Gamification in engineering education and professional training

Abstract

The incorporation of game mechanics and dynamics in non-gaming applications is a subject of interest in various sectors such as education, marketing, medicine and military, in the last few years. It is believed that engineering education in a pre-graduate level and in professional practice will bring high pay-offs. The role of the academia is to develop new methodologies and tools to produce, apply and use digital games and gamification techniques in contemporary industry and present scientific evidence on the value and the benefits derived from this technology. In this paper, the relative literature is evaluated and a discussion on the gamification status today is given, by examining various aspects of this novel term. Furthermore, game techniques, gamification practices in education and e-learning are considered. Special discussion on engineering games, gamification platforms and empirical surveys is presented with focus on manufacturing.