Adaptative communities of practice through games in the "NUCLEO" e-learning framework

Today students grow up in an environment that strongly differs about tools and experiences from those of previous generations. This environment is characterized by ubiquitous technologies and very tight loops of interaction and reward. However, educational techniques are anchored in the features of previous generations, causing an increasing lack of learning effectiveness in students. The NUCLEO e-learning system tries to confront this lack of adaptation by providing engaging and motivating educational experience to these new students. The system is built over two basic pedagogical pillars; the socio-constructive theories of learning and specifically the communities of practice, and the student centered instruction models. NUCLEO provides a futurist scenario in which students, who are represented by avatars, have to collaborate to solve a proposed learning “mission” following a classical role based play mechanics. The educational strategy proposed to individual students is adapted to his learning style pattern according to their knowledge acquisition profiles.