An Analysis of Participants’ Experiences fromthe First International MOOC Offered at the University of Oslo

Abstract

This paper explores pedagogical practices and participants' engagement in learning activities during the first international Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) offered by the University of Oslo through the FutureLearn platform in 2015. The data were collected using pre-and post-course surveys and participant observations. We used the acquisition and participation metaphors of learning proposed by Sfard (1998) as a conceptual framework to inform our analyses and discussions. The data indicated that new pedagogical practices are in the making for online learning, involving elements of existing practices and radically new ones. The instructors had sole authority in developing and curating course contents, thus following the acquisition metaphor of teaching and learning. In addition, the data indicated that, overall, the learners had a positive experience of learning by participating in the MOOC. The learners engaged in online discussion forums, interacting asynchronously with fellow learners and mentors. The discussion forums promoted knowledge sharing and collaborative learning activities among diverse groups (joiners, surveyors, and social learners). The apparent contradiction between teaching according to the acquisition metaphor and the learners' preferences for the participation metaphor was resolved by some of the learners through self-organised scaffolding. The teachers did not interact enough with the learners and so, to compensate, some learners took on facilitating roles. We discuss our findings in terms of the related work and contemporary trends in online learning and higher education research, including learning analytics, formative assessment, personalization, collaboration support, and lifelong learning.

Use of videos in the Information and Communication Technology Massive Open Online Course: Insights for learning and development of transformative digital agency with pre- and in-service teachers in Norway

“…Kim et al (2014) identified five student interaction patterns with videos: starting from the beginning of new material; returning to missed content; following a tutorial step; replaying a brief segment; and repeating a non-visual explanation. Videos can also provide a valuable context for learning and generate a common experience for students to discuss and reflect on concepts and ideas, as in anchored instruction (Bonk, 2011;Langset et al, 2018;Sherer and Shea, 2011;Singh and Mørch, 2018). By generating a common experience for learners, videos can enhance students' engagement in collaborative activities and promote different learning styles (Calandra et al, 2006;Goulah, 2007;Greenberg and Zanetis, 2012;Pea and Lindgren, 2008;Zhang et al, 2006).…”

“…The ICTMOOC has the structure of an xMOOC, it is built in the Canvas platform and is aimed to enhance the development of digital skills with pre-and in-service teachers. Researchers define xMOOCs as courses that are institutionally focused, reliant on video lectures and provide automated assessment through quizzes (Bayne and Ross, 2014;Singh and Mørch, 2018), and all of these elements are present in the ICTMOOC. The ICTMOOC consists of 10 modules to be completed by the participants progressively over the course of 10 weeks.…”

“…On the one hand, MOOCs may also offer the possibility for innovative instructional designs to support self-regulated learning and enhance participants' agentic capacity to learn (Bartolom e-Pina and Steffens, 2015). On the other hand, MOOCs are characterised by high dropout and low completion rates (Kennedy, 2014;Singh and Mørch, 2018). It has been argued that effective MOOC design is a key factor in combating these challenges (Conole, 2015), and videos have become a central element in the design of MOOCs and online courses (Bonafini et al, 2017;Evans et al, 2016;Guo et al, 2014;Hew, 2016;Reutemann, 2016;Rose, 2009).…”

A Model and Tool to Support Pedagogical Scenario Building for Connectivist MOOC

“…La première catégorie est d'ordre théorique, elle vise à cerner les causes du manque de motivations (Alario-Hoyos et al, 2017 ;Bakki et al, 2015 ;Hew & Cheung, 2014a ;Howarth et al, 2016 ;Watted & Barak, 2018 ;Zheng et al, 2016) et d'engagement des apprenants dans ces environnements (Bonafini et al, 2017 ;Milligan et al, 2013 ;Singh & Mørch, 2018).…”

Is there a Scandinavian model for MOOCs?

“…Other papers addressed users' perspectives. For example, Singh and Mørch (2018) shed light on participants' experiences and pedagogical design, whereas Jacobsen (2019) explored participants' motivations and learning strategies. Three papers addressed the role of MOOCs from organisational perspectives, including how they might act as strategic means for continuing professional education purposes (Koch, 2017;Langseth et al, 2018Langseth et al, , 2019Haugsbakken et al, 2019;Tømte, 2019) and how the conceptualisations of MOOCs as educational offerings challenge existing organisational structures (Tømte, 2019).…”