Personalisation in MOOCs: a critical literature review

The advent and rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have brought many issues to the area of educational technology. Researchers in the field have been addressing these issues such as pedagogical quality of MOOCs, high attrition rates, and sustainability of MOOCs. However, MOOCs personalisation has not been subject of the wide discussions around MOOCs. This paper presents a critical literature survey and analysis of the available literature on personalisation in MOOCs to identify the needs, the current states and efforts to personalise learning in MOOCs. The findings illustrate that there is a growing attention to personalisation to improve learners’ individual learning experiences in MOOCs. In order to implement personalised services, personalised learning path, personalised assessment and feedback, personalised forum thread and recommendation service for related learning materials or learning tasks are commonly applied

Variations in Pedagogical Design of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) Across Disciplines

Given that few studies have formally examined pedagogical design considerations of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs), this study explored variations in the pedagogical design of six MOOCs offered at the University of Toronto, while considering disciplinary characteristics and expectations of each MOOC. Using a framework (Neumann et al., 2002) characterizing teaching and learning across categories of disciplines, three of the MOOCs represented social sciences and humanities, or “soft” MOOCs, while another three represented sciences, or “hard” MOOCS. We utilized a multicase study design for understanding differences and similarities across MOOCs regarding learning outcomes, assessment methods, interaction design, and curricular content. MOOC instructor interviews, MOOC curricular documents, and discussion forum data comprised the data set. Learning outcomes of the six MOOCs reflected broad cognitive competencies promoted in each MOOC, with the structure of curricular content following disciplinary expectations. The instructors of soft MOOCs adopted a spiral curriculum and created new content in response to learner contributions. Assessment methods in each MOOC aligned well with stated learning outcomes. In soft MOOCs, discussion and exposure to diverse perspectives were promoted while in hard MOOCs there was more emphasis on question and answer. This study shows disciplinary-informed variations in MOOC pedagogy, and highlights instructors’ strategies to foster disciplinary ways of knowing, skills, and practices within the parameters of a generic MOOC platform. Pedagogical approaches such as peer assessment bridged the disciplines. Suggestions for advancing research and practice related to MOOC pedagogy are also included

Referencial para o design de MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) na formação contínua de professores no contexto português

A presente investigação enquadra-se se na área de educação no domínio de especialidade das tecnologias de informação e comunicação na educação, tendo por objetivo o desenvolvimento de um framework conceptual para o design de MOOC, no âmbito da formação contínua de professores em Portugal. O estudo assentou no paradigma pragmático, de natureza descritiva e adotou duas abordagens metodológicas mistas – estratégia exploratória sequencial e estratégia de triangulação concomitante. O processo de recolha de dados foi organizado em duas fases, através da (i) realização da abordagem scoping literature review com nove entrevistas semiestruturadas a um conjunto de stakeholders com envolvimento no processo da formação contínua de professores nacional e (ii) aplicação de um questionário online a 103 formadores dos Centros de Formação de Associação de Escolas de Portugal Continental e das Associações de Professores e a realização de duas entrevistas focus group com sete especialistas com experiência enquanto professores, formadores e participantes em MOOC. A primeira fase de recolha e análise de dados qualitativa, permitiu identificar e agrupar (sub)dimensões e, consequentemente, constituir o framework. Na segunda fase de recolha e análise de dados, de natureza quantitativa e qualitativa, procedeu-se à validação do mesmo. Os resultados delinearam a versão final do framework para o design de MOOC para a formação contínua de professores, sendo este composto por três dimensões e 10 subdimensões. Por último, procurou-se igualmente produzir princípios e orientações para a utilização do documento como um instrumento orientador no processo de construção e desenvolvimento de cursos massivos de acesso aberto.This investigation is inserted in the domain of information and communication technologies in education, whose objective is to develop a conceptual framework for the design of MOOCs, within the scope of the continuous teachers training in Portugal. The study was based on a pragmatic paradigm of descriptive nature and adopted two mixed methodological approaches: sequential exploratory strategy and concomitant triangulation strategy. The data collection process was divided in two phases: (i) the scoping literature review approach with nine semi-structured interviews with stakeholders involved in the process of continuous teacher training and (ii) an online questionnaire to 103 trainers of the Centros de Formação de Associação de Escolas of Portugal Mainland and Associações de Professores and also two focus group with seven experts in the area of MOOC (as teachers, trainers and/or participants). The first phase of collecting and analyzing qualitative data allowed us to identify and group (sub)dimensions and, consequently, build the framework. The second phase of data collection and analysis of a quantitative and qualitative nature allowed us to validate the proposed framework. The results from this research outlined the final version of the framework for the MOOCs design used for the continuous teachers training in Portugal, which can be divided in three dimensions and 10 sub-dimensions. Finally, we aimed to develop principles and guidelines that can be used as a guiding instrument in the building and development process of massive open online courses

Exploring grade 9 teachers’ experiences of enacting financial literacy/accounting in the Zululand district.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The South African schooling system places more emphasis on teaching and learning of financial literacy which is directed at producing good quality learners who will pursue accounting as a subject in Grade 10, and increase the number of accountants in South Africa. However, very little increase in learner performance has been recorded and registered in the education system, despite many intervention strategies implemented to improve teaching, learning, and learner performance in financial literacy in Grade 9. Literature suggests that teaching and learning in any subject are influenced by the ways the curriculum is enacted, together with the teachers’ experiences, pedagogical knowledge, technological knowledge, content knowledge, and curriculum restructuring that happens without necessary preparation and availability of resources. Therefore, this dissertation presents the qualitative case study of six teachers from a diverse set-up of schools. This study was conducted with the main purpose of exploring the Grade 9 teachers’ experiences of enacting financial literacy/accounting in secondary schools in the Zululand District. The study utilised the qualitative case-study design established within the interpretivist paradigm. As a result, reflective activity, one-on-one semi-structured interviews, and focus groups were used to generate data in order to ensure the process of triangulation during the exploration of teachers’ experiences. The non-probability sampling methods, including purposive and convenience samplings, were used in choosing the specific kind of accounting and economic and management sciences teachers who have more than three years of teaching Grade 9 learners. This is because I needed teachers with in-depth knowledge of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) and accounting, and who were also accessible. The research questions guided the study to review the relevant literature on teachers’ experiences based on three spheres, namely, common, proficient, and subjective experiences. Consequently, this study adopted technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK). It was then contextualised into experiences, which then yielded to the discovery of the new theory termed Common Subjective Proficient Experiences (CASPE) which emerged from this study. Issues of dependability, confirmability, credibility, and transferability were implemented in this study in order to ensure trustworthiness. Further to this, ethical issues were also considered such as consent letters, anonymity, withdrawals, beneficence, and others. The findings revealed that there is a lack of teacher content knowledge, technological knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. As a result, teachers are not aware that these aforementioned areas are under the proficient, common, and subjective experiences that they should always be taking into consideration if they want to improve learner performance in financial literacy/accounting. The results revealed that teachers had an understanding that learners lack interest in the financial literacy/accounting such that there are few learners pursuing accounting in Grade 10 and even those who continue with the subject do not perform well in Grade 12. As a result, a number of schools in Zululand District have removed accounting from Grade 10 to 12 and replaced it with subjects such as tourism, dramatic arts, geography, and others. The study further highlighted the influence of teachers’ experiences on teaching and learning and learner performance as a result thereof. In this study, I argue that there are various contributing factors that influence teaching, learning, and teaching practices which should be adhered to in order to improve learner performance. These factors include goals, content knowledge, time, activities, teaching and learning resources; the context and the roles teachers have to play when teaching financial literacy/accounting in secondary schools. Thus, taking into cognisance teachers’ experiences, teachers’ knowledge, technological knowledge, teachers’ professionalism and school context are paramount in order to improve teaching and learning and to produce quality results and improved learner performance in schools. In short, transposing all the various kinds of experiences (common, subjective and proficient) in the process of teaching and learning accurately provide flair to the interconnectedness of experiences that should always balance out and suppress the dominance of one experience over the other