As the online learning community matures, the low completion rates in massive open online courses (MOOCs) are raising concerns for both administrators and educators. This paper suggests and evaluates solutions that will improve participation and increase motivation. The objective is to introduce gamification, which will apply the advantages of games to course materials and assessment tasks.

Building on the cooperative MOOC model, the authors introduce a new layer that includes elements of gamification, which will increase the level of motivation in participants. The authors propose using the Moodle platform, which has features that suit a strategy of gamification. There are five proposed objectives that can be added to a Moodle course: ranking rates, voluntary activity, course progress, certification, and number of “likes.” Each of these satisfies a number of criteria like social networking, learning communities, and student intrinsic motivation.

The authors acknowledge some minor limitations of the model, but will continue with the research by implementing the model and investigating the potential of 3D virtual environments. I would recommend this paper to those educators and online developers who are seeking an alternative model for MOOC design.