Recommendations on Formative Assessment and Feedback Practices for stronger engagement in MOOCs

Many publications and surveys refer to the high drop out rate in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) which is around 90%, especially if we compare the number of students who register against those who finish. Working towards improving student engagement in MOOCs, we focus on providing specific research-based recommendations on formative assessment and feedback practices that can advance student activity. In this respect, we analysed some significant research papers on formative assessment and feedback methods applicable to face-to-face teaching environments that advance student engagement, and concluded with related requirements and conditions that can be applied also to MOOCs. We also analysed 4050 comments and reviews of the seven most active and highly rated MOOCs (6 Coursera ones and 1 from EdX) provided by the students who have mainly completed those courses via CourseTalk. Based on this content analysis, we have formulated fourteen recommendations that support also the requirements/conditions of our conceptual and theoretical framework analysis. The results obtained give some light in a rather unexplored research area, which is the research on formative assessment and feedback practices specifically for stronger engagement in MOOCs

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

Impact of feedback in students' engagement: The case of MOOCs

Our results provided insights, first of all, on how student engagement can be measured in MOOCs and also which feedback factors affect student engagement, for instance: the existence and type of assessment; the actors responsible for assessing students' work or providing feedback; the feedback mode; the feedback content; how the feedback is provided; the feedback focus when the feedback is provided; the interaction type; the number of peer reviews per assignment; how many times the student reads the feedback provided fully; the assessment impact; and, the feedback length. Most of those factors affected positively and some negatively student engagement in MOOCs. Second, based on the previous analysis, we specified those good practices that support student engagement and influence it positively. Considering also the changes in education that COVID-19 caused, such as the significant transition to online education due to lockdowns and isolations, these research findings are of paramount importance since they provide new knowledge on how to increase student engagement in MOOCs and, to an extent, in online education.Los resultados de esta investigación permiten, por un lado, definir una operativización de implicación de los estudiantes en los MOOC y también permiten identificar qué factores de feedback influyen en esta implicación de los estudiantes, tales como: la existencia y tipo de evaluaciones; los actores responsables de evaluar el trabajo de los estudiantes o de proporcionar feedback; el modo de feedback; el contenido del mismo; cómo se proporciona el feedback; el enfoque del feedback; el tipo de interacción; el número de revisiones por pares que se llevan a cabo para cada tarea; cuántas veces el estudiante lee de forma completa el feedback que recibe; el impacto de la evaluación, y la longitud del feedback. La mayoría de estos factores afectan positivamente (y algunos negativamente) a la implicación de los estudiantes en los MOOC. Por otra parte, el segundo resultado más importante de la investigación, partiendo del análisis anterior, es la especificación de aquellas buenas prácticas que dan soporte a la implicación de los estudiantes y la influenciaron positivamente. Finalmente, teniendo en cuenta también los cambios en la educación que está causando la pandemia COVID-19, como es la transición significativa a la educación en línea, hay que destacar que las contribuciones de esta tesis doctoral son de suma importancia, ya que brindan nuevos conocimientos sobre cómo aumentar la participación o implicación de los estudiantes en los MOOC y, en cierta medida, en la educación en línea.Els resultats obtinguts apunten, d'una banda, a una operativització de la implicació dels estudiants en els MOOC i també permeten identificar quins factors de feedback afecten la implicació dels estudiants. Són factors com ara: l'existència i el tipus d'avaluacions; els actors responsables d'avaluar el treball de l'estudiant o de proporcionar comentaris; el mode de feedback; el contingut del feedback; com es proporcionen els comentaris; el focus del feedback; el tipus d'interacció; el nombre de peer-review per tasca; quantes vegades l'estudiant ha llegit totalment els comentaris proporcionats; l'avaluació de l'impacte, i la longitud dels comentaris. La majoria d'aquests factors van afectar positivament (i alguns negativament) la implicació dels estudiants amb els MOOC. D'una altra banda, i és el segon resultat important d'aquesta tesi doctoral, basant-nos en l'anàlisi anterior, s'han especificat les bones pràctiques que donen suport a la implicació dels estudiants i hi influeixen positivament. Finalment, tenint en compte també els canvis en l'educació que està causant la COVID-19, com ara una transició significativa a l'educació en línia, les conclusions de la present tesi doctoral són de gran importància, ja que proporcionen nous coneixements sobre com augmentar la participació o implicació dels estudiants en els MOOC i, fins a un cert punt, en l'educació en línia.E-learnin

Recommendations on Formative Assessment and Feedback Practices for stronger engagement in MOOCs

Many publications and surveys refer to the high drop out rate in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) which is around 90%, especially if we compare the number of students who register against those who finish. Working towards improving student engagement in MOOCs, we focus on providing specific research-based recommendations on formative assessment and feedback practices that can advance student activity. In this respect, we analysed some significant research papers on formative assessment and feedback methods applicable to face-to-face teaching environments that advance student engagement, and concluded with related requirements and conditions that can be applied also to MOOCs. We also analysed 4050 comments and reviews of the seven most active and highly rated MOOCs (6 Coursera ones and 1 from EdX) provided by the students who have mainly completed those courses via CourseTalk. Based on this content analysis, we have formulated fourteen recommendations that support also the requirements/conditions of our conceptual and theoretical framework analysis. The results obtained give some light in a rather unexplored research area, which is the research on formative assessment and feedback practices specifically for stronger engagement in MOOCs