Keywords

1 Introduction

Everyday innovation ensures that the teaching-learning process is updated and can keep pace with a world that is constantly changing. Traditional methodologies have already lost their golden days and are now considered obsolete or do not allow the comprehensive development of students. With this, gamification “applies game techniques to other processes to facilitate their realization and/or understanding” [1]. In other words, gamification presents innovative strategies and techniques that could drastically improve student performance in our country, which for years has presented drawbacks and low results in educational evaluations.

Learning games go through a series of processes and investigations, to qualify them as significant in the teaching-learning process. It is considered that gamification seeks the inclusion of the game as part of a new, innovative, and interesting learning that encourages creativity, authenticity, and autonomy in children. Limits, rules, procedures, and various activities that allow the independence of the students, when relating to their peers and solving a series of problems by themselves, are established.

Gamification in recent years has spread rapidly in terms of how teaching is represented as an educational process. In addition, it has been accepted in educational centers as a new and improved methodology, which does not allow the repetition of knowledge but the construction of it and mainly it is student-centered [2]. It can be implemented in a positive way in student life so that it influences emotionally and cognitively, who for one or more reasons cannot learn with traditional and ambiguous methodologies.

In recreational activities in the classroom, balanced environments can be presented, which encourage student participation. The educational process is related to games, in a very intrinsic way. Teachers and students must try to find the perfect balance between games and learning. So that with this, a relationship of mutual benefit can be established [3]. Gamification can be understood as a method that improves the motivation and ability of students, combining learning with play.

Games’ procedures are implemented to achieve positive results, internalization of knowledge, and development of skills. They are based on obtaining rewards that serve as incentives for the student. The teacher who gamifies his academic activities has in his hands the possibility of transforming the education he/she teaches, daily activities are combined with playful procedures that generate greater interest. Of course, by gamifying the activities there is a risk that the student will be distracted and not comply with what was agreed, so the teacher must correctly plan each activity, expressing what and how it will be carried out [4].

Modern times impose the constant training of teachers. When technology is properly implemented as a didactic resource, positive results must be generated in terms of autonomous work with solid learning in students. Without forgetting that its bad practice could generate physical or behavioral problems. This considers the barriers that would prevent technology from being a central part of education, those institutions that do not have the necessary technological material, a lack of relevant infrastructure, and the non-existent internet connection.

In their research, [5] emphasize that “the advantages of thinking technologically imply greater speed and effectiveness in decision-making”, postmodernism already implies a resounding change in how the person thinks and reasons. In this, the action of multimedia is manifested, as a factor that affects the opening of several cognitive windows in the student. Education has as its principle the linear educational process, centered on the teacher, now it leads to a non-linear form, that is, it has been dispersed giving way to the chaotic creativity of the student to learn.

Evaluations must be key allies to be able to quantify how much and how the student learns and if the knowledge has been internalized or not. At the same time, it talks about how educational quality affects the development of the members of society since the parameter of their training or instruction is established. Rodríguez (1981) cited by [6] mentions that academic performance requires the convergence of three factors: social, educational – institutional, and economic. In the social factor, “the educational institution has the obligation to guarantee the leveling of social inequalities”, in that regard, it is understood that the institution must not judge the student by their social stratum, on the contrary, it must allow the homogeneity of opportunities for each of its students.

Academic results should not be affected by social inequalities. The educational and institutional factor, “tries to elucidate how adequate are the forms in which the educational future is developed to achieve the proposed objectives” that the methods, programs, organization, and teaching classification intervene directly in the student's academic performance. Although it is conceived that these actions are not allowing the student to achieve the objectives established in a hurry, they must be changed or improved, limiting that educational quality promotes good teaching and institutional action, which fulfills its role as a trainer.

Finally, the economic factor is analyzed, which radically affects academic performance. It is important to find out how willing the institution is to invest in improving its educational process, teacher education, and training, implementation of material resources, and technology, among others. In addition to considering the parent's investment in their child’s education, seen as a long-term investment or an unnecessary expense. This will clearly affect academic performance, in terms of how the student may feel when they see that their parents or the institution do not invest in their academic training.

2 State of the Art

Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, face-to-face education was affected and took a drastic turn into virtual education. Considering that the implementation of TAC and ICT in the educational process is not a new topic, it is still an under-explored issue in our context. Traditional teaching, which does not implement so many technological resources, is still considered relevant since the lack of infrastructure and materials is often evident in the urban or rural sector. Now, education since March 2020 changed, creating the opportunity to work in a virtual environment, which although it generated various inconveniences in its beginning, has also offered the possibility of a transformation of teachers and their technological training.

We must not forget that the native digitals know how to use technology better than the digital immigrant, who had to face this big change and must learn immediately to be able to carry out their classes in the best way. If memory does not fail, it must be remembered that each transformation entails collateral damage, sacrifices, and moments of uncertainty and discomfort. That is, learn from scratch, without fearing the challenges that are present, teachers through training have gradually learned or improved their technical skills and abilities, through programs, web pages, resources, and digital tools.

Gamification is a great opportunity to take advantage of the education field and make it the central role in education, understanding that knowledge is adapted to the process of the game, with the aim of motivating the student, improving their concentration, participation, academic performance, and their motivation [7] understands gamification as a didactic strategy that incorporates the game in the teaching process, not so much as the game itself, but rather its mechanics, narratives, and rewards, expressed in a way that monotonous activities are innovated. Harus and Fox (2015) cited by [1] mention that gamification can establish direct links between the student and the content to be learned, based on a different perspective, with the aim of effectively understanding knowledge and improving skills and abilities. in the student.

Gamification provides students with the necessary resources for them to participate in the creation of their learning community, gives them freedom, and allows them to learn from mistakes in pleasant learning environments [8]. This does not mean that the scores are dropped, on the contrary, the students develop a spirit of healthy competition, and teamwork and are also motivated by knowing that by completing the activities they will obtain small rewards and a score that measures their effort and dedication.

Since the beginning, the internet has presented constant changes and improvements. In the history of communication, decades ago the only way that existed for digital communication was the telegraph. It was invented in 1840 and used electrical signals that communicated a point of origin and destination, through Morse code. Years passed and people considered generating something that could connect in real-time to several places at the same time, in this way little by little what is now known as the internet was created. In 1980, computers were already being developed experimentally giving way to a phenomenon known as email, which was very useful for communication.

Web 2.0 arrived and allowed us to access information in a globalized way, however, it did not allow us to interact with it. Therefore, in Web 3.0, not only access to information was easy, but also its manipulation in real-time, thus interacting with various people regardless of geographic profile. The semantic web, in a nutshell, is understood as the instruction of languages and procedures, which generate or allow the user to be offered a personalized interface. Web 3.0 already allows intelligent search, based on user preferences, linked to the needs and characteristics of the individual. Social networks are increasing, allowing real-time communication among people all over the world, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Telegram, and Tik Tok, capture the attention of millions of people in the world.

In simple words, academic performance falls on quantitative qualifications that a student obtains; however [9] agrees that these numerical data should not only be analyzed to classify a student as good, fair, or poor since there are several factors that can affect low results. At present, academic performance takes a concept more in line with student productivity, the fulfillment of educational objectives, and the quality of the result obtained from the development of activities in class and at home (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
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Exogenous and endogenous factors

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Among the factors that affect academic performance are exogenous and endogenous factors, which express how both external and internal factors have a direct relationship with the academic performance of students. In other words, the family, social, economic situation will infer the results obtained by the student in his learning process. Hence the importance of not only considering summative evaluations since they can generate erroneous results when evaluating knowledge. Likewise, the psychological factor, attitudes, and skills of the student can redeem that their academic performance is not the best in terms of punctuation since this goes hand in hand with the rhythms and styles of learning [10].

Another factor that influences academic performance according to Bravo et al. (2017) is the importance of family expectations, that is, the family plays a fundamental role in the learning process. The socioeconomic and cultural level, and reading habits, will have a great impact on the students. If the child does not perceive that reading is important, it will be difficult for him to generate a reading habit. Contrary to homes in which reading is encouraged in participation in recreational activities, organizing family nights of games such as chess, sudoku, and word search, among others.

Certainly, when implementing web 3.0 tools for virtual education, the teacher becomes a guide, overseeing investigating, planning, and executing various activities that consolidate student learning. Likewise, it contributes to generating self-learning skills, motivation, commitment, opting for a playful character, becoming an active subject committed to their comprehensive training to stimulate the construction of basic knowledge in a playful and recreational way in the various subjects of Basic General Education [7].

With a descriptive approach [4] in his article “Autonomous work strategies for students”, determines that implementing self-regulated autonomous and active learning participation strategies in adaptable work environments allows the development of skills and competencies of the student, strengthening interdisciplinarity in the construction of their self-study. Based on a descriptive methodology using the survey technique, the results indicate that the most used strategies are exam preparation, and intellectual content work, while the expansion strategy (exploration and construction of activities and materials) is the least used. Executed by students. Therefore, it concludes that the teaching performance in the face of this new perspective is not limited to the transmission of content, but to expanding the ability of students to decipher the information, organize it, create content, and improve their educational experience from key training actions and motivational that benefits your academic profile.

[11] in their article “Use of WhatsApp to improve autonomous learning in university students”, points out that education in a globalized and interrelated world to ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) allows the creation of flexible training spaces, the transmission of content synchronously and asynchronously between teacher - students. Furthermore, it states that the use of the application is frequent because it enables the learner and educator to establish new forms of educational tutorials, access to literature, effective and rapid communication, resolution of doubts, active and participatory methodology outside the classroom, and optimizing individual work. It concludes that the use of WhatsApp does contribute to the autonomous learning of students as a compliment and/or educational strategy to deploy the capacity for self-regulation, self-learning, metacognition, and use of tools or technological resources according to their needs to face their training process in an integral and holistic way.

3 Methodology

The research is experimental-exploratory. Experimental because the use of the Nearpod platform was applied to the academic performance of university students in the Tourism career of the Technical University of Ambato, for this the pre-test was carried out with the structured questionnaire of the research project; then the TAM model was applied, which made it possible to measure the degree of satisfaction with the use of the resources created in Nearpod, the same ones that were used in virtual classes due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. It is exploratory because it allowed the Nearpod study to be carried out as a gamification resource by investigating and identifying the particularities of the study variables, knowing their causes and effects using effective techniques for collecting information.

The survey was used as a research technique based on questions linked to the research.

The questionnaire as a research instrument was structured by 24 questions classified as:

  • 5 sociodemographic questions

  • 17 questions on a Likert scale

  • 2 dichotomous questions

The instrument was of great help in collecting accurate and real data and information since it allowed possible conclusions to be drawn from the results obtained with their corresponding analysis and interpretation.

We worked with a parts approach: quantitative through the processing of statistical information, frequencies, and percentages through the application of two instruments: a questionnaire structured as a diagnostic test and the TAM model, to subsequently obtain the qualitative part on the perceptions of measure the degree of acceptance and/or satisfaction of the use of web 3.0 tools focused on the autonomous work of students in the subject of Social Studies.

3.1 ADDIE Methodology

The ADDIE methodology is an alternative to educational planning of a generic and flexible nature that allows managing not only the design and development of thematic units or subjects from the virtual world but also the evaluation of the implementation to continuously improve its efficiency and effectiveness. The basic objective of its application is to create interactive educational experiences and environments that promote the acquisition of skills and the production of educational skills. ADDIE consists of 5 phases:

Analysis. This first phase of analysis of the ADDIE methodology was carried out in Tourism Career at the Technical University of Ambato through the application of a structured survey of 24 questions carried out in Google Forms, with the purpose of knowing the current situation on the use of web 3.0 tools focused on the autonomous work of students, for this the population that was taken into consideration for the application of the survey is 68 students.

Design. In the design phase, a sketch of the author's resources for the collaborative and autonomous work of the students was made, as stated in the objective which points out the development of web 3.0 tools. Within each tool, there are creative and innovative activities based on improving academic performance.

Development. For the development of the presentation, the Nearpod gamification tool was used by clicking on the following connection link: https://nearpod.com or you can also type the word Nearpod in the Google search engine and select the first option, where the following window appears as shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2.
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Nearpod platform

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Once the presentation has been prepared, the name must be entered and click on save and exit Fig. 2 or, at the same time, the presentation can be viewed as students, which allows them to see how it will be observed when working live.

Fig. 3.
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Upload presentation

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The presentation is ready to be shared with the students (Fig. 3).

Fig. 4.
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Live presentation

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Implementation. At this stage, Nearpod was applied as a gamification tool for the students, making use of the previously designed presentation. To access the Nearpod platform, the student only needs to have internet access and the code or connection link, which is obtained. By placing the cursor over the presentation, choosing the option to participate live, click on copy code or link and send to the Microsoft Teams chat, without the need to project the screen, the student can view the presentation Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.
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Evaluation

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Evaluation. To determine the results of the experimentation process, the Technological Acceptance Model known as TAM was applied, which is based on a structured questionnaire that contains 14 questions on the Likert scale, which are supported by the utility factor UP and ease of use FUP which allows measuring the degree of user acceptance before the implementation of new technology; through the use of the Google Form, the information was collected that allowed determining the degree of perception, acceptance, or rejection that the student has after the use of Nearpod as a gamification tool in virtual classes (Fig. 5).

4 Results

The results obtained from the application of the TAM model to 30 students of the Tourism career at Technical University of Ambato are presented to analyze and interpret if the resources developed in the Nearpod platform during virtual classes were beneficial, interesting, entertaining, and contributed significantly to academic performance.

  1. 1.

    Using Web 3.0 Tools Allows Me to Get My Work Done Faster

Of the total number of students surveyed, 50% state that they agree that gamification tools allow work to be done faster, 33.3% totally agree and 16.7% mention that they are undecided, giving a total of 100% corresponding to 30 students, so it can be ensured that the Nearpod tool helps in a favorable way to carry out activities and facilitate their solution.

  1. 2.

    How Important is the Use of Gamification Tools in Academic Performance?

90% of the population state that the use of gamification tools in academic performance is very important and 10% mention that it is important; giving a total of 100% that corresponds to 30 students, so it can be ensured that for the teaching-learning process these tools improve the transmission of content and improve student participation.

  1. 3.

    Consider that the Use of Gamification Tools in Collaborative Learning is:

Of the total number of students surveyed, 73.33% state that gamification tools are an alternative support tool for teaching the various contents, 26.67% affirm that it is a determining factor in student learning; giving a total of 100% corresponding to 30 students, so it can be ensured that the use of gamified tools facilitates the teaching of content, providing alternative support to the teaching methodology.

The calculation of statistic that is used to verify the hypothesis established in the research is Kolmogorov Smirnov, which measures the tendency that exists between experimentation and satisfaction with the use of technology, the same that allows for improving student performance (Tables 1, 2 and 3).

Table 1. Use of web 3.0 tools
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Table 2. Importance of gamification tools
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Table 3. Use of web 3.0 tools
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Table 4. Hypothesis verification
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The Kolmogorov Smirnov statistic applied to the 4 most representative questions determines the p value, giving the following results as shown in Table 4, therefore, the p value of each question is less than 0.05, therefore the result is verified rejecting the null hypothesis and accepting the alternative hypothesis, verifying that the Nearpod platform improves the performance of students in virtual classes of university students.

5 Conclusions

Gamification-based tools have modified the educational process, making it more creative, practical and, above all, participatory, becoming the teacher's best ally, as they are known as the web of time and space that allows organizing the search for content and information through connections between the web and the real world.

From its immersion in education, it has been shown that it contributes to the autonomous work of the student based on criteria of self-discipline, self-regulation and self-management of their own actions and procedures, in such a way that they develop critical, reflective, technological, and become an innovative being capable of working independently with the help and application of ICT.

The implementation of web 3.0 tools to enhance academic performance in the educational field is relevant because when developing activities, workshops, and extracurricular work based on tools and/or digital environments, a new teaching and learning concept is created where motivation is encouraged. And creativity of the learner, in addition to giving way to work proactively, independently, guided by their curiosity for learning from a framework of flexibility and versatility that allows overcoming barriers of structure and pre-established form.