A framework for gamification of project-based software engineering education

• Ano de defesa: 2019
• Autor(a) principal: Mauricío Ronny de Almeida Souza
• Orientador(a): Eduardo Magno Lages Figueiredo
• Banca de defesa: Eduardo Magno Lages Figueiredo, Claudia Maria Lima Werner, Marco Túlio de Oliveira Valente, Raquel Oliveira Prates, Christiane Anneliese Gresse von Wangenheim
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
• Programa de Pós-Graduação: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Computação
• Departamento: ICEX - INSTITUTO DE CIÊNCIAS EXATAS
• País: Brasil
• Palavras-chave em Português: Software engineering education; Project-based learning; Gamification
• Link de acesso: http://hdl.handle.net/1843/30106

Balancing theory and practice is a recurring challenge in software engineering (SE) education. However, the curriculum guidelines of the ACM/IEEE and Brazilian Computer Society (SBC) emphasize the need of providing students with sufficient practical experiences, for the development of the competences expected for SE professional. Project and game based approaches have been largely used to address this necessity. Therefore, the goal of this thesis is the proposal of a framework to support the joint adoption of Project-Based Learning (PBL) and gamification to introduce practice in SE education. Following the design science paradigm, we conducted a series of literature and empirical studies for understanding the use of these educational methods to support software engineering education. Based on the lessons learned from these studies, we propose and evaluate GaPSEE, a framework to support lecturers in the planning and execution of practical assignments using principles of PBL and gamification. GaPSEE was evaluated in five case studies from three federal universities in Brazil. The result from interviews with 4 lecturers and responses of a survey with 76 students are indicative of positive perception about the use of GaPSEE to introduce practice in software engineering education. The main benefits noticed from the application of GaPSEE are related to increased students participation and interaction with lecturers, increased engagement and motivation of students, meaningful contextualization of practice, and having a roadmap of activities to guide and track the progress of students.