Gamification in Higher Education: an Analysis of Academic Studies Carried Out in Portugal and Brazil

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35819/tear.v10.n1.a5035

Abstract

Abstract: In response to the problem of students' demotivation in the face of uniform and massive teaching to which they are subjected in the context of higher education, alternative learning experiences, promoted by teachers, are increasingly frequent, with the aim of increasing interest and involvement in learning. One of these alternative lines of work with a strong implantation in the last decade is gamification, which (as its name suggests) aims to bring a playful dimension to the teaching and learning process, thus taking advantage of the natural adhesion of young people to the experience game, also achieving better results in terms of their school performance and development. Since we are interested in knowing what is being done in this context in considering the Portuguese language sphere, we present a study on the academic works (master's dissertations and doctoral theses) developed in the last five years on the theme of gamification of learning in the context of teaching higher education in Portugal and Brazil. Based on a systematic review of the literature, the objective was to make a first approximation of what has been studied in these two countries in response to the questions that have been researched in the area of ??Social and Human Sciences, about the theoretical framework models, about the main methodologies used, and the main results and conclusions reached by these studies. The results show that all selected investigations generally make a positive assessment of the use of gamification (increased motivation, learning, interaction, gamification as a pedagogical innovation).

Keywords: Gamification. University education. Systematic review.

Keywords: Gamification. University education. Systematic review.

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Author Biography

  • Fernando Albuquerque Costa, Universidade de Lisboa

    Fernando Albuquerque Costa (Ph.D.) is a professor and researcher of Educational Technology at the Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon. There, he integrates the I&D Research Unity (UIDEF). He teaches at the University of Lisbon from 1988 until 2008 at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. Currently, he is the academic director of the Master's degree in Education and Training (e-Learning and Distance Learning), coordinating yet the Degree in Education and Training. His main research interests are Digital Technology and Curriculum and Innovation of Educational Practices, having addressed six doctoral theses (7 ongoings), five post-doctorates, two sandwich doctorates, and 44 academic master's theses in these fields. At the international level, Fernando coordinated the Portuguese teams of different European research projects in the area of pedagogical use of ICT, including projects about the evaluation of educational multimedia, innovative teaching practices, electronic portfolios, teacher's professional development, and the development of digital competences of adult educators. At the national level, for the Ministry of Education, he was the coordinator of i) the Distance Learning Project for Itinerant Students; ii) the national study about ICT Teachers Competencies and iii) the ICT Learning Outcomes Project. More recently, he coordinated two I&D projects, both aiming to foster the integration of ICT in teachers' and students' practice, and one another aiming to promote digital literacy of adults. Currently, Fernando integrates two financed research teams, one of the project Game Course - Improving College Learning with Gamification (funded by national FCT) and one another of the H2020 project of the European University Alliance Unite! Fernando has more than one hundred publications (www.researchgate.net/profile/Fernando_Costa10), being a member of the editorial board of several scientific international journals, such as the Digital Education Review (http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/der), and co-director of the first scientific online journal on the field of ICT in education and training published in Portugal (http://eft.educom.pt).

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Published

2021-07-05

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2021): MULTIDIMENSIONAL LITERACY IN THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

Section

Free Section

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How to Cite

Gamification in Higher Education: an Analysis of Academic Studies Carried Out in Portugal and Brazil. #Tear: Journal of Education, Science and Technology, Canoas, v. 10, n. 1, 2021. DOI: 10.35819/tear.v10.n1.a5035. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ifrs.edu.br/index.php/tear/article/view/5035. Acesso em: 5 jun. 2026.