A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is a type of online learning environment that has the potential to increase students’ access to education. However, the low completion rates in MOOCs suggest that student engagement and progression in the courses are problematic. Following the increasing adoption of gamification in education, it is possible that gamification can also be effectively adopted in MOOCs to enhance students’ motivation and increase completion rates. Yet at present, the extent to which gamification has been examined in MOOCs is not known. Considering the myriad gamification elements that can be adopted in MOOCs (e.g., leaderboards and digital badges), this theoretical research study reviews scholarly publications examining gamification of MOOCs. The main purpose is to provide an overview of studies on gamification in MOOCs, types of research studies, theories applied, gamification elements implemented, methods of implementation, the overall impact of gamification in MOOCs, and the challenges faced by researchers and practitioners when implementing gamification in MOOCs. The results of the literature study indicate that research on gamification in MOOCs is in its early stages. While there are only a handful of empirical research studies, results of the experiments generally showed a positive relation between gamification and student motivation and engagement. It is concluded that there is a need for further studies using educational theories to account for the effects of employing gamification in MOOCs.

1. Gamification in MOOCs: A Review
of the State of the Art
EDUCON 2018, Santa Cruz de Tenerife
19.04.2018
Mohammad Khalil, Jacqueline Wong, Bjorn de Koning, Martin Ebner & Fred Paas

2. I am Mohammad Khalil
Hello!
@TUMohdKhalil
http://mohdkhalil.wordpress.com

3. The MOOCs Hype
Image from: Vlad Mihaescu

4. 9,400MOOCs
81,000,000Online students
Based on Class Central 2017 statistics

5. http://www.takepart.com/sites/default/files/styles/tp_gallery_slide/public/RTR33X5C-itok=5W4E1ycQ.jpg

6. Research Questions
What is/are
• The state of research on gamification in MOOCs
• Research methods used in the studies?
• Reasons for implementing gamification in MOOCs?
• Theoritical frameworks used?
• Gamification elements?
• Challenges faced?
• Effectiveness?

7. Methodology

8. Machi & Mcevoy (2016) way

9. 51 papersGamification AND
(“MOOC(s)” OR “Massive Open Online”)
2008 - 2017
Filtering
• Non-English
• Abstracts & proposals
• Not-accessible
• Outside MOOCs scope
18

10. Followed research methods
Method #
Empirical/quantitative 3 papers
Empirical/qualitative 2 papers
Empirical/mixed 5 papers
Conceptual/theoretical 8 papers

11. Venues & publications year

12. Citation Analysis
Based on Google Scholar Nov. 2017

13. Implementation environments 5 Hybrid
11 Web
Image cut from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IInVQvWEChE

14. Reasons for gamification
Reason #
Enhance motivation 8 papers
Enhance engagement 7 papers
Entertainment 2 papers
Recommendation/personalization 2 papers
Build up loyalty 2 papers
Deepen learning 1 paper
Support collaboration 1 paper
Improve autonomy 1 paper

15. Gamification Elements
Badges (12) Leaderboards (6) Progress (4) Challenges (4)
Ranking (3) Levels (3) Points (3) Reward (3)

16. Gamification Impact
9
1 -Positive

17. Limitations & Challenges
• Specialized group (4)
• Pilot study/beta testing (3)
• Complicated structure (3)
• Testing environment shortage (2)
• Ineffective sample size (2)

18. Future Directions
Pressing needs to
empirically test the
effectiveness of
gamification
elements in MOOCs
Researchers/practition
ers to take a
multidisciplinary
approach for
gamification
implementation
Gamification
elements design and
integration should be
grounded on theories

19. Any questions ?
Thank You!
@TUMohdKhalil
http://mohdkhalil.wordpress.com