Abstract:

According to the higher education model proposed by the European Union, the role of the students should not be reduced to being a passive recipient memorizing information, but must participate and build their own learning process in the acquisition of knowledge. In the case of the teachers, their role should not be reduced to be a mere transmitter of knowledge, but should be a guide and facilitator of learning. On the other hand, technological resources are necessary in all stages of the academic education of one individual in face to face and online classes. In addition, the gamification (or games-based learning) presents multiple advantages for students, such as: increasing motivation, helping reasoning and autonomy, allowing active learning, giving the student control of their learning, providing useful information to teachers, promoting imagination, creativity, and social skills and contributing to digital literacy. Bearing this in mind, together with the low participation and motivation of the students in the classroom, we considered introduce the gamification to the classroom. In this way, during 2016-2017 academic course we applied the tool Kahoot, a game-based learning platform that enables to test students while attending a class in real time. This tool was used in 3 degrees of Health Sciences in the Complutense University of Madrid: Pharmacy Degree (in the subjects of “Chemical Analytical II”, “Nutrition” and “Certification and Accreditation of Analytical Laboratories”), Degree of Science and Food Technology (subject of “Fundamentals of Chemistry and Chemical Analysis”) and Degree of Human Nutrition and Dietetics (subject of “Nutritional Status Indicators”). In this way, with the use of this tool is intended to encourage active student learning, increase the participation of students and get the motivation of the students in the classroom as well as carry out a continuous assessment of students easily.

Keywords:

Gamification, game-based learning, Kahoot, Pharmacy, Science and Food Chemistry, Human Nutrition and Dietetics.