Breaking the Rules: Gamification of Learning and Educational Materials

Abstract. The printed textbooks and the traditional instruction are in crisis. Some countries already have announced the establishment of educational poli-tics destined to substitute the textbooks by digital educational materials. But, what characteristics should have these new alternative teaching materials to the traditional textbooks?. In this paper we explore the design features to gamify educational materials. So, we explore the mechanics of video games, wonder-ing why games produce "engagement " in his players. Finally, we present a set of properties that can be taken into account as design guidelines for educational gamified materials. This set of properties secure the engagement of educational materials.