Very agreed. There's certainly much these online courses can do in the lecture quality department alone. (Maybe they just need more quality control instead of a

Very agreed. There's certainly much these online courses can do in the lecture quality department alone. (Maybe they just need more quality control instead of a rush to fill their sites with content). I think you can do a lot to make the learning process much smoother and more streamlined. My opposition to the suggestions in the article is on the grounds that the author is searching for a shortcut to the learning process (or maybe just wants a really addicting, very shallow introduction to the topics), which is exactly opposite of what these sites are aiming to achieve. I'm all for making these platforms more fun, engaging and rewarding. The more the better. But my main point is that the focus, the most important aspect of education is the process of learning and that often requires prolonged focus (to follow along and venture all the way down the rabbit hole of a subject), deep engagement (so your brain can make all of the connections, tie all of the strings together), and interest. The authors suggestions don't really reinforce the process of learning (as I know), they may even weaken it by creating distractions, giving rewards for too little work (obviously subjective, but being subjective you're going to help some people sometimes, and hurt some people sometimes) and getting students to focus on the rewards rather than their understanding, and rather than building implicit positive feelings about their accomplishments.