MOOClm: Learner Modelling for MOOCs

Massively Open Online Learning systems, or MOOCs, generate enormous quantities of learning data. Analysis of this data has considerable potential benefits for learners, educators, teaching administrators and educational researchers. How to realise this potential is still an open question. This thesis explores use of such data to create a rich Open Learner Model (OLM). The OLM is designed to take account of the restrictions and goals of lifelong learner model usage. Towards this end, we structure the learner model around a standard curriculum-based ontology. Since such a learner model may be very large, we integrate a visualisation based on a highly scalable circular treemap representation. The visualisation allows the student to either drill down further into increasingly detailed views of the learner model, or filter the model down to a smaller, selected subset. We introduce the notion of a set of Reference learner models, such as an ideal student, a typical student, or a selected set of learning objectives within the curriculum. Introducing these provides a foundation for a learner to make a meaningful evaluation of their own model by comparing against a reference model. To validate the work, we created MOOClm to implement this framework, then used this in the context of a Small Private Online Course (SPOC) run at the University of Sydney. We also report a qualitative usability study to gain insights into the ways a learner can make use of the OLM. Our contribution is the design and validation of MOOClm, a framework that harnesses MOOC data to create a learner model with an OLM interface for student and educator usage

A taxonomy for Massive Open Online Courses

Teaching and Teacher Learning (ICLON

A COMPARISON OF FIRST-SEMESTER ORGANIC CHEMISTRY STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES AND MASTERY OF CURVED-ARROW FORMALISM IN FACE-TO-FACE AND CYBER PEER-LED TEAM LEARNING

The cyber Peer-Led Team Learning (cPLTL) workshops are a synchronous online adaptation of the educational intervention PLTL, in which students, under the guidance of undergraduate peer facilitators, collaboratively solve problems in small groups. The purpose of this parallel convergent mixed methods study was to assess the impact of implementing cPLTL in an organic chemistry course on students’ workshop experiences, performance, and development of curved arrow formalism skills. Statistical analyses revealed comparable attendance rates, distribution of course grades, and achievement on American Chemical Society First-semester Organic Chemistry Exams. However, plotting workshop grades by AB, C, and DFW grade groupings revealed that PLTL students earned more successful grades than their cPLTL counterparts. Utilization of a new curved arrow formalism analytic framework for coding student interview artifacts revealed that cPLTL students were statistically less likely to successfully draw the product suggested by the curved arrows than their PLTL classmates. Both PLTL and cPLTL students exhibited a comparable incidence of relational to instrumental learning approaches. Similarly, both PLTL and cPLTL students were more likely to exhibit a common Scheme for Problem-Solving in Organic Chemistry (SPOC) than having dialogue that could be characterized by Toulmin’s Argumentation scheme. Lastly, implications for faculty are suggested, including: developing more explicit connections concept, mode, and reasoning components of understanding curved arrow formalism for organic chemistry students; optimizing graphical collaborative learning activities for online learners; and developing online students’ sense of community

Work-based Learning Through the Multidisciplinary Design of edX MOOCS for Latin America and the Caribbean

With the application of work-based learning theory and cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) via qualitative research methods, this study considered the reported learning experiences of a group of multidisciplinary practitioners who employed the edX platform in the delivery of massive open online courses (MOOC) for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This exploratory case study focused on a pioneering MOOC program, established in 2014 at the Hemispheric Development Fund (fictional organization name) for offering professional development opportunities to the LAC region. Using interviews, observation, and document analysis, it identified the kinds of knowledge, skills, or behaviors, as well as the multidisciplinary collaborations and organizational conditions that participants considered critical for the successful performance of their work activities. The study included 20 participants, divided evenly among 4 subject matter experts, 4 instructional designers, 4 media producers, 4 platform technicians, and 4 administrative assistants. The study was based on the premise that improving our understanding of the work activities and related learning experiences among participants may benefit the training of future practitioners and organizations interested in the multidisciplinary design of edX MOOCs for LAC and, thus, may contribute to the improved adoption of the edX MOOC platform for developing regions. Through the iterative modeling and analysis of activity systems, as well as illuminating the significant incidents and systemic tensions reported by participants as potential triggers for their learning, four key findings emerged: 1) The totality of participants described experiences of work-based learning as they engaged in activities of value production during the MOOC design cycle; 2) Developing practical knowledge in the preparation and administration of educational resources or learning activities, and mastering effective communication skills enabled participants to excel in the performance of their work activities; 3) The need for improving organizational processes was cited as the most essential contextual condition impacting participants’ work performance; and 4) A majority of participants expected future learning pressures at work in response to constant changes with the technological tools they employ for doing their jobs

A LEARNER INTERACTION STUDY OF DIFFERENT ACHIEVEMENT GROUPS IN MPOCS WITH LEARNING ANALYTICS TECHNIQUES

The purpose of this study was to conduct data-driven research by employing learning analytics methodology and Big Data in learning management systems (LMSs), and then to identify and compare learners’ interaction patterns in different achievement groups through different course processes in Massive Private Online Courses (MPOCs). Learner interaction is the foundation of a successful online learning experience. However, the uncertainties about the temporal and sequential patterns of online interaction and the lack of knowledge about using dynamic interaction traces in LMSs have prevented research on ways to improve interactive qualities and learning effectiveness in online learning. Also, most research focuses on the most popular online learning organization form, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and little online learning research has been conducted to investigate learners’ interaction behaviors in another important online learning organization form: MPOCs. To fill these needs, the study pays attention to investigate the frequent and effective interaction patterns in different achievement groups as well as in different course processes, and attaches importance to LMS trace data (log data) in better serving learners and instructors in online learning. Further, the learning analytics methodology and techniques are introduced here into online interaction research. I assume that learners with different achievements express different interaction characteristics. Therefore, the hypotheses in this study are: 1) the interaction activity patterns of the high-achievement group and the low-achievement group are different; 2) in both groups, interaction activity patterns evolve through different course processes (such as the learning process and the exam process). The final purpose is to find interaction activity patterns that characterize the different achievement groups in specific MPOCs courses. Some learning analytics approaches, including Hidden Markov models (HMMs) and other related measures, are taken into account to identify frequently occurring interaction activity sequence patterns of High/Low achievement groups in the Learning/Exam processes under MPOCs settings. The results demonstrate that High-achievement learners especially focused on content learning, assignments, and quizzes to consolidate their knowledge construction in both Learning and Exam processes, while Low-achievement learners significantly did not perform the same. Further, High-achievement learners adjusted their learning strategies based on the goals of different course processes; Low-achievement learners were inactive in the learning process and opportunistic in the exam process. In addition, despite achievements or course processes, all learners were most interested in checking their performance statements, but they engaged little in forum discussion and group learning. In sum, the comparative analysis implies that certain interaction patterns may distinguish the High-achievement learners from the Low-achievement ones, and learners change their patterns more or less based on different course processes. This study provides an attempt to conduct learner interaction research by employing learning analytics techniques. In the short term, the results will give in-depth knowledge of the dynamic interaction patterns of MPOCs learners. In the long term, the results will help learners to gain insight into and evaluate their learning, help instructors identify at-risk learners and adjust instructional strategies, help developers and administrators to build recommendation systems based on objective and comprehensive information, all of which in turn will help to improve the achievements of all learner groups in specific MPOC courses

MOOCKnowledge: Establishing a large-scale data-collection about participants of European Open Online Courses

While MOOCS have emerged as a new form of open online education around the world,there are still no cross- provider and large-scale data collections that provides reliable information about demographic details of the population of MOOC participants on the one hand, and their motivation, intentions, social context, lifelong learning profile and impact on study success and career development on the other hand. The MOOCKnowledge project is an initiative to establish a large-scale data-collection about participants of European MOOCs. In this paper we describe the motivation behind the project and discuss the research focus. We explain the structure of the survey instrument, report about the data collection process and provide an outlook on potential future developments of the project.JRC.J.3-Information Societ

The impact of emotions on student participation in an assessed, online, collaborative activity

There is growing recognition of the importance of emotions in academic online learning contexts. However, there is still little known about the role of emotions in social and collaborative online learning settings, especially the relationship between emotions and student participation. To explore this relationship, this study used a prospective longitudinal research design to follow 46 distance learning students throughout a 3-week assessed, online, collaborative activity. This approach allowed the fluctuating and dynamic aspects of emotions to be explored as well as the relationship between emotions and student participation in the collaborative activity. Self-report data were gathered using a semistructured online diary at five time points throughout the task (once at the start of the collaborative activity, three times during the activity, and the final entry after the activity had finished). Findings revealed that learners generally perceived pleasant emotions (such as relief, satisfaction and enjoyment) to have positive impacts, or no impact, on participation, whereas unpleasant emotions (such as anxiety, frustration, and disappointment) were generally perceived to have negative impacts, or no impact, on participation. Interestingly, however, anxiety, and to a smaller extent frustration, were perceived by a number of students to have positive impacts during the activity. To conclude this paper, implications for educators are highlighted

European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN). Conference Proceedings

Erasmus+ Programme of the European UnionThe powerful combination of the information age and the consequent disruption caused by these unstable environments provides the impetus to look afresh and identify new models and approaches for education (e.g. OERs, MOOCs, PLEs, Learning Analytics etc.). For learners this has taken a fantastic leap into aggregating, curating and co-curating and co-producing outside the boundaries of formal learning environments – the networked learner is sharing voluntarily and for free, spontaneously with billions of people.Supported by Erasmus+ Programme of the European Unioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The strategic role of MOOCs in education and its effects on the competitive recovery of Portugal

Competitiveness and competition are drivers that guide our society during this Era: competition between countries, competition between firms, competition at work to achieve promotions, competition for vacancies in the best universities, competition for the best partners and even the beginning of life starts with a competition. The main objective of this project is to study if MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses, an innovation in the education field brought us by technology) can help Portugal in its Competitive recovery. To achieve this goal it was important to study in depth the correlation between competitiveness and Education and if the Portuguese Language could have a leverage role. Primary research in form of a survey and in-depth interviews were made, adding to desk-based research of updating Porter’s study of Portuguese competitiveness to the days we live and other assessments such as how can MOOCs work and which business models can be effective. The intended results were to prove that MOOCs could have a strategic role on the economic recovery of the country. The main findings also concluded that the Portuguese language could leverage MOOCs into an exportation strategy of Portuguese educational contents.A Competitividade e a competição são fatores que marcam e guiam a sociedade da nossa Era: competição entre países, competição entre empresas, competição no trabalho para ser promovido, competição para as vagas nas melhores universidades, competição pelos melhores parceiros e até o início da vida tem origem numa competição. O principal objetivo deste projeto é estudar se os MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course, uma inovação no campo da educação proporcionada pela tecnologia) podem ajudar Portugal na sua recuperação ao nível da competitividade. Para atingir este objetivo é importante estudar em profundidade a correlação entre Competitividade e Educação e ainda e se a Língua Portuguesa poderá ter um papel de alavancagem. Um questionário e entrevistas em profundidade foram realizadas de forma a obter insights que pudessem permitir validar estas hipóteses, aos quais se soma a atualização do estudo de Michael Porter sobre a Competitividade Portuguesa para os dias de hoje entre outros estudos como por exemplo o modus operandi correto dos MOOCs em Portugal e que modelos negócios permitiriam a viabilidade destes. Os resultados pretendidos baseiam-se na prova de que os MOOCs podem ter um papel estratégico na recuperação económica do país. Outra conclusão a destacar é a importância que a Língua Portuguesa pode ter a alavancar os MOOCs para os países que falam Português e a abertura que isso pode dar para a exportação de conteúdos educativos em Língua Portuguesa