Abstract:

Traditional teaching-learning methods are losing effectiveness in university classrooms. Some professors feel satisfied after their lecture but, this situation can become a trap for the professor and the student. On many occasions the professor is not able to identify student passivity, which may result in learning difficulties, poor receptivity and attention, low performance, reluctance and even absenteeism, demotivation and abandonment of the subject.

Student passivity is aggravated by the increasing number of electronic devices that are found in the classroom. These can lead to a greater deficit of attention due to their excessive or inadequate use. The professor should, therefore, have the tools to adapt to a student audience that has been brought up in an increasingly digitalized environment, in addition to possessing a deep knowledge of the subject.

This study benefits from the inevitable presence of technology in the classroom to reactivate the teaching-learning method using gamification practices. The innovative gamification techniques attract attention, motivate teaching and achieve better academic results for students.

The teaching-learning method through gamification was carried out in the “Building” subject of the Degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Córdoba (Spain), using online Kahoot! questionnaires. At the end of the lecture, the students used their mobile phones (smartphones) to do Kahoot! integrated by questions related to the theoretical/practical concepts taught throughout that session. The Kahoot! platform makes the partial/total obtained score public in real time, becoming a knowledge competition among the students at the end of the lecture.

The percentage of students who participated in Kahoot! and successfully passed the “Building” exam was 75% of the total group. The students who participated in Kahoot! and did not pass the exam was 12% of the total group. These students needed to retake an exam to pass the subject. It is worth noting that, although this student group obtained failing exam grades, their marks were higher than 4 points out of 10. The group of students who did not complete the Kahoot! questionnaires and did not pass the “Building” exam amounted to 13%. From the results obtained, it has been highlighted that none of the students who did not do the Kahoot! passed the “Building” subject.

The gamification technique used in this study favoured the knowledge acquisition and the overcoming of the “Building” subject, fostering a relaxed and motivating study/work environment and reactivating the teaching-learning method at the same time."

Keywords:

Gamification, civil engineering, online questionnaires, teaching-learning method.