scholarly journals Are There Metrics for MOOCS From Social Media?

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Ruby ◽  
Laura Perna ◽  
Robert Boruch ◽  
Nicole Wang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Instructional Delivery ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Opportunities For Learning ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The University

Since “the year of the MOOC” in 2012, the effectiveness of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has been widely debated. Some argue that MOOCs are not an effective mode of instructional delivery because of low completion rates. In the interest of developing alternative indicators of performance this study draws from recent efforts to measure engagement in social media, as well as from research on indicators of student engagement in traditional college courses. Using data from 16 Coursera MOOCs offered by the University of Pennsylvania we calculate standardized access rates for lectures and assessments. While these indicators have clear limitations as measures of educational progress they offer a different, more nuanced understanding of the level and nature of users’ engagement with a MOOC. This paper shows that a very small share of users takes up available opportunities to access course content but notes that the standardized access rates compare favorably with those for social media sites and with response rates to large-scale direct mail marketing programs. For MOOC providers and platform managers, indicators like the ones developed in this study may be a useful first step in monitoring the extent to which different types and combinations of activities may be providing better opportunities for learning.

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.

scholarly journals THE ILLINOIS ONLINE NETWORK IS MAKING THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM A REALITY: STUDY OF AN EXEMPLARY FACULTY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Virgil E. Varvel ◽  
Michael Lindeman ◽  
Iris K. Stovall
Keyword(s):  
Faculty Development ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Faculty Development Program ◽  
Teaching Online ◽  
Faculty Teaching ◽  
Online Format ◽  
The University

The Illinois Online Network (ION) is a faculty development partnership between all forty-eight community colleges in the state of Illinois and the University of Illinois. The goals of the ION program are to help faculty to develop and deliver courses in a completely online format, and also to produce online courses that incorporate best practices for engaging students in discussion and critical thinking. ION accomplishes its goals with a variety of programs, such as the Making the Virtual Classroom a Reality series of online faculty development courses. Evaluation surveys indicate that ION activities have had an impact on the satisfaction and confidence of faculty teaching online courses. This paper examines the programs and resources that ION provides, the effectiveness of the program as a whole, and the lessons ION has learned about providing a large-scale faculty development program.

scholarly journals Beyond Reviewing

2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muchazondida Mkono ◽  
John Tribe
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
User Experience ◽  
User Interactions ◽  
Social Critic ◽  
Media Space ◽  
The Media ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Tourism And Hospitality ◽  
And Behavior

Existing research on tourism social media users rarely extends beyond their role as appraisers of tourism and hospitality products. Such research fails to identify the different modes of experience and behavior that these users assume in their cyberspace interactions. This article demonstrates that user interactions entail much more than evaluating products. Using data from TripAdvisor, it identifies five additional user roles that define their experience and comportment online: troll, activist, social critic, information seeker, and socialite. Adopting a netnographic approach, these categories are interrogated to provide a more nuanced understanding of the online user experience in tourism social media space. Further, for each role, we glean the implicit uses and gratifications users seek from using the media. It is argued that the combined enactment of these roles creates a rich repository of experiential narratives that tourism businesses and destination managers can tap into for insights into the modern tourism consumer.

scholarly journals A comparison of learner intent and behaviour in live and archived MOOCs

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Campbell ◽  
Alison L Gibbs ◽  
Hedieh Najafi ◽  
Cody Severinski
Keyword(s):  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
High Demand ◽  
Course Materials ◽  
Patterns Of Use ◽  
Opportunities For Learning ◽  
Self Study ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Learner Activity

The advent of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has created opportunities for learning that are clearly in high demand, but the direction in which MOOCs should evolve to best meet the interests and needs of learners is less apparent. Motivated by our interest in whether there are potential and purpose for archived MOOCs to be used as learning resources beyond and between instructor-led live-sessions, we examined the use of a statistics MOOC and a computer science MOOC, both of which were made available as archived-courses after a live-session and for which enrolment continued to grow while archived. Using data collected from surveys of learner demographics and intent, the course database of major learner activity, and the detailed clickstream of all learner actions, we compared the demographics, intent, and behaviour of live- and archived-learners. We found that archived-learners were interested in the live-MOOC and that their patterns of use of course materials, such as the number and sequence of videos they watched, the number of assessments they completed, their demonstration of self-regulatory behaviour, and their rate of participation in the discussion forums, were similar to the live-learners. In addition, we found evidence of learners drawing on an archived-MOOC for use as reference material. Anticipated areas of impact of this work include implications for the future development of MOOCs as resources for self-study and professional development, and in support of learner success in other courses.

scholarly journals An Analysis of the Profiles and the Opinion of Students Enrolled on xMOOCs at the University of Málaga

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 6910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julio Ruiz-Palmero ◽  
Daniel López-Álvarez ◽  
Enrique Sánchez-Rivas ◽  
José Sánchez-Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Level Of Satisfaction ◽  
The Subject ◽  
High Level ◽  
The University

The study aims to learn more about the profiles of students who attended several Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) at the University of Málaga (Málaga, Spain) and their opinion about them. The results of this study are based on a survey conducted by the students who completed the courses. The number of men and women as a whole is similar, although significant differences can be observed depending on the subject matter of the courses, which is also the case with the age of the students. The data revealed that 80% have university studies and 60% were working. The students in the sample learned about MOOCs mainly from other people (friends, social media, etc.) and showed a high level of satisfaction with them. It is significant that 99.4% would take another MOOC or that 97.9% would recommend it to a friend, colleague, or family member.

scholarly journals Social media and the cordon sanitaire

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 510-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Littler ◽  
Matthew Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Content Sharing ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Cordon Sanitaire ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Much research has sought to map the spread of extreme and populist political ideologies across Western Europe. Despite this, it often fails to explain how these ideologies move from the political fringes to positions of influence, subverting the traditional cordon sanitaire around extreme views. As a result of recent successes by populist actors, a more nuanced understanding of this process is required. This paper posits an explanation for this success, suggesting that the growing pluralisation of the online media environment and the impact of social media content sharing are key to understanding how fringe political actors avoid both overt and implicit barriers to popularising extreme positions. Using data from the British Election Study, this paper offers a quantitative test of this approach, finding an inconsistent relationship between social media use and extreme political opinions. Potential explanations for this are discussed alongside possible directions for future research.

scholarly journals Instructors’ Experience of Designing MOOCs in Higher Education: Considerations and Challenges

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meina Zhu ◽  
Curtis J Bonk ◽  
Annisa R Sari
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Assessment Methods ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Host Institution ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Course Length ◽  
Support Resource ◽  
Time Limitations

As massive open online courses (MOOCs) increase, the large scale and heterogeneity of MOOC participants bring myriad significant design challenges. This mixed methods study explores 143 MOOC instructors’ considerations and challenges in designing MOOCs; 12 of whom were interviewed and had their courses analyzed. The survey, interview, and course review data revealed a variety of considerations and challenges in MOOC design in terms of pedagogy, resources, and logistics. Pedagogical considerations included learning objectives, assessment methods, course length, course content, flexibility, and collaborative learning support. Resource considerations included the affordance of MOOC platforms, support from the host institution and the platform, and the available intellectual and hardware resources. Logistical considerations included the amount of time instructors spent designing the MOOC. The obstacles included pedagogical challenges (engaging students, increasing student interaction, and limited assessment methods), resource challenge (i.e., limitations associated with the affordances of the platform), and logistical challenge (time limitations for designing and developing MOOCs). To address these challenges, the instructors often relied on reviewing other MOOCs. They also sought help from colleagues, their universities, and supporters of the platforms.

scholarly journals Systematically Monitoring Social Media: The Case of the German Federal Election 2017

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Stier ◽  
Arnim Bleier ◽  
Malte Bonart ◽  
Fabian Mörsheim ◽  
Bohlouli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Content Validity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Academic Standards ◽  
Federal Election ◽  
Social Media Networks ◽  
The Social ◽  
The University

It is a considerable task to collect digital trace data at a large scale and at the same time adhere to established academic standards. In the context of political communication, important challenges are (1) defining the social media accounts and posts relevant to the campaign (content validity), (2) operationalizing the venues where relevant social media activity takes place (construct validity), (3) capturing all of the relevant social media activity (reliability), and (4) sharing as much data as possible for reuse and replication (objectivity). This project by GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences and the E-Democracy Program of the University of Koblenz-Landau conducted such an effort. We concentrated on the two social media networks of most political relevance, Facebook and Twitter.

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