Creating Engaging Experiences in MOOCs through In-Course Redeemable Rewards

Abstract

Gamification strategies have been proposed to mitigate student disengagement and dropouts in massive online environments, due to the positive results shown by these strategies at lower scales. Among various gamification strategies, redeemable rewards have been identified as an effective element to intrinsically motivate students and increase their engagement in educational settings, including MOOCs. Yet, effective design, implementation and enactment of this gamification strategy in MOOC contexts might face new challenges, given the unique characteristics of these learning settings such as massiveness. As an attempt to help teachers use redeemable rewards in MOOCs, this paper analyzes the characteristics of MOOCs that influence its integration and presents a proposal of a system supporting the design, implementation and enactment of such rewards. The envisioned system is illustrated by a scenario that describes the main features of this system for teachers and students.