MOOCs as a massive research laboratory: opportunities and challenges

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) offer many opportunities for research into several topics related to pedagogical methods and student incentives. In the context of over 20 years of online learning research, we discuss lessons to be learned from observational comparisons and experiments on randomly chosen groups of students. We target two MOOCs for our study. We investigate dropout rates and how students who decide to drop out differ from those who continue courses. We discuss class forums and video lectures and how these interactions correlate with achievement. We explore the strong correlation between procrastination and achievement and implications for MOOC design. We examine the role of certifications offered by MOOCs and how different options can affect outcomes. We also examine the potential of linking data across courses. We discuss survey data in the context of these MOOCs. These research opportunities offer big data challenges, which are addressed with parallel computing techniques.     

Beyond hype and underestimation: identifying research challenges for the future of MOOCs

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have generated enthusiasm, excitement, and hype worldwide and recently increasing skepticism. They are being broadly discussed in the major news media (and to a smaller extent in academic circles). Rapidly increasing numbers of MOOC providers, MOOC courses and articles, discussion groups, and blogs discussing MOOCs are indicators of the involvement of many stakeholders. Most of these analyses and developments are based on economic perspectives (such as scalability, productivity, and being free) and technology perspectives (including platforms supporting large number of students in online environments, enrichment components such as forums, peer-to-peer learning support, and automatic grading). Few contributions analyze MOOCs from a learning science perspective and put them into a larger context with other approaches to learning and education. This commentary explores challenges derived from the perspective to conceptualize MOOCs as being one component in a rich landscape of learning.     

论我国高校发展慕课的策略

我国要实现优质教育资源共享,提高高等教育质量,藉此成为高等教育强国,加速建设教育强国,需突破优质高等教育资源少且分布不均的问题,慕课为解决这一问题提供了可能性,研究我国高校慕课发展策略有助于为慕课的健康发展提供理论和实践依据。     

翻转课堂与慕课融合促进教学资源均衡研究

本文对翻转课堂和慕课的教学优势做了详细的分析。具体阐述了当前教学改革之下,翻转课堂和慕课教学模式对教学的重要性,针对当前情况下的教学资源,将翻转课堂和慕课融合促进教学资源的均衡做了详细的研究,希望可以通过本次研究,融合这两种新型的教学方法,从而提高学校的教学质量。     

Flexible doctoral research: emerging issues in professional doctorate programs

This article outlines the current position and debates concerning professional doctorates in Australia. The growth in professional doctorates has been substantial over recent years with most of the nation's thirty‐seven universities offering such awards. However, there are many challenges stemming from these developments which range from concerns over: the status of doctoral degrees; fostering research which is useful for professions, industry, commerce and government; developing and sustaining appropriate research and dissemination skills in students; developing and sustaining appropriate supervision qualities in staff, and appropriate examining qualities in others; and calculating the balance between courseworkand research. The focus here is on the ‘delivery’ of ‘flexible researching’ often found in professional doctorate programs which differ from traditional notions of doctoral supervision incorporating views of research, a thesis and supervision which can be characterised as rather inflexible.

This article analyses the contribution that theories and practices of flexible learning can make to the understanding and practice of professional doctorates and the relationships and characteristics which are required of organisations and their staff as they provide and ‘ facilitate doctoral learning and research for professional contexts. The article raises some issues and questions which arise for those involved with and concerned about ensuring and are enhancing the quality of professional doctorates.     

Undergraduate geoscience education research: Evolution of an emerging field of discipline-based education research

Discipline-based education research (DBER) conducted by faculty within geoscience departments can address identified needs in undergraduate geoscience education. This study explores the evolution of undergraduate geoscience education research (GER) from 1985 to 2016, primarily in terms of the types of published research and secondarily in terms of the insights this literature offers on the evolution of GER as a scholarly discipline. Stokes’ (1997) quadrant model of research types is used as a theoretical framework for the former and Kuhn's (1970) model of disciplinary paradigm for the latter. An exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach to a systematic literature review of 1,760 articles is utilized. The period 1985–2000 is characterized by proto-research as evidenced by the abundance of instructive and informational education articles rather than research articles. From 2000 to 2011, GER underwent a growth period characterized by the presence of applied, use-inspired, and pure basic research. The period 2011–2016 appears to be a period of relative steady-state conditions in the normalized number of GER publications per year. Existing gaps in knowledge about geoscience education, the evident unfamiliarity with education and social science research methodologies among authors of GER articles, and efforts to build consensus about what GER is and how to conduct it suggest that GER is preparadigmatic or at a low paradigm state. That is, GER is an immature discipline as far as the evolution of a discipline goes. A path forward is proposed for the continued evolutionary growth of GER. This study provides new perspectives on the emergence of GER as a discipline that can be used as a basis for studies on cross-disciplinary DBER comparisons.     

Experiences in MOOCs: The Perspective of Students

The aim of this article was to examine the experiences of students who have participated in massive open online courses (MOOCs). The results of an initial Google blog search were narrowed down to a sample of twenty-one blog posts, each of which was written by a MOOC participant. Content analysis was applied to identify and classify blog comments into emergent themes (e.g., the relevance of type and length of course, student demographics, instruction/instructor interactive styles, and factors that impacted on the learning process) to develop a picture of their experiences. Overall, mixed feelings were expressed. Results provided a glimpse of the student experiences, including why students take such courses, what elements of their experience are positive, and what can be improved from the student point of view.     

MOOCs:大学教育的变革与回归之力

在物质需求日益遮蔽了精神需求的现代社会,大学精神被日渐膨胀的社会要求所消解,MOOCs作为信息技术与高等教育深度融合的产物,迫使大学重新审视自身的问题,为大学教育的教学模式、教学理念的理性变革带来了机遇,驱使大学逐步走出"功利化"困境,真正实践教育使命,回归到追求真理、涵养精神、塑造人格、发展知识的道路上来。     

Videos as learning objects in MOOCs: A study of specialist and non-specialist participants' video activity in MOOCs

Despite the emergence of massive open online courses (MOOCs) and the field of MOOC research, we have a limited understanding of the specific needs of different learner groups and how MOOCs can successfully address those needs. Video lectures and demonstrations are a central learning component of MOOCs. This paper contributes to the research community by examining the use of MOOC videos for two groups of learners. In particular, we explore whether there is an observable difference between specialists' and non-specialists' video-watching activity. We analyse data collected from three MOOCs on the edX platform. Our findings indicate that while age and educational background impacts the level of video activity, there is no significant difference between specialists and non-specialists. We conclude that the MOOC format may be suited to non-specialist groups, allowing them to self-direct their learning and utilise videos as educational resources.     

大规模开放在线课程网站的商业模式分析

大规模开放在线课程( MOOCs)是开放教育领域的一种新型课程形态,它凭借自身的大规模、开放性、社会性等优势,在最近两年发展迅猛,引起了全社会的广泛关注。本研究首先采用文献分析法回顾了MOOCs兴起的背景、发展过程以及主要流派;然后讨论了商业模式的概念和组成要素,优选了适合MOOCs的商业模式框架并作为分析工具;接着通过案例研究法,以Coursera、Udacity、EdX和P2PU等四个知名MOOCs平台为例,运用该框架分析了MOOCs运营模式中的各项要素和典型特征;最后,讨论了这些成功实践对我国开展在线教育服务的借鉴意义和可取之处,以供国内开放教育领域的研究者和实践者参考,从而促进开放教育资源运动的进一步发展。     

Precision in research on mathematics learning: The emerging field of psycho-mathematics

The field of learning psychology spans all the disciplines. This scholarly study, while primarily directing itself to the area of mathematics, will prove to be stimulating and thought provoking to all scientists.     

Widening participation to doctoral education and research degrees: a research agenda for an emerging policy issue

Widening participation is on the political agenda but, to date, policy, practice and research has focused on undergraduate education. This article identifies an emerging widening participation focus on doctoral education. Using England as a case study, the article examines this development within the context of the long-standing concern with equity in education, before reviewing the relatively small literature addressing who participates (and why) in doctoral and more general postgraduate education. An analysis of Widening Participation Strategic Assessments produced in 2009 by 129 English Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) reveals an emergent institutional awareness of this new development. Finally, a research agenda for widening participation to research degrees, focusing on research students, HEIs and policy-makers, is outlined. The conclusion calls for this agenda to be pursued at institutional, national and cross-national levels so that future policy can be made and implemented on the basis of a robust evidence base.     

Watching MOOCs together: investigating co-located MOOC study groups

Research suggests that massive open online course (MOOC) students prefer to study in groups, and that social facilitation within the study groups may render the learning of difficult concepts a pleasing experience. We report on a longitudinal study that investigates how co-located study groups watch and study MOOC videos together. The study was conducted with on-campus flipped classroom students. Our subjects reported an overall high satisfaction with the study group style. The research reveals that students like to stay synchronized in the group while watching MOOC videos. However, they have to find a balance between synchronization, video interaction, and the amount of conversation. Watching MOOCs on a shared display addresses the need of synchronicity, and the distribution of control can increase the video interactivities.     

Learner engagement in MOOCs: Scale development and validation

The purpose of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of the complexity of conceptualising and measuring learner engagement in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The paper develops and validates a MOOC engagement scale (MES) to measure learner engagement. The initial questionnaire items of the scale were developed by reviewing existing related literature and validated student engagement constructs. This was followed by a modified scale development process, including two focus group interviews (n = 10), an exploratory survey (n = 12), an expert review (n = 10), a pilot survey (n = 15), an item purification study (n = 590) and a construct validation study (n = 303). The final version of the scale is made up of four dimensions: behavioural engagement, cognitive engagement, emotional engagement and social engagement. The paper concludes with recommendations for how the MES can be used to assess the pattern of engagement in MOOCs and to investigate the relationship between learner engagement and other important MOOC teaching and learning factors.     

Case study: using MOOCs for conventional college coursework

In Spring 2013 San José State University (SJSU) launched SJSU Plus: three college courses required for most students to graduate, which used massive open online course provider Udacity’s platform, attracting over 15,000 students. Retention and success (pass/fail) and online support were tested using an augmented online learning environment (AOLE) on a subset of 213 students; about one-half matriculated. SJSU faculty created the course content, collaborating with Udacity to develop video instruction, quizzes, and interactive elements. Course log-ins and progression data were combined with surveys and focus groups, with students, faculty, support staff, coordinators, and program leaders as subjects. Logit models used contingency table-tested potential success predictors on all students and five subgroups. Student effort was the strongest success indicator, suggesting criticality of early and consistent student engagement. No statistically significant relationships with student characteristics were found. AOLE support effectiveness was compromised with staff time consumed by the least prepared students.