Exploration about using videogames as a teaching & learning strategy in universitary education

Abstract

Playing games and its relationship to learning, as explored by Piaget and Vygotsky, has highlighted the importance of playing in modern education in all levels, although, it was focused firtsly on children. On the other hand, commercial video games have been transforming and evolving into a culture, and in some cases, a lifestyle. These two themes have combined in recent years to create the term "gamification," understood as the use of the basic elements of video games to be applied in education. This research investigates some cases in which video games are used into the classroom in higher education institutions or universities; instead of taking parts of a game, the game itself is taken with its originally designed for entertainment, and it is tested in a training environment, with the purpose of taking advantage of its full potential to reinforce the topics that are desired to be taught in the classroom in a more enjoyable, fun and interesting way for students. Few but interesting cases of video game applications were found, for example, as a strategy for interaction for general classes, or as a tool for teaching languages. These cases were summarized and discussed in terms of their usefulness and results. It is finally concluded that video games are a valuable learning tool, so they should be explored deeply at institutional levels.