Social presence in massive open online courses

The capacity to foster interpersonal interactions in massive open online courses (MOOCs) has frequently been contested, particularly when learner interactions are limited to MOOC forums. The establishment of social presence-a perceived sense of somebody being present and "real"-is among the strategies to tackle the challenges of online learning and could be applied in MOOCs. Thus far, social presence in MOOCs has been under-researched. Studies that previously examined social presence in MOOCs did not account for the peculiar nature of open online learning. In contrast to the existing work, this study seeks to understand how learners perceive social presence, and the different nuances of social presence in diverse MOOC populations. In particular, we compare perceptions of social presence across the groups of learners with different patterns of forum participation in three edX MOOCs. The findings reveal substantial differences in how learners with varying forum activity perceive social presence. Perceptions of social presence also differed in courses with the varying volume of forum interaction and duration. Finally, learners with sustained forum activity generally reported higher social presence scores that included low affectivity and strong group cohesion perceptions. With this in mind, this study is significant because of the insights into brings to the current body of knowledge around social presence in MOOCs. The study's findings also raise questions about the effectiveness of transferring existing socio-constructivist constructs into the MOOC contexts.System Engineerin

Roles and student identities in online large course forums: implications for practice.

The use of large online discussion forums within online and distance learning continues to grow. Recent innovations in online learning the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) and concomitant growth in the use of online media for the delivery of courses in traditional campus based universities provides both opportunity and challenge for online tutors and learners alike. The recognition of the role that online tutor and student identity plays in the field of retention and progression of distance learners is also well documented in the field of distance learning. Focusing on a course forum linked to a single level 2 undergraduate module and open to over a thousand students, this ideographic case study, set in a large distance learning university, uses qualitative methodology to examine the extent to which participation in a large forum can be considered within community of practice frameworks (COP) and contributes to feelings of efficacy, student identity and motivation. The paper draws on current theory pertaining to online communities and examines this in relation to the extent to which the forum adds to feelings of academic and social integration. The study concludes that although the large forum environment facilitates a certain degree of academic integration and identity there is evidence that it also presents a number of barriers producing negative effects on student motivation and online identity

Innovating Pedagogy 2017: Exploring new forms of teaching, learning and assessment, to guide educators and policy makers. Open University Innovation Report 6

This series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. This sixth report proposes ten innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education. To produce it, a group of academics at the Institute of Educational Technology in The Open University collaborated with researchers from the Learning In a NetworKed Society (LINKS) Israeli Center of Research Excellence (I-CORE). Themes: • Big-data inquiry: thinking with data • Learners making science • Navigating post-truth societies • Immersive learning • Learning with internal values • Student-led analytics • Intergroup empathy • Humanistic knowledge-building communities • Open Textbooks • Spaced Learnin

D4 Strategic Project:Developing Staff Digital Literacies.External Scoping Report

This is the first stage of a TALI Strategic Project on Academic Staff Digital Literacies. The report scopes the grey and peer reviewed literature and provides a landscape review of some of the major developments focussing particularly on approaches supported by the major sector bodies (JISC, HEA and ALT). The report comes to the following conclusions: • The term digital capability appears to have growing use by sector bodies (e.g. Jisc and UCISA) replacing digital literacy and digital fluency. We support this because it may be more acceptable to academic staff because it may appear less pejorative. In addition it should be noted that both terms are highly temporally contingent in this is a fast moving area. • Staff digital literacies are deeply embedded in their local discipline context. • Whilst there are many projects that focus on students’ digital literacy the literature on staff is much less prevalent. • Of the few projects that focus on staff digital literacies these tend to lack any empirical base in relation to efficacy or impact. • Digitally confident practitioners display a range of attributes related to confidence, willingness to explore, resilience to failure and that it is these attributes that characterise them rather than their technical skills. • Approaches to achieving sustained change in relation to development of digital confident practitioners are more likely to be achieved by focussing on ‘hearts and minds’ where staff have agency and ownership, and feel empowered to make changes rather than audits or appraisals. • A particular ‘hearts and mind’ approach that has had some use across several HEIs is the course redesign model called ‘Carpe Deum’ (Salmon & Wright 2014). • In addition Appreciative Inquiry as a model for supporting change processes which has been advocated by Jisc (Gray and Ferrell nd)

A personal journey of discoveries through a DIY open course development for professional development of teachers in Higher Education

This paper is the author's exploration into the story behind the development of the pedagogical ideas for the open course around Flexible, Distance and Online Learning (FDOL), its design and implementation, and the opportunities and challenges this presented to the author through three iterations, FDOL131, FDOL132 and FDOL141 during 2013 and 2014. Flexible, Distance and Online Learning is an open course developed by educational developers in the UK and Sweden for teachers in Higher Education (HE). Formal and informal continuing professional development opportunities are blended to bring higher education teachers from different disciplines, institutions and countries together into a community to learn autonomously or in groups supported by facilitators from different institutions. Personal discoveries and learning points are shared, based on reflections, observations and related research activities carried out as part of a PhD research project by the author together with a description of the pedagogical design developed for and used in FDOL. Findings shared might be useful for other open course designers who are interested in providing extended, and extending, collaborative learning opportunities for their students through opening-up and joining-up educational provision and practices

Exploring Chinese students’ learning experience in CIC MOOC 2.0– A study with Chinese online communities

This research explores Chinese students’ learning experience in the Creativity, Innovation, and Change (CIC) Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) 2.0 from the cultural, language, and communication perspectives. The CIC MOOC was the first course offered in both English and Chinese in Coursera. Data in this study were collected via online survey, interviews, QQ chat logs, and discussion threads in Guokr platform. Content analysis was performed to identify key themes from the collected data. Findings reveal that differences exist in Eastern and Western societies regarding power distance, individualism versus collectivism, and masculinity versus femininity. Communication patterns also vary in QQ and Guokr online communities. In addition, Chinese students reported that translation helped them understand the course topics better, and the online interest group motivated them to participate in course activities and complete the course. The conclusions shed light on the design of future MOOCs, advocating for translating course content into different languages and building small online communities to meet learners’ needs and improve their learning experiences