Abstract:

In the last 10 years the mobile communication technologies have evolved from phone devices to integral parts of our lives. Nowadays mobile phones are complete computing devices, with several options for information processing and communication. Now, most of them have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 4G. The wide range of applications enabled by this mobile technology makes possible to use smartphones as very powerful tools for education. This paper presents an experience carried out at some of the degrees offered by University of Zaragoza during the courses 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 based on the use of smartphones or computers in classroom. More concretely, these experiences are carried out on the Degree of Business Management and Degree of Computer Engineering. The students use their mobile or computers in classroom. The student’s access to a web platform (http://games.unizar.es) designed to use three games: Prisoner’s Dilemma, Provision of Common Good, and the Tragedy of Commons. These three games are based on cooperation and deflection strategies, and with the adequate context and gaming structure, their use in classroom is expected to promote not only the development of economic knowledge, but the transversal competences as well, especially those related to cooperation and decisions making. The choice of those games is based on the simple understandable rules and the easy adaptation to different context for each degree. The results show that even in conflict and with a certain incentive to not cooperate between students is perceived as a game that promotes cooperation.

Keywords:

Mobile learning, smartphones, games on education, classroom experiences, Cooperation.