Gamification in software engineering: evidence of the teaching-learning process

The use of gamification as a teaching method has been increasingly tried in Software Engineering courses. Some studies carried out by the research community seek to understand gamification and its elements in the context of Software Engineering in general. However, an important issue is to analyze gamification as a pedagogical tool capable of affecting the knowledge assimilated by students. The aim of this article is to analyze a selection of studies about gamification in Software Engineering in order to preliminarily identify evidence of success of how this method brings pedagogical benefits to the teaching-learning process in this area. To do so, eighteen literature reviews on the subject were analyzed, extending a tertiary study on gamification in Software Engineering, in order to collect data to support the protocol of a more specific study in the context of the teaching-learning process in the area. It was found that most of the existing experimental studies did not use learning assessment methods and that there is a need to map intended benefits and how they can be effectively achieved.