Abstract:

The current historical period is known as the “Digital Age”. This has given rise to a new way of understanding what is known today as Information and Communication Technologies mainly represented by mobile phone, tablets, internet, and computers. The quick evolution of the Information and Communication Technologies is transforming the education. However, until today in the university environment the magistral lesson is the predominant pedagogical practice. In this sense, the European Higher Education area requires that professors should apply learning models that encourage students to participate more actively in their own learning. One possible alternative could be the use of gamification. There are numerous applications of gamification that can be used in the university context. The present work presents a review of the most useful applications for the teaching-learning process in the university setting, as well as their main characteristics and possibilities that they offer to develop a gamified teaching. To facilitate their understanding, as well as their practical applications, they have been classified on applications for managing the classroom, developing online or delayed contents, and evaluating the students’ acquisition of knowledge. Furthermore, this work also analyzes students’ opinion about the use of applications of gamification in the university setting. A sample of 122 university students (69 females and 49 males; Mage = 19.4 years) fulfilled an anonymous questionnaire. Because of the current health situation an online teaching was carried out, the students completed the questionnaire at the end of a synchronous lesson with their own computer at home through a Google Form sheet. Students were requested to report if they had previous experiences with applications of gamification, as well as if they considered that they enjoyed (“Do you enjoy the Kahoot application in class?”) and learn (“Do you think you learn in class with the Kahoot application? “) with the applications of gamification (Kahoot in this case). The results showed that the 94.9% of students surveyed reported that they had previous experience with the applications of gamification. Moreover, only the 17.8% had experience with other applications of gamification in the education setting like Trivial, Preguntados, Quizz, Duolingo, Socrative, Quizlet, Mapas Interactivos, ClassDojo, or Educaweb (word roll). Regarding if students enjoy and learn using the Kahoot application of gamification, the 94.9% and 94.1%, answered affirmatively, respectively. Currently, there is a wide battery of applications of gamification that can be incorporate in the university teaching. In this sense, considering the different applications that exist, the professor will be the responsible to choose that one which adapts better to the educational objective that it has been established for a specific lesson or content. These applications can be used both in a face-to-face teaching as a support of it, as well as a virtual resource in the online teaching. Additionally, apart from the advantages offered by the applications of gamification, for instance, the students surveyed in the present work reported that they enjoy and learn with the use of the application of gamification Kahoot. From a motivational point of view, the use of applications of gamification with university students could be a positive strategy to encourage them toward the learning.

Keywords:

App, gamification, college students, education, learning, enjoyment.