GAMED: Gamification-Based Assessment Methodology for Final Project Development

Teachers and psychologists report that students may suffer from multiple psychological issues such as lack of interest and high levels of stress during the development of final course projects. In this context, approaches such as gamification arise with the proposal of improving students motivation by bringing games elements to school. However, employing gamification into classroom is not a trivial task since, if not managed properly, students may lose their focus. In this paper we present GAMED, an assessment methodology that introduces sistematic steps to improve students engagement through gamification. We used GAMED in a class with high school students during two semesters and the results showed that it can improve aspects such as motivation, engagement, and teamwork.