Are Virtual Reality and Gamification Strategies Adaptive for Evaluations?

Education faces the challenge of adapting to trends driven by technological development. Pedagogy has become oriented towards self-learning due to technological resources available on digital platforms. The adaptive learning methodology leverages this trend by facilitating self-learning. Adaptive learning allows the students to advance at their own pace, developing skills in a personalized way. The problem lies in the traditional standardized assessment, which proves incongruent with the adaptive learning style. This educational innovation proposal offers an alternative assessment method for a personalized evaluation of competency development using gamification in virtual reality offered to professional students at a Mexican university. We conducted an exploratory, descriptive study of 310 students in 12 classes who voluntarily used a technological resource prototype designed as part of their final evaluation. The pilot test was run during the February/June 2021 semester. Using a linear regression model, we observed favorable results in 1) students' development of disciplinary skills, 2) motivation from the evaluation, and 3) practical and realistic experience. These results evidenced the value of the immersive experience for competency assessment and increasing student motivation through the evaluation process.