How to design for persistence and retention in MOOCs?

Design of educational interventions is typically carried out following a design cycle involving phases of investigation, conceptualization, prototyping, implementation, execution and evaluation. This cycle can be applied at different levels of granularity e.g. learning activity, module, course or programme. In this paper we consider an aspect of learner behavior that can be critical to the success of many MOOCs i.e. their persistence to study, and the related theme of learner retention. We reflect on the impact that consideration of these can have on design decisions at different stages in the design cycle with the aim of en-hancing MOOC design in relation to learner persistence and retention, with particular attention to the European context

FORGE: An eLearning Framework for Remote Laboratory Experimentation on FIRE Testbed Infrastructure

The Forging Online Education through FIRE (FORGE) initiative provides educators and learners in higher education with access to world-class FIRE testbed infrastructure. FORGE supports experimentally driven research in an eLearning environment by complementing traditional classroom and online courses with interactive remote laboratory experiments. The project has achieved its objectives by defining and implementing a framework called FORGEBox. This framework offers the methodology, environment, tools and resources to support the creation of HTML-based online educational material capable accessing virtualized and physical FIRE testbed infrastruc- ture easily. FORGEBox also captures valuable quantitative and qualitative learning analytic information using questionnaires and Learning Analytics that can help optimise and support student learning. To date, FORGE has produced courses covering a wide range of networking and communication domains. These are freely available from FORGEBox.eu and have resulted in over 24,000 experiments undertaken by more than 1,800 students across 10 countries worldwide. This work has shown that the use of remote high- performance testbed facilities for hands-on remote experimentation can have a valuable impact on the learning experience for both educators and learners. Additionally, certain challenges in developing FIRE-based courseware have been identified, which has led to a set of recommendations in order to support the use of FIRE facilities for teaching and learning purposes

Building and Executing MOOCs: A Practical Review of Glasgow's First Two MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)

No abstract available

Improving an Online Course for SQL Learners in LAB University of Applied Sciences: Making use of MOOC for efficient course

The main purpose of this Bachelor thesis is to improve the available SQL online course which is used in LAB University of Applied Sciences to an efficient one and to keep track of the making process, from researching to implementing. Thus, the thesis consists of two main parts which are theoretical (including knowledge and research from available sources) and empirical (noting the process of course improvement with real problems, solutions as well as explanation) part. Implementing an efficient studying course requires concrete knowledge on the course content (SQL), awareness of users’ learning method adoption (MOOC specifically) as well as how to implement the best possible course by using available utilities of the teaching/ learning method. As a result, theoretical is formed as a foundation for the mentioned knowledge. As the main target of the thesis is to generate an efficient SQL online course, empirical part is a must. In this part, the creation will be described step by step through the suggestion, implementation, and improvement along with interview and survey during the process. Assignment creation using VPL will be explained and concentrated in the course implementation. The study could be continued by improving the course by using the feedback from students after the deployment of the course

EOSC Synergy WP6: Initial review of systems, initiatives and development of selection criteria of the online learning/training platforms and initiatives

This report describes a review of possible learning platforms and tools, and relevant previous and current projects and initiatives in the area of Open Science and EOSC training and education. It also includes reflections on the criteria we will use to select the platform and tools for the EOSC-Synergy project.European Commission. The report is a deliverable of EOSC-synergy project (INFRAEOSC-05(b)), Grant agreement ID: 857647.Peer reviewe

Meta-Analysis of Factors Influencing Student Acceptance of Massive Open Online Courses for Open Distance Learning

This study aimed to apply the meta-analysis methodology to systematically synthesize results of primary studies to discover the main significant factors influencing student acceptance of massive open online courses (MOOCs) for open distance learning (ODL). An abundance of studies on MOOCs exists, but there is a lack of meta-analysis research on student acceptance of MOOCs, which is a novel contribution of the current study. The meta-analysis methodology was applied to investigate effect sizes, statistical heterogeneity, and publication bias across 36 primary studies involving 14233 participating students. The study findings show satisfaction to be the main significant factor influencing student acceptance of MOOCs. The findings can enlighten stakeholders in the decision-making process of implementing MOOCs for ODL and advance technology acceptance models. Moreover, this study has the potential to theoretically contribute to technology acceptance research by situating the widely known technology acceptance models in the context of education

Step by Step Guide to Implementing LMS with Live Teaching : Case study: eVarsity(dot)Net

Nearly 100 percent of Finnish educational institutes offer some form of online studies from high school level to higher institutes. These platforms are given fancy names such as Wil-ma by Eira High School or Tuubi by Metropolia. Some institutes move further to offer full courses online called Virtual Open University where prospective students can accumulate credits online to prepare them towards a degree or diploma course. Degree students are also able to enroll with permission to gain some extra credits online. Using already existing LMSs students are able to access static resources in the form of recorded videos, audios or PDF files pre-uploaded as course contents to the sites. Students are able to communicate with the lecturers via chats, emails or messaging through the online Learning Management System (LMS). However, collaboration does not happen in real time therefore more students are likely to get bored along the way and drop out of the course entirely if they feel a teacher delays in responding to their questions or the course is too abstract to them and they cannot seem to get the explanation from reading the materi-als. The goal of this project is to produce a near experience to the conventional style of teach-ing by bringing live web conferencing together with LMS. Two separate LMS and a web conferencing servers shall be installed. The web conferencing server shall be integrated into the LMS. Students shall be able to watch and hear a live lecture by a lecturer who can navigate presentation files, write on a whiteboard for all the students to see in real time. Everything happens in a web browser and it is completely cloud-based. Nothing to down-load on install on the client PCs of the teacher or students