This article summarizes the experience of an experiment carried out in South America: Chile, and Paraguay. Ramírez‐Donoso, L., Rojas‐Riethmuller, J. S., Pérez‐Sanagustín, M., Neyem, A., & Alario‐Hoyos (2017) have designed a mobile application called MyMOOCSpace. The authors tackled an important research question that is shallow in the literature: How is it possible to design a technological solution to extend and enhance effective collaborative learning among students in a MOOC?
the authors designed the mobile app and enabled many features such as: working in teams, levels, tasks against time, badges, and points and leaderboards to enhance computer-supported collaboration (See Figure below).
The authors did three experiments to evaluate the app:
- Usability study using questionnaire.
- platform behavior using data and learning analytics
- and collaboration enhancement using a questionnaire
The results obtained from the three experiments show that the mobile app: MyMOOCSpace contributes to enhancing collaboration between students in a higher education MOOC. In addition, the results validate MyMOOCSpace as a tool that extends and enhances interaction and collaboration possibilities among students in a MOOC Platform.
The article reveals good insights into implementing gamification in MOOCs using mobile applications. Mobiles can support learning as a tool that is useful and in hands of many people. Future research of testing hybrid systems that include smartphones could carry great potential to reduce the attrition rate in MOOCs.
References
Ramírez‐Donoso, L., Rojas‐Riethmuller, J. S., Pérez‐Sanagustín, M., Neyem, A., & Alario‐Hoyos, C. (2017). MyMOOCSpace: A cloud‐based mobile system to support effective collaboration in higher education online courses. Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 25(6), 910-926.