Strengthening an Educational Innovation Strategy: Processes to Improve Gamification in Calculus Course through Performance Assessment and Meta-evaluation

The present study details the implementation of an improvement process for a gamification activity from a Calculus course for undergraduate students aimed to develop mathematical modeling competencies. The improvement process was studied taking into account three types of data: the results of the students’ performance assessment, the meta-evaluation of the educational and proactive effects and gamification costs, and data on the level of satisfaction achieved on the educational activity. The results of 50 performance assessments were analyzed, as well as the results from the meta-evaluation process carried out by the course’s teacher. The study concludes that while it is true that gamification is a strategy that introduces a high level of innovation and brings the type of motivation and emotion that encourages learning, its educational intent can be further strengthened by including performance assessment and meta-evaluation processes to better understand its function and make adjustments to its design in a timely manner.