Tesis y Tesistas 2020 - Postgrado - Fac. de Informática - UNLP

MAESTRÍA
TECNOLOGÍA INFORMÁTICA
APLICADA EN EDUCACIÓN
Mg. Luis Alberto Hunicken
e-mail
lhunicken@unrn.edu.ar
Advisor
Mg. Alejandro Héctor González
Scientist Consultant
Dra. Alcira Estela Vallejos
Thesis defense date
21 de diciembre de 2020
SEDICI
http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/112436
Gamification and adaptive learning
for the development of competences:
The case of the Algorithms and Data
Structures subjec
Keywords: Gamification; Adaptive learning; Moodle; Serious games, Algorithms
Motivation
Several are the triggers that motivated the realization of this
thesis. On the one hand, the assurance that the application
of the techno-pedagogical tools learned during the master’s
degree would improve teaching practice; on the other,
that with those same tools one could try to develop the
capacities of the students; finally, that the participation
and enthusiasm of teachers and students could be improved
and the academic results obtained could be measured and
compared with those of previous years. He “imagined” (in
the sense of Whitehead (1991), “imagine the solution of the
problem”) that, through challenges, awards, collaborative
and participatory work and the permanent display of
progress and progress of students in the development of
the game / subject would produce a positive change in them.
This would be reflected in a more entertaining way to go
through the subject, with greater motivation and dedication
to its study and to the probable improvement of results.
Overall objective
Analyze the process of implementing a didactic strategy of
gamification and adaptive learning in the subject “Algorithms
and data structures” of the Bachelor of Systems of the UNRN,
in relation to the development of skills related to reflection,
autonomy, self-assessment, analysis and responsibility.
Specific objectives
• Inquire about the state of the art regarding gamification
in higher education.
• Survey the current situation of adaptive learning and its
application in the university.
• Describe the functionalities available in the virtual Moodle
teaching and learning environment to
implement adaptive learning and gamification.
• Analyze the development of the skills of analysis,
reflection, autonomy, self-evaluation and responsibility of
students in the development of a pilot experience in the
subject Algorithms and Data Structure of the Bachelor’s
Degree in Systems of the National University of Río Negro.
• Analyze the corresponding academic results and the
relationship between the implemented proposal and the
motivation and participation of the students in the experience.
Thesis contributions
The thesis concludes that the application of the combination
of Gamification and Adaptive Learning in the Algorithms
and Data Structures Subject has shown that it has favored
the development of the students’ Reflection, Analysis, Selfassessment,
Autonomy and Responsibility skills. Also that
academic values have been improved in terms of shelling
and higher levels of promotion and approval of the subject.
No student who regularized the course of the subject in
the cohort on which the fieldwork of the thesis was carried
out, has the final exam pending after the first round of
final exams after finishing the course. This means that they
should not take this subject again, an issue that was also
frequent in students: they passed the subject as regular but
then either did not pass the final exam within the regulatory
deadlines to do so (two years) or did not appear in time and
regularity beat them. The instrumentation was done with
Moodle: the software allowed the process to be carried out
properly with native functionality, without the need to resort
to third-party software. Therefore, the contributions of the
thesis can be summarized in two main aspects. On the one
hand, the process, the methodology used to transform an
abstract subject into a challenge, is described in detail. On
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