13,297 research outputs found
Understanding Communication Patterns in MOOCs: Combining Data Mining and qualitative methods
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offer unprecedented opportunities to
learn at scale. Within a few years, the phenomenon of crowd-based learning has
gained enormous popularity with millions of learners across the globe
participating in courses ranging from Popular Music to Astrophysics. They have
captured the imaginations of many, attracting significant media attention -
with The New York Times naming 2012 "The Year of the MOOC." For those engaged
in learning analytics and educational data mining, MOOCs have provided an
exciting opportunity to develop innovative methodologies that harness big data
in education.Comment: Preprint of a chapter to appear in "Data Mining and Learning
Analytics: Applications in Educational Research
Recommended from our members
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
Discourse-centric learning analytics: mapping the terrain
There is an increasing interest in developing learning analytic techniques for the analysis, and support of, high quality learning discourse. This paper maps the terrain of discourse-centric learning analytics (DCLA), outlining the distinctive contribution of DCLA and outlining a definition for the field moving forwards. It is our claim that DCLA provide the opportunity to explore the ways in which: discourse of various forms both resources and evidences learning; the ways in which small and large groups, and individuals make and share meaning together through their language use; and the particular types of language – from discipline specific, to argumentative and socio-emotional – associated with positive learning outcomes. DCLA is thus not merely a computational aid to help detect or evidence ‘good’ and ‘bad’ performance (the focus of many kinds of analytic), but a tool to help investigate questions of interest to researchers, practitioners, and ultimately learners. The paper ends with three core issues for DCLA researchers – the challenge of context in relation to DCLA; the various systems required for DCLA to be effective; and the means through which DCLA might be delivered for maximum impact at the micro (e.g. learner), meso (e.g. school), and macro (e.g. governmental) levels
Control responsibility : the discursive construction of privacy, teens, and Facebook in Flemish newspapers
This study explores the discursive construction of online privacy through a critical discourse analysis of Flemish newspapers' coverage of privacy, teens, and Facebook between 2007 and 2018 to determine what representation of (young) users the papers articulate. A privacy-as-control discourse is dominant and complemented by two other discourses: that of the unconcerned and reckless teenager and that of the promise of media literacy. Combined, these discourses form an authoritative language on privacy that we call "control responsibility." Control responsibility presents privacy as an individual responsibility that can be controlled and needs to be learned by young users. We argue that the discourses contribute to a neoliberal rationality and have a disciplinary effect that strengthens various forms of responsibilization
Recommended from our members
Innovating Pedagogy 2015: Open University Innovation Report 4
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 fourth 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 Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. We proposed a long list of new educational terms, theories, and practices. We then pared these down to ten that have the potential to provoke major shifts in educational practice, particularly in post-school education. Lastly, we drew on published and unpublished writings to compile the ten sketches of new pedagogies that might transform education. These are summarised below in an approximate order of immediacy and timescale to widespread implementation
Enhancing Free-text Interactions in a Communication Skills Learning Environment
Learning environments frequently use gamification to enhance user interactions.Virtual characters with whom players engage in simulated conversations often employ prescripted dialogues; however, free user inputs enable deeper immersion and higher-order cognition. In our learning environment, experts developed a scripted scenario as a sequence of potential actions, and we explore possibilities for enhancing interactions by enabling users to type free inputs that are matched to the pre-scripted statements using Natural Language Processing techniques. In this paper, we introduce a clustering mechanism that provides recommendations for fine-tuning the pre-scripted answers in order to better match user inputs
- …