Favorecer los comportamientos colaborativos durante actividades competitivas de programación

Resumen

Competitive gamification, implemented as programming contests is very effective in fostering student interest and engagement. However, the competitive approach sometimes diminishes the collaboration among students. In this paper, we propose using instant messaging-based communication technologies to integrate collaborative gamification techniques with the competitive elements of programming contests. We present an approach consolidated after several years, quantitative results of the participation and usage of the students of the proposed tools, and results obtained from students’ surveys about their subjective opinions of the utility of the proposed tools. Our results indicate that: (1) This approach improves the general participation of the students and their collaborative behavior during the competitive tasks; (2) The introduction of specific techniques simplifies the identification of the most useful contributions and the evaluation of the collaborative activities; and (3) The students positively value using these tools to improve collaboration.