Abstract

Requirement engineering is one of the key processes in software development, being misunderstandings between the project team and relevant stakeholders the source of some of the most critical problems in software development projects. To teach requirement engineering is challenging, because it is a combination of communicational and analytical skills, and it is the reason because most courses use various approaches to facilitate learning, from theory-oriented lectures to active learning using role playing, simulations or project-based learning. In online education, the challenge of effectively teaching requirement engineering increases, because most educational programs are mainly delivered asynchronously with few synchronic opportunities for engagement in collaborative active learning. This work proposes the use of a serious game to teach the fundamentals of requirement engineering to overcome these limitations. The game is a card game in a simulated context where the interactions of the students with the game are recorded. A usability evaluation was conducted to assess the game experience, being the game evaluated positively in all proposed dimensions, standing out in the dimensions of Ease of Learning, Clarity of Objectives, and Educational Concepts. The game’s strong dependence on luck was qualitatively highlighted, but also the ease of use and a positive user experience, proving to be effective in engaging students’ interest. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.