COUNTING CHALLENGES: A TEACHING CASE ABOUT SERIOUS GAME DEVELOPMENT

The article presents a teaching case that uses gamification strategies in the undergraduate course of Accounting Sciences in a Brazilian University. The undergraduate in Accounting Science presents as principal characteristic the technicality. So, this graduation objectives the development of techniques and not necessarily the students' abilities. Consequently, the graduates in Accounting Science become technicians with gaps in important skills, what prevents the development of their careers. Trying solve this problem, the Department of Accounting Sciences of the analyzed Higher Education Institution (HEI) created a compulsory discipline for the students of the last year of the Accounting with the objective of develop games projects related to accounting and business in general. The principal pedagogical objective of this discipline is to develop the students' creativity, innovation, oral communication, teamwork and entrepreneurship. In this sense, the projects developed by students can be a board game, a card game or a digital game related to themes that they choose (about accounting or business in general). The development of these projects requires the analysis of the financial feasibility of the proposal and a justification for the target audience to which the game project is directed to. The projects are evaluated in three different moments. At the beginning of the semester the initial ideas and the theme are presented by the students and evaluated by professor; In the middle of the semester the projects are shown and evaluated by the professor, assistant and three guests linked to the faculty, and the final projects are judged by professor and four internal and external guests, mixing professionals from games, financial and accounting areas. At the end of the course, the students present a prototype of the project developed by them to a jury composed by internal and external members of the HEI analyzed. The jury evaluate the viability, innovation and creativity of the students' project and, also, the performance in the oral presentation of each student. With this discipline, it is expected, also, that students develop a critical reflection about the labor market and the profession in Accounting area. To motivate the development of quality projects, the discipline counts with the help of the Group of Studies of Technology of the Education in Accounting, a research group linked to the HEI analyzed. The ten best evaluated projects in this discipline are invited to attend the Serious Accounting Game Accolade (SAGA) event, managed by mentioned group of studies. The invited groups present their projects to forty professionals of the Brazilian market, whose evaluate the commercial viability of this projects, their innovation and their education potential. The three best projects evaluated in this event are invited to develop the project by professionals of the area of games and accounting. The present case of teaching could be important for coordinators of courses of areas that need to develop students' important skills, in a complementing the knowledge acquired during the course.