Gamification in higher education: a systematic review

Abstract

Gamification is shown as an alternative for traditional classroom strategies and is increasingly used in higher education. The purpose of the revision is to know the way gamification has brought more interest in the following fields of knowledge in terms of bibliographic production and use: management and economics, arts and humanities, health sciences, natural and exact sciences, social and juridical sciences, engineering, and architecture. Participation was identified according to results in nine academic databases. The field with the highest percentage, based on the scale defined in the methodology, is Engineering and Architecture (3.15), while health sciences obtained 0.49. It is clearly seen that gamification is a field explored in higher education and experiences which have generated its application are different. Setting usage guidelines is recommended, including studies of a bigger scope in order to know its real effects on the learning process.