Abstract:

The current competency-based learning model requires new tools that enable students to become active learners. Games can be a facilitating tool for students to develop professional skills that are much more difficult to acquire through traditional learning methods. In this sense, gamification is becoming an innovative trend in many areas, including higher education, since it can help to cover some of the needs of the university classroom easily identifiable in our everyday life.

In general terms, gamification can be understood as the use of dynamics, mechanics and aesthetics/experiences of the game in non-game environments to acquire, develop or improve a certain attitude or behavior (Kapp, 2012). Games allow us to motivate, maintain attention and concentration of students for a much longer period of time than in traditional master lecturers.

Gamification is not only a method or a technique, but also an advantageous strategy. It is not about playing for the sake of playing, behind the design there must be clear objectives and advance planning so as to the process of gamification really makes sense. For this reason, in order to align learning objectives it is necessary to bear in mind the following four main pillars:
(1) the elements of the game;
(2) the motivation;
(3) the rewards, and
(4) the adaptation to the users’ profile; that is to say, adjusting the game to the learning styles of the students to whom we are targeting (using for example, the styles defined by Honey and Mumford (1986, 1992).

Hence, the aim of this project is to explore the more appropriate "game thinking" level for our students in the Bachelor's degree of Business Administration and Management of the Universitat de Barcelona, since different levels may imply diverse types of involvement that cover several learning objectives (Marczewski, 2015). For example, gamified activities can be incorporated in different moments of the session (Serrat, Bueno and Maestre, 2016):
(1) starting games, to link with contents of the previous session, present new contents and identify previous students’ knowledge, etc.;
(2) developing games, to enhance certain skills, usually linked to content already worked; and
(3) closing games, to consolidate or review the learning outcomes of a session or a thematic block.

The main contribution of this work presents the experiences in designing and implementation of gamification in different subjects of the Bachelor's degree of Business Administration and Management by a team of professors of a Spanish university.

References:
[1] P. Honey and A. Mumford, Using your learning styles. Peter Honey, 1986.
[2] P. Honey and A. Mumford, The manual of learning styles. Peter Honey, 1992.
[3] K. Kapp, The gamification of learning and instruction. Game‐based methods and strategies for training and education. Pfeiffer‐Wiley, 2012.
[4] N. Serrat Antolí; N. Bueno Guerra and E. Maestre González. La gamificació. Metodologies actives i TIC per a la millora docent i de l’aprenentatge. Universitat de Barcelona, 2016.
[5] Marczewski, Game Thinking. Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play: Gamification, Game Thinking and Motivational Design (1st ed., pp. 15). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 2015.

Keywords:

Gamification, Higher Education, Business Administration.