Study Of Game Elements Impacting On SE Course Completion Rate In MOOCs

• Main Authors: Xu, Xiaoji, Zhi, Huanyu
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för programvaruteknik 2017
• Subjects: MOOCs; Completion rate; SE courses; Game element; Software Engineering; Programvaruteknik
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-14078

Context. SE is a growing field in both academia and industry, online SE education becomes more and more prevalent recent years. Massive Open Online Courses, as an emerging type of open educational resource, provide SE courses a much wider development space. But on the other hand, MOOCs limit SE courses because its low completion rate. Game elements are used to address this issue, but the impact of game elements on completion rate of specific MOOCs and SE courses in MOOCs are not clear. It is necessary to find whether and how game elements could help students finish SE courses. Explore the method and idea of improving SE courses in MOOCs through game elements. Objectives. In this study authors investigate what game elements are applied in SE courses in MOOCs platforms, evaluate the impact of MOOCs game elements on SE courses completion situation. Based on the analysis and summary of the data and result, propose suggestion to improve SE courses. Methods. Authors conduct a systematic literature to find the game elements used in SE courses in MOOCs. Conducting the survey to get the data of the MOOCs game elements on completion situation in general and data of survey is analyzed by mathematical statistics. The interview is used to find how the game elements of MOOC and SE education simulation impact on learning SE courses on MOOCs by inductive content analysis. Results. In systematic literature review, 23 studies are selected from 358 papers of six databases. Forty-one responses of questionnaires are received and twenty interviewees take part in this study. Authors find that game elements have been applied in MOOCs in various ways and research results about effort of game elements are positive. In this study, the results of analyzing the received data in survey show that there is no significant impact of game elements on course completion rate. The interview shows that specific game element is necessary for students finishing their courses and some game elements are not well designed in students’ perspective. Two specific suggestions to improve SE courses are proposed according to survey and interview result. Conclusions. This research collects data through SLR, survey and interview, and evaluates the impact of game elements on SE course completion situation through analysis, comparison and summary. The result is helpful to people who design and develop the game elements in MOOCs platform. Focusing on the character of SE education and SE courses, some suggestion of designing and modifying the game elements are provided. This enables the game elements designer to target designing and arranging game elements better.