scholarly journals An Analysis of Course Characteristics, Learner Characteristics, and Certification Rates in MITx MOOCs

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Berkan Celik ◽  
Kursat Cagiltay ◽  
Nergiz Ercil Cagiltay
Keyword(s):  
Online Courses ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology ◽  
Learner Characteristics ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Course Characteristics ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
Content Design

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), capable of providing free (or low cost) courses for millions of learners anytime and anywhere, have gained the attention of researchers, educational institutions, and learners worldwide. Even though they provide several benefits, there are still some criticisms of MOOCs. For instance, MOOCs’ high dropout rates or predominantly elite participation are considered to be important problems. In order to develop solutions for these problems, a deeper understanding of MOOCs is required. Today, despite the availability of several research studies about MOOCs, there is a shortage of in-depth research on course characteristics, learner characteristics, and predictors of certification rates. This study examined MOOC and learner characteristics in detail and explored the predictors of course certification rates based on data from 122 Massachusetts Institute of Technology MOOCs (MITx) on edX platform as well as data about the 2.8 million participants registered in these MOOCs. The results indicated that as the number of courses offered and the number of learners enrolled increased in years, there was a decrease in the certification rates among enrolled learners. According to our results, the number of average chapters completed, total forum messages, and mean age predicted course certification rates positively. On the other hand, the total number of chapters in a course predicted the course certification rates negatively. Based on these results, shorter and more interactive MOOCs are recommended by considering the needs of the learners, course content design, and strategies encouraging the enrolled students to enter the courses.

The MOOCs

2015 ◽  
pp. 228-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. LeCounte ◽  
Detra Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
Technological Platform

In this chapter, the authors present the rapid rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) derived from a yearning to create and make widely available materials and conditions for participatory learning and creative space dedicated to the open education. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) were developed to provide open, meaning unrestricted, online courses without higher education cost constraints to students. This new technological platform was embraced, developed, and offered by some of the country's leading universities and institutions including Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Students may collaborate through strategic social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Further, according to LeCounte et al. (2014), the social media partnerships have been found to offer competitive advantages in terms of low cost and tremendous visibility to both corporations and institutions of higher learning.

The MOOCs

2016 ◽  
pp. 1829-1848
Author(s):  
John F. LeCounte ◽  
Detra Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
Technological Platform

In this chapter, the authors present the rapid rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) derived from a yearning to create and make widely available materials and conditions for participatory learning and creative space dedicated to the open education. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) were developed to provide open, meaning unrestricted, online courses without higher education cost constraints to students. This new technological platform was embraced, developed, and offered by some of the country's leading universities and institutions including Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Students may collaborate through strategic social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Further, according to LeCounte et al. (2014), the social media partnerships have been found to offer competitive advantages in terms of low cost and tremendous visibility to both corporations and institutions of higher learning.

The MOOCs

2016 ◽  
pp. 2105-2125 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. LeCounte ◽  
Detra Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
Technological Platform

In this chapter, the authors present the rapid rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) derived from a yearning to create and make widely available materials and conditions for participatory learning and creative space dedicated to the open education. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) were developed to provide open, meaning unrestricted, online courses without higher education cost constraints to students. This new technological platform was embraced, developed, and offered by some of the country's leading universities and institutions including Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Students may collaborate through strategic social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Further, according to LeCounte et al. (2014), the social media partnerships have been found to offer competitive advantages in terms of low cost and tremendous visibility to both corporations and institutions of higher learning.

scholarly journals Massive Open Online Course

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Silari
Keyword(s):  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Massachusetts Institute ◽  
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Massive Open Online Course ◽  
Institute Of Technology

La cosiddetta ‘rivoluzione digitale’ e le trasformazioni economiche e sociali degli ultimi decenni hanno coinvolto anche la formazione universitaria, imponendo un adeguamento di alcuni aspetti della didattica tradizionale in presenza, ma anche l’avvio di vari progetti di didattica online. Un aspetto recente di questo processo, avviato da istituzioni universitarie nordamericane, come ad esempio Stanford, Harvard e Massachusetts Institute of Technology, è rappresentato dall’offerta a livello mondiale dei Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), che non hanno limiti nel numero dei partecipanti e non prevedono l’iscrizione vincolante e onerosa. Lo studio esamina, utilizzando la letteratura internazionale sull’argomento, le origini e l’evoluzione di questo nuovo sistema di fare didattica universitaria.

Education and the Relation to the Outside: A Little Real Reality

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Savat ◽  
Greg Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Transformative Teaching ◽  
Control Society ◽  
Brave New World ◽  
Radical Transformation

One of the more dominant themes around the use of Deleuze and Guattari's work, including in this special issue, is a focus on the radical transformation that educational institutions are undergoing, and which applies to administrator, student and educator alike. This is a transformation that finds its expression through teaching analytics, transformative teaching, massive open online courses (MOOCs) and updateable performance metrics alike. These techniques and practices, as an expression of control society, constitute the new sorts of machines that frame and inhabit our educational institutions. As Deleuze and Guattari's work posits, on some level these are precisely the machines that many people in their day-to-day work as educators, students and administrators assemble and maintain, that is, desire. The meta-model of schizoanalysis is ideally placed to analyse this profound shift that is occurring in society, felt closely in the so-called knowledge sector where a brave new world of continuous education and motivation is instituting itself.

EXPRESS: Effects of Payment on User Engagement in Online Courses

2021 ◽  
pp. 002224372110163
Author(s):  
Ali Goli ◽  
Pradeep K. Chintagunta ◽  
S. Sriram
Keyword(s):  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
User Engagement ◽  
Sunk Cost ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Sunk Cost Effect ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Cost Effect

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have the potential to democratize education by improving access. Although retention and completion rates for non-paying users have not been promising, these statistics are much brighter for users who pay to receive a certificate upon completing the course. We investigate whether paying for the certificate option can increase engagement with course content. In particular, we consider two such effects: (a) the certificate effect, which is the boost in motivation to stay engaged in order to receive the certificate; and (b) the sunk-cost effect, which arises solely because the user paid for the course. We use data from over 70 courses offered on the Coursera platform and study the engagement of individual participants at different milestones within each course. The panel nature of the data enables us to include controls for intrinsic differences between non-paying and paying users in terms of their desire to stay engaged. We find evidence that the certificate and sunk-cost effects increase user engagement by approximately 8%-9%, and 17%-20%, respectively. However, whereas the sunk-cost effect is transient and lasts only for a few weeks after payment, the certificate effect lasts until the participant reaches the grade required to be eligible to receive the certificate. We discuss the implications of our findings for how platforms and content creators may want to design course milestones and schedule the payment of course fees. Given that greater engagement tends to improve learning outcomes, our study serves as an important first step in understanding the role of prices and payment in enabling MOOCs to realize their full potential.

scholarly journals Institutional Collaboration on MOOCs in Education—A Literature Review

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Mette Nortvig ◽  
René B Christiansen
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Passive Resistance ◽  
Institutional Collaboration ◽  
The Us ◽  
E Learning ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Learning

<p class="3">This literature review seeks to outline the state of the art regarding collaboration between educational institutions on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) launched in Europe and in the US for the past 10 years. The review explores enablers and barriers that influence national institutional MOOC collaboration, and looks into how existing knowledge about institutional collaboration on e-learning can be used in MOOC collaboration. The review is based on a literature search in databases and on snowballing techniques. It concludes that collaboration on MOOCs can be advantageous in terms of ensuring quality and innovation in the common learning designs, and that—in order to succeed—such projects need strategic and institutional support from all partners involved. Moreover, the review points out barriers concerning the reluctance of individual institutions to engage in national collaboration due to fear of potential loss of their own national branding and the teachers’ hesitancy or passive resistance to new educational platforms and formats.</p>

scholarly journals Design and Implementation of an IDE for Learning Programming Languages Using a Gamification Service

2017 ◽  
pp. 295-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Carlos Paiva ◽  
José Paulo Leal ◽  
Ricardo Alexandre Peixoto de Queirós
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Development Environment ◽  
Integrated Development ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Single Sign On ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Architecture And Design ◽  
Learning Programming

This chapter presents the architecture and design of Enki, an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for learning programming languages on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). This environment can be used as a tool by a Learning Management System (LMS) and a typical LMS such as Moodle can launch it using the Learning Tool Interoperability (LTI) API. Student authentication tokens are passed via LTI, thus integrating Enki in the single sign-on domain of the academic institution. The proposed tool has a web user interface similar to those of reference IDEs, where the learner has access to different integrated tools, from viewing tutorial videos, to solving programming exercises that are automatically evaluated. Enki uses several gamification strategies to engage learners, including generic gamifications services provided by Odin and the sequencing of educational resources. The course content (videos, PDFs, programming exercises) is progressively disclosed to the learner as he successfully completes exercises. This is similar to what happens in a game, where new levels are unlocked as the previous are completed, thus contributing to the sense of achievement.

scholarly journals The MOOC Revolution – massive open online courses: the answer to problems facing education or an experiment that could destroy centuries of tradition.

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharine Jewitt
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Technology Enhanced Learning ◽  
Traditional Teaching ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Traditional Teaching Methods ◽  
Cautionary Tales ◽  
Enhanced Learning

Given the emerging nature of massive open online courses (MOOCs), this paper is a synthesis of critical reflections, commentaries and cautionary tales from a variety of perspectives, looking at the issues facing education and considering whether traditional teaching methods have outlived their usefulness.In times where educational institutions are facing financial cuts and student debt increases, some argue free university online courses will be the saviour of education, (Koller et al, 2013). Others argue they could destroy centuries of tradition and threaten some of the world's greatest universities (Vardi 2012).This paper, builds on the research by examining some of the phenomenal changes to technology enhanced learning, being brought about by new technologies and business. It summarises some of the key discourses around MOOCs, which continue to generate heated debates and divide opinions about their credibility, value and importance. I argue that any form of technology that drives engaging and tailored education, precisely to the needs of the individuals, coupled with opening up education to those that cannot afford it, has to be a viable alternative and make traditional, academic institutions question their offerings and respond.  

Survey of Vulnerabilities and Mitigation Techniques for Mooc-Based Applications

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossain Shahriar ◽  
Hisham M. Haddad ◽  
David Lebron ◽  
Rubana Lupu
Keyword(s):  
Open Source Software ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Software Security ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Security Vulnerabilities ◽  
Cloud Environments ◽  
Mitigation Techniques

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are commonly hosted as web servers for learners worldwide to access education and learning materials at low cost. Many of the well-known MOOCs have adopted open source software and database technologies and frequently operate within cloud environments. It is likely that the well-known software security vulnerabilities may manifest to MOOC-based applications. Unfortunately, few studies have identified a set of common vulnerabilities applicable to MOOC-based applications. This paper1 presents an exploratory study of potential security vulnerabilities and challenges for MOOC platforms, and it provide some guidelines and suggestions to mitigate these concerns. This study helps practitioners (educators and developers) to adopt MOOC applications while considering potential vulnerabilities and be prepared to deal with these risks.

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