Gamification in Higher Education: an educational trend with digital needs

Abstract

The last decade has shown the potential and limitations that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) represent in society. During these years it has been possible to appreciate the birth and development of devices whose incorporation into the daily routine has been almost immediate. Some of the most relevant cases are laptops and smartphones, media that have significantly altered the human paradigm. Its presence has meant the origin of new habits and the adaptation of others towards digital terrain, alternating face-to-face and virtual. The impact and repercussions can be observed in numerous areas, however, education is one of the most cohesive with these new ways of living. Gamification is one of the didactic strategies that are most closely linked with ICTs, an interaction that is conceived as natural as it is the translation of a methodology towards tools with resources that can be unlimited and asynchronous. However, as always happens when technology is incorporated into the educational field, these new teaching-learning paths require new ap-proaches and reflections on the needs they demand. It is in the case of Higher Education that its implementation must involve an analysis of the past, present, and future in order to favor the true personal development of those who make up the process: teachers and students.