intended that the students acquire knowledge based on the conclusions from their own reasoning.

In addition to the specific competences, the results of the gamification address other soft competences which can be evaluated, such as "Ethical, professional and environmental responsibility", "Knowledge of contemporary problems" and "Specific instrumental competence".

Keywords:

Gamification, Transversal competencies, engineering.