Can Moodle be used for structural gamification?

Abstract

The use of the information technologies is nowadays more and more common in the learning-teaching process. As a consequence, the research on instructional design has been reactivated paying special attention to its adaptation to this new digital world. Task based instruction has proved to be effective for customized systems and student-centred learning. In these models, the motivation and the active role of students are definitely the key. In fact, this is one of the main challenges in education and, in particular, in online education. Precisely, motivation, progressiveness and instant feedback are the pillars of gamification. This fact makes gamification a promising research line in education. Gamification can be approached in two different ways: structural and content gamification. Besides, we have access to the appropriate technology that can make these pedagogical theories come true, creating real technological learning environments. Despite being conscious of the inconveniences they still have, teaching platforms are widely used in the educational world nowadays. In this paper, Moodle has been analysed in order to study its suitability to implement structurally gamified teaching proposals. It has been identified what can be done with the existing tools and what new functionalities could be added for a successful approach to gamification, taking into account that the main aim is to maximize learning.