Uniconecta: plataforma web gamificada para auxiliar na colaboração entre estudantes

Abstract

The forms of interaction and knowledge exchange have been changing and adapting to human needs. Currently, several collaboration tools are used so that students can interact, as they are evolving along with technology. A large part of them is used online, enabling interaction between different people, thus creating collaborative networks. In addition to this, to help people engage, new strategies are increasingly being incorporated, such as the use of gamification elements, aiming to promote user engagement. Therefore, the objective of this work is the development of a gamified web platform that aims to help students collaborate with each other. Such a platform can be used by all individuals who wish to share study units to teach or learn about specific knowledge. Each unit can comprise different forms of activities such as: classes, workshops, courses and lectures. This research is characterized as exploratory and applied in nature because it aims to develop a product. It began with a bibliographic survey to highlight the problem and validate the feasibility of creating the project. Afterwards, a survey of functional requirements was carried out and, subsequently, the platform was modeled, as well as the technologies used were defined, continuing with the development stage. Periodically, throughout development, internal functionality tests were carried out to fix bugs and improvements. Finally, with the completion of product development, a usability assessment was carried out using a questionnaire, sent to undergraduate students in the Computing area at UFSM. Given the evaluation results, it is considered that the main objective of the work was achieved, as the application has a good degree of usability and is in accordance with the initial idea of the project. It is expected that, when using the platform, students who have some specific knowledge can pass it on to others, thus fostering their collaborative network.