LUDIC-EVALUATION AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN ENGINEERING: THE CASE OF THERMODYNAMICS COURSE.

The subject of Thermodynamics is imparted to students in different engineering programs. Students in Colombia usually take the course between the fourth and fifth semester of their academic programs. The course has historically presented high loss rates due to the difficulty of understanding and appropriation of concepts. Consequently, the professor started a project to help students in the course, by using ludic-evaluation methodology. The article presents the most important results of student perception in self-efficacy, engagement and achievement of learning objectives. The a ludic evaluation methodology was applied prior to the first theoretical evaluation in of Thermodynamics course at Universidad del Norte (Barranquilla-Colombia) in three different cohorts (one in 2015 and two in 2016). The study is structured in four phases and includes the interaction with other academic support offered by academic peers within the same university. The first phase occurs two weeks before the application of the theoretical evaluation, and includes ludic-evaluation with a video game to diagnose the level of achievement of the learning objective. The second phase, includes academic peer support and uses the results of the ludic-evaluation, to carry out improvement actions. The third phase performs the theoretical exam. During the final phase, the professor applies a survey to the students to obtain their perception about the subject, the way they learned and their role as students within the achievement of the learning objective. Results show that students have an open mind to learn and increase their level of engagement to the subject, also improving on the objective results at the end of the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]