A microeconometric analysis of the application of pedagogical games: an experiment to evaluate the impact of game application in university classrooms Un experimento de evaluación de impacto de la gamificación en las aulas universitarias

Abstract

Information technology has had important impacts in many aspects of the world, including the way in which material is taught in the classroom. This research analyzes the application of the gamification in the university classroom through the digital video game Ethikós. This game was developed by the Pontifical University of Ecuador. The analysis focuses on how it impacts students, both in terms of knowledge
and perception.
Between October and December 2020, the experiment was applied to 294 PUCE university students within the mandatory ethics courses. They were divided into two groups: treated population (those who played the game) and untreated (who received a traditional review class as placebo). The analysis was carried out in two moments, before and after the video game, using the method of differences in differences and
using standard clusters derived from the difference between the final and initial interest in the subject of Ethics. It was observed that the treated group improved their academic performance by 36% in relation to the control population after the application of the video game.