Flipped Classroom and Gamified Activities for the Teaching of Computer Networks

• Tarik Lopes Ponciano Lima Federal University of Ceará http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0252-0408
• Windson Viana de Carvalho Federal University of Ceará http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8627-0823

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/educomp.2021.14487

Abstract

Computer Networks is a challenging discipline for both teachers and students due to its theoretical nature. To overcome this situation, the adoption of methodologies that increase student's motivation and involvement and make them protagonists of their learning emerge as possible solutions. In this context, Game-Based Learning and Flipped Classroom appear as promising teaching methodologies. This paper explores the application of these concepts in Computer Networks classes. The article describes a set of practices created and evolved during the last ten years in an undergraduate course (comprising fourteen editions) in Universidade Federal do Ceará. At the end of each semester, the students are invited to take a survey, where they share their experiences about the discipline and the impact of the applied activities and methodologies, guiding changes and improvements for the succeeding versions of the discipline. In 2020, during the social isolation period caused by the new coronavirus global pandemic, where a remote learning approach had to be adopted, the survey was done before the end of the semester, to identify possible adaptation issues of the methodology to the remote-based model. There was a great contrast between the surveys applied while in different contexts, when in presential context the students rated the methodology very positively, but when in remote context there were more negative opinions instead, evidencing potential model adaptation challenges.

Keywords: Flipped Classroom, Game Based Learning, Computer Networks

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