Creating technology with games: an international platform is using gamification techniques to teach software development

Like other engineering disciplines, software engineering advocates designing the software as a necessary prior step to programming. This design task, called modelling, is fundamental for ensuring the end product's quality, but it is also one of the most complicated steps to learn, as it is the most creative part of the entire process. Jordi Cabot, ICREA research professor and coordinator of the Systems, Software and Models group (SOM Research Lab), part of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya's (UOC) Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), has taken part in creating a pioneering platform that uses gamification techniques to teach software design and modelling. PapyGame is the outcome of an international collaboration between researchers to transform Papyrus, currently the most popular open-source software tool in this field, into an effective tool for learning software design. The objective is to increase students' motivation and make it easier to teach this discipline.

Jordi Cabot, an expert in modelling and co-author of a book for teaching this discipline (https://mdse-book.com/) that is used in over a hundred universities around the world, said: "Modelling is a basic tool for solving problems and developing complex systems, but it requires a high capacity for abstraction and learning a specific language. Because of this, many students encounter difficulties in starting to model correctly." The researcher explained: "The goal pursued by PapyGame is to make modelling something more like a game and encourage students to practise more. Hopefully, they will then feel more motivated, as they will see that their skills are improving and they are capable of performing more advanced exercises." Papygame won the Best Demo Award at the 23rd International Conference on Model-Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS 20).

Points, rewards and a virtual teacher

Generally speaking, learning processes are based on theoretical classes in which students learn concepts that they then apply to different tasks or projects. Once installed on the computer, PapyGame enables students to learn independently by carrying out exercises proposed and assessed by the platform, moving up to higher levels as they complete the different stages.

The new platform proposes modelling tasks with defined teaching goals but structured in a game format, such as the Hangman game. In addition, to increase their motivation, students are given points that allow them to move up to higher levels as they complete tasks and create models, or rewards that unlock other functionalities of the exercise. Assessing the participants' performance is one of the new tool's most complicated aspects, as "modelling is not mathematics; there is not a single exact or right solution," highlighted Jordi Cabot, who has helped define how the students' results can be compared with the official solution.

The platform also features a virtual teacher who explains the rules of each game and congratulates students on their work when they have completed the task. The idea is that students get hooked on the game and practise more assiduously to master the principles of modelling. It also forces them to become proficient in the use of Papyrus, so not only do they learn how to model but also how to use a specific modelling tool that has become the standard for software design.

Currently, the platform offers a number of games designed by the researchers themselves. However, in the near future, it will allow teachers to create their own teaching tasks and include a library of reusable games organized by learning goals which will be open to users' contributions. Furthermore, over the next few months, a pilot test will start to use this tool in the bachelor's degrees in Computer Science taught by the universities that helped create it.

Participating institutions

In addition to the UOC researcher, the following researchers are taking part in the project: Antonio Bucchiarone, Annapaola Marconi and Mirko Perillo, from the Bruno Kessler Foundation (Italy); Maxime Savary-Leblanc and Xavier Le Pallec, from the University of Lille (France); Jean-Michel Bruel, from the University of Toulouse (France); Antonio Cicchetti, from the Mälardalen University (Sweden); Sébastien Gérard, from the CEA List (France), and Hamna Aslam, from the University of Innopolis (Russia).

This research at the UOC promotes Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) 4 on Quality Education.

UOC R&I 

The UOC's research and innovation (R&I) are helping 21st-century global societies to overcome pressing challenges by studying the interactions between ICT and human activity, with a specific focus on e-learning and e-health. Over 400 researchers and 50 research groups work among the University's seven faculties and two research centres: the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) and the eHealth Center (eHC).

The United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and open knowledge serve as strategic pillars for the UOC's teaching, research and innovation. More information:research.uoc.edu. #UOC25years