Serious games as edX MOOC activities

Abstract

Massive Online Open Courses are in the process of radically changing the use of technology in education, as measured both by the number of enrolled students and the level of academic excellence of the institutions that are driving their adoption. Typically, online learning management systems have relied on simple questionnaires for feedback and evaluation. On the other hand, MOOC platforms such as EDX have, from the onset, provided a great flexibility in this regard, providing peer grading and several examples of highly interactive activities such as hands-on simulations. This paper explores the integration of serious games as a new type of MOOC activity, providing increased engagement and a valuable source of learning analytics. The inclusion of serious games has implications for both courses and games. Due to the diversity of existing serious game and MOOC platforms, we focus on the specific case of integrating EADVENTURE games into EDX.