Paper Info
Title
A systematic mapping study on game-related methods for software engineering education.
Abstract
Abstract Context The use of games in software engineering education is not new. However, recent technologies have provided new opportunities for using games and their elements to enhance learning and student engagement. Objective The goal of this paper is twofold. First, we discuss how game-related methods have been used in the context of software engineering education by means of a systematic mapping study. Second, we investigate how these game-related methods support specific knowledge areas from software engineering. By achieving these goals, we aim not only to characterize the state of the art on the use of game-related methods on software engineering education, but also to identify gaps and opportunities for further research. Method We carried out a systematic mapping study to identify primary studies which address the use, proposal or evaluation of games and their elements on software engineering education. We classified primary studies based on type of approaches, learning goals based on software engineering knowledge areas, and specific characteristics of each type of approach. Results We identified 156 primary studies, published between 1974 and June 2016. Most primary studies describe the use of serious games (86) and game development (57) for software engineering education, while Gamification is the least explored method (10). Learning goals of these studies and their development of skills are mostly related to the knowledge areas of “Software Process”, “Software Design”, and “Professional Practices”. Conclusions The use of games in software engineering education is not new. However, there are some knowledge areas where the use of games can still be further explored. Gamification is a new trend and existing research in the field is quite preliminary. We also noted a lack of standardization both in the definition of learning goals and in the classification of game-related methods.
Year
DOI
Venue
2018
10.1016/j.infsof.2017.09.014
Information and Software Technology
Keywords
Field
DocType
Software engineering education,Game-based learning,Gamification,Game development based learning
Software Engineering Process Group,Software design,Personal software process,Software engineering,Computer science,Knowledge management,Software development process,Software walkthrough,Game testing,Software development,Social software engineering
Journal
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
95
0950-5849
3
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.46
28
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Mauricio Ronny De Almeida Souza1101.43
Lucas Veado260.84
Renata Teles Moreira330.80
Eduardo Figueiredo485136.26
Heitor Costa582.89