Moving Through MOOCS: Pedagogy, Learning Design and Patterns of Engagement

Abstract

Abstract. Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are part of the lifelong learning experience of people worldwide. Many of these learners participate fully. However, the high levels of dropout on most of these courses are a cause for concern. Previous studies have suggested that there are patterns of engagement within MOOCs that vary according to the pedagogy employed. The current paper builds on this work and examines MOOCs from different providers that have been offered on the FutureLearn platform. A cluster analysis of these MOOCs shows that engagement patterns are related to pedagogy and course duration. Learners did not work through a three-week MOOC in the same ways that learners work through the first three weeks of an eight-week MOOC.

Predicting the decrease of engagement indicators in a MOOC

“…The study of the academic engagement of students in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has already been tackled from different perspectives in the literature [1,2,6,7,14,17,18]. With this aim, various engagement indicators that describe different observable behaviors of MOOC students were employed.…”

“…The analyses of the evolution of engagement indicators along the course has revealed the existence of different patterns of engagement among MOOC students [6,7,14,17,18]. For example, the learners that follow the so called "completing" or "all-rounders" pattern [2,6,7,14] have high values in the assignment engagement indicators along the course, while those belonging to the "auditing" or "viewers" group [2,14] show low values in assignment engagement indicators and high ones in video engagement indicators along the course.…”

“…For example, the learners that follow the so called "completing" or "all-rounders" pattern [2,6,7,14] have high values in the assignment engagement indicators along the course, while those belonging to the "auditing" or "viewers" group [2,14] show low values in assignment engagement indicators and high ones in video engagement indicators along the course. Interestingly, [14] discovered that the participants of these two groups reported similarly high levels of satisfaction with their overall experience in the course, which suggests the existence of different ways in which a MOOC can fulfill learner needs.…”

“…Another important finding is that the values of engagement indicators of many MOOC students decay over time often leading to dropping out [1,6,7,14,17,18]. As a consequence, the educational impact that the MOOC has in these disengaging learners is reduced, even if they do not eventually drop out.…”

Técnicas y metodologías para el aprendizaje cooperativo y ubicuo en la construcción de comunidades virtuales mediante MOOC

“… Participantes activos: estudiantes que participan totalmente en el curso interactuando en los foros, realizando la mayoría de tareas o cuestionarios y participando en la evaluación. Existen otras clasificaciones como por ejemplo la que plantea Ferguson et al (2015) basada en los MOOC de la plataforma FutureLearn con 7 patrones básicos y otros intermedios combinación de éstos, pero es difícilmente extrapolable a otros MOOC, hacienda referencia a aspectos muy específicos del estudio concreto.…”