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Instructor-student interaction and regular feedback are seen as teaching strategies designed to support effective learning. These days, there is increasing reliance on technology to support this in the classroom; one such technology is a student response system or its more recent development of this, that is, a game-based one. This study investigates the potential of using game-based student response systems for formative assessment through the analysis of learning outcomes and students' perceptions of the gamified experience in terms of engagement and pleasantness. A quasi-experiment was conducted within an undergraduate course on educational technologies, involving about 400 students. Learning improvements were measured through a pre- and posttest, and students' perceptions were elicited through a questionnaire. Data analysis showed a high level of student satisfaction and an overall improvement of learning outcomes due to the use of game-based student response systems. However, differences in terms of effectiveness were found according to the nature of the topics dealt with in the course, that is, whether or not they were used in the development of theoretical knowledge rather than the use of that knowledge in a more practical context.

The article presents a reflection on the digital challenges for education while considering the complexity characterizing the current socio-cultural scenarios, severely marked by the health emergency due to the spread of Coronavirus. Moving from an examination of the trends that emerged during the lockdown with respect to the use of technologies to support teaching and learning processes, a multidimensional analysis of the factors to be taken into account for quality digital teaching is proposed. In doing so, it attempts to overcome the unfruitful dichotomous visions and depicting a future for schools after distance learning where the educational technologies topic is associated to the themes of quality training, learning design, formative evaluation and digital equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]