A review on massive e-learning (MOOC) design, delivery and assessment

MOOCs or Massive Online Open Courses based on Open Educational Resources (OER) might be one of the most versatile ways to offer access to quality education, especially for those residing in far or disadvantaged areas. This article analyzes the state of the art on MOOCs, exploring open research questions and setting interesting topics and goals for further research. Finally, it proposes a framework that includes the use of software agents with the aim to improve and personalize management, delivery, efficiency and evaluation of massive online courses on an individual level basis.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Assessment as Learning: Use of Reflection Videos in the Massive Open Online Course to Enhance Learning and Digital Identity Among Pre- and In-Service Teachers in Norway

This study examines teachers’ experiences of their engagement with the reflection videos in the Pedagogical Information and Communication Technology (ICTPED) Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) aimed to develop Norwegian teachers’ professional digital competence. The study also considers how teachers’ engagement with reflection videos might have enhanced their digital identity. Analyses of teachers’ experiences draw on the cultural-historical perspective and, in particular, Galperin’s conceptual contribution. Mixed methods were used to analyse the data by providing evidence about the teachers’ engagement with the reflection videos in 2016-2020. Findings reveal that the teachers’ engagement with the reflection videos contributed to the development of their conceptual understanding and their agentic capacity to learn online. In doing so, their digital agency might have been enhanced.publishedVersio

Together we stand, Together we fall, Together we win: Dynamic Team Formation in Massive Open Online Courses

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offer a new scalable paradigm for e-learning by providing students with global exposure and opportunities for connecting and interacting with millions of people all around the world. Very often, students work as teams to effectively accomplish course related tasks. However, due to lack of face to face interaction, it becomes difficult for MOOC students to collaborate. Additionally, the instructor also faces challenges in manually organizing students into teams because students flock to these MOOCs in huge numbers. Thus, the proposed research is aimed at developing a robust methodology for dynamic team formation in MOOCs, the theoretical framework for which is grounded at the confluence of organizational team theory, social network analysis and machine learning. A prerequisite for such an undertaking is that we understand the fact that, each and every informal tie established among students offers the opportunities to influence and be influenced. Therefore, we aim to extract value from the inherent connectedness of students in the MOOC. These connections carry with them radical implications for the way students understand each other in the networked learning community. Our approach will enable course instructors to automatically group students in teams that have fairly balanced social connections with their peers, well defined in terms of appropriately selected qualitative and quantitative network metrics.Comment: In Proceedings of 5th IEEE International Conference on Application of Digital Information & Web Technologies (ICADIWT), India, February 2014 (6 pages, 3 figures

Quality in MOOCs: Surveying the Terrain

The purpose of this review is to identify quality measures and to highlight some of the tensions surrounding notions of quality, as well as the need for new ways of thinking about and approaching quality in MOOCs. It draws on the literature on both MOOCs and quality in education more generally in order to provide a framework for thinking about quality and the different variables and questions that must be considered when conceptualising quality in MOOCs. The review adopts a relativist approach, positioning quality as a measure for a specific purpose. The review draws upon Biggs’s (1993) 3P model to explore notions and dimensions of quality in relation to MOOCs — presage, process and product variables — which correspond to an input–environment–output model. The review brings together literature examining how quality should be interpreted and assessed in MOOCs at a more general and theoretical level, as well as empirical research studies that explore how these ideas about quality can be operationalised, including the measures and instruments that can be employed. What emerges from the literature are the complexities involved in interpreting and measuring quality in MOOCs and the importance of both context and perspective to discussions of quality

Supporting Effective Online Learning Groups for eLearning Systems

Learning in groups has been advocated to increase learning based on the social constructivist learning theory. ICT has been preferred to bridge the gap between distance learning students for possibilities to enhance the benefits of learning groups. However, although learning groups can bring about meaningful learning, learning groups in online environments are often not working. To solve this problem, this study uses design science approaches to establish methods and factors that support effective online learning groups. Within design science three case studies were used. These case studies were used under three research areas: context of online learning groups, processes to support effective online learning groups and tools to support effective online learning groups. The study adopted mixed methods in the evaluation stage of the adopted design science. Establishing the context of online learning groups laid a foundation for this study. This was done using a survey approach that covered the five regions in Uganda, semi-structured interviews with experienced online learning facilitators and observation of interaction logs of online courses at both the University of Agder and Makerere University. Initially, preliminary findings of effective online learning groups were established. The preliminary findings consist of the need for: study guide, trained online tutors, motivating and sustaining interaction, high levels of cognitive interactions, peer assessment based activities and ICT. From the context of online learning groups, the Methods and Factors for Effective Online Learning Groups (FEOLG) were established. FEOLG include: supporting institutional online learning group policy; supporting institutional online learning group technology; quality of online learning group activity; quality of the online learning group; and quality of online learning group facilitation. The factors were evaluated using online learning courses based on existing Makerere University eLearning Environment (MUELE) and online learning group design. The thesis contributes: methods for creating online learning groups, methods for structuring online learning group activities, methods for facilitating online learning groups, and the establishment of factors for supporting effective online learning groups.publishedVersio

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

Digitally supported assessment

This chapter focuses on digital assessment and feedback practices in distance education. Providing evidence of learning through assessment is at the heart of students’ experience of higher education (HE), whatever their mode of study. Open and distance education-focused institutions have justifiably been proud of their technical innovation, tending to move rapidly to harness available technologies (from post to broadcast media and, most recently, online media) in their mission to enable education for remote, distributed groups of learners. In recent years, distance education courses have, in the main, moved from paper and digital media delivered physically to wholly online delivery, except where the circumstances of target learners preclude reliance on a reliable and fast internet connection. In terms of content, discussion and collaboration, where distance education has forged ahead, campus-based, blended programmes have generally followed. However, in terms of assessment and feedback, distance education has remained somewhat conservative. While most assessment in distance education has taken place online along with content and communication, there has been a tendency to replicate fairly traditional assessment formats using digital tools