A Model-based Approach to Gamify the Learning of Modeling

Conceptual modeling is an essential activity in the development of any information system. But at the same time, it is a difficult one which may discourage some professionals that may be tempted to skip it altogether in favor of more code-oriented tasks. In recent years, gamification has emerged as a new approach to increase learner engagement and has been successfully applied to a wide range of training and educational scenarios. We believe gamification can play a key supportive role in teaching and learning conceptual modeling, an area where gamification has not been really applied so far. In this sense, this paper presents a model-based approach for gamifying scenarios for learning modeling. Our approach includes a new language for modeling the gamification process itself and an environment where this new language can be embedded in current modeling tools to allow instructors and students design and use gaming scenarios all within a full modeling infrastructure.