GAMES AND GAMIFICATION IN THE PEDADOGY DEGREE: an alternative to the Distance Education models

Abstract

The issue that gives rise to this article is to understand the potential of games and gamification for the creation of new designs in the Distance Education (DE) and it is found in the research “GAMING IN HYBRID AND MULTIMODAL COEXISTENCE SPACES context: an Experience in Higher Education”, sponsored by CNPq, CAPES and FAPERGS. The objective was to develop pedagogical alternatives to the DE models, so that methodologies and practice are meaningful to the current learning subjects when considering their culture, evidenced in the way they learn in different contexts, in order to provide a more effective engagement in the teaching and learning processes. The research is exploratory and qualitative, inspired by the cartographic intervention-research method. It makes use of the participant observation, logbook and records in texts, audios, pictures and digital video. The data are interpreted from the theoretical framework. As a conclusion, the results indicate that both the process of thinking and creating a game, as the mechanical and dynamic appropriation present in different games in order to develop the teaching and learning processes, constituted themselves as an effective pedagogical alternative in creating new designs in Distance Education (DE). These, when associated with the methodology of learning projects based on problems and cartographic method of intervention research, as an innovative pedagogical practice, have the potential to expand the traditional DE models from the perspective of building hybrid, multimodal and pervasive learning spaces. These spaces were configured as Living Spaces in a process of co-creation from the critical reading of the daily life basic education, where some problems were identified, to which the games and gamification can contribute to the changes. There was a greater engagement of the learning and reframing subjects of the experience experienced in the initial formation for the Elementary Education. The discussion about the need for reconfiguration arises from the pedagogical practices and curricula, as well as how to organize it in time and space from the daily life issues, enabling the construction of learning pathways in order to contribute to an emancipatory and citizen education.