Gamification in Law Education as a Strategy to Stimulate Academic Engagement and Promote Lifelong Learning

Teaching using digital media still entails significant challenges in student engagement and motivation, so the synergy between innovative pedagogical strategies and educational technology is essential for creating meaningful digital learning experiences that resolve this problem. Moreover, current educational trends highlight three fundamentals: the student at the center of the learning process, positive emotions crucial for academic success, and continuous learning beyond school. This demands a change of pedagogical perspective to attend to these new needs comprehensively. In the legal field, continuing education has adhered to traditional educational paradigms based fundamentally on the expository method, which, being unstimulating, negatively affects student engagement and motivation and reduces the perceived value of such programs, thus discouraging commitment to lifelong learning. Therefore, to address this situation and promote a paradigm shift, a gamified activity was proposed within the framework of a program for a Tax Law diploma, resulting in significant improvements in students' motivation, engagement, and predisposition toward lifelong learning, indicating that this innovative approach was relevant for adult professionals participating in this type of program by improving their academic experience.