An Experience of Game-Based Learning in Web Applications Development Courses

Preparing graduates for working in the software engineering industry is challenging and requires effective learning frameworks and methodologies. More specifically, the challenge of teaching programming languages and paradigms is a very complex task that needs innovative educational tools. This paper presents a game-based educational tool named eLiza, developed and used to support the teaching and learning of programming languages and paradigms related to the development of web applications. eLiza was initially developed as a Moodle-based web application because Moodle is the educational eLearning platform used at the University of Valladolid, but as the use of mobile devices is constantly increasing, Android and iOS versions were created later in order to facilitate the access of the students to the games. This paper describes the main elements and the mechanics in playing eLiza. And it also describes an experience of its use in two engineering courses related to web programming applications development, offered to students in two different engineering study programs at the University of Valladolid, during the academic years 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. The great majority of the students, more than 75%, considered that the use of the eLiza game-based educational tool was positive to improve the teaching and learning process of the topics covered by the courses. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Social and professional topics → Computer science education

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