Gamification in Engineering Education: The Use of Classcraft Platform to Improve Motivation and Academic Performance

Abstract

Pedagogical innovation involving information and communications technology (ICT) may offer teachers the opportunity to create engaging learning environments in engineering courses. In this paper, we present a gamification teaching experience whose primary objective is to improve motivation, and we obtained results for students of a mathematics course during their first year at university. For this case study, we used Classcraft®, which is a role-playing game supported by a digital platform and a mobile application that has been developed to answer teachers’ classroom management needs. We hypothesized that using this application as ICT could enhance learning and promote the development of the four “super skills” (or the Four C’s): critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. In order to explore the educational effectiveness of the methodology, a comparison between a gamification group of students and a control group was carried out. Our results showed that the mean mark obtained by the control group students was lower than that obtained by the gamification group students. In addition, the Nemenyi test showed that the Four C’s were improved thanks to the Classcraft® activities and group project. Overall, course participants positively evaluated the use of the gamification platform.