Exploring the effectiveness and the transversal competency retention of a game-based learning activity one year after student participation

Most studies in engineering education focus on the effectiveness of the teaching interventions and what transversal competencies engineering students gain from those interventions immediately after they take place. This study explores the effectiveness of an existing game-based learning activity and the competency retention of the participating students one year after its implementation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to nine students who participated in the activity at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. The findings showed that students remembered and benefited from the activity. This exploratory study indicated that this activity is valid to retain students transversal competencies because it provides active learning, engagement, rules, risk-taking, cooperation and competition, and it can be plugged-and-played in any engineering context. This study encourages researchers in the field of engineering education to conduct transversal competency retention studies, which are fundamental to understand how the teaching practices shape students’ competencies in the period after their participation.