scholarly journals Explanation of observational data engenders a causal belief about smoking and cancer

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5597
Author(s):  
Leslie Myint ◽  
Jeffrey T. Leek ◽  
Leah R. Jager
Keyword(s):  
Observational Study ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Causal Belief ◽  
Massive Open Online Course ◽  
Inferential Analysis ◽  
Randomized Controlled Experiment ◽  
The Relationship

Most researchers do not deliberately claim causal results in an observational study. But do we lead our readers to draw a causal conclusion unintentionally by explaining why significant correlations and relationships may exist? Here we perform a randomized controlled experiment in a massive open online course run in 2013 that teaches data analysis concepts to test the hypothesis that explaining an analysis will lead readers to interpret an inferential analysis as causal. We test this hypothesis with a single example of an observational study on the relationship between smoking and cancer. We show that adding an explanation to the description of an inferential analysis leads to a 15.2% increase in readers interpreting the analysis as causal (95% confidence interval for difference in two proportions: 12.8%–17.5%). We then replicate this finding in a second large scale massive open online course. Nearly every scientific study, regardless of the study design, includes an explanation for observed effects. Our results suggest that these explanations may be misleading to the audience of these data analyses and that qualification of explanations could be a useful avenue of exploration in future research to counteract the problem. Our results invite many opportunities for further research to broaden the scope of these findings beyond the single smoking-cancer example examined here.

The Effect of Massive Open Online Course on the Universities in the Western Region

2014 ◽  
Vol 926-930 ◽  
pp. 4657-4660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Xiang Guo ◽  
Xiao Bei Chen ◽  
Ping Fen Li
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
The West ◽  
Great Opportunity ◽  
Massive Open Online Course ◽  
Management Processes ◽  
Western Area ◽  
Huge Impact

This paper argues that MOOC is really a great opportunity to higher education in the west, but MOOC is not panacea, has its own limitations. Perhaps MOOC can help the Faculty to promote their theory and technology, change the students’ learning methods, and optimize the management processes. But not all learners entered MOOC will become active learners. Compared with the traditional network courses, MOOC has a free open mode, large-scale, community, self-organization and other characteristics, which will bring the huge innovations to universities in the western regions. With the development of western area, people eager for new knowledge, MOOC will have a huge impact on higher education in the west.

Understanding learner participation at scale: How and why

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 236-252
Author(s):  
Samaa Haniya ◽  
Luc Paquette
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Learner Participation ◽  
Massive Open Online Course ◽  
Motivation For Learning ◽  
E Learning

Understanding learner participation is essential to any learning environment to enhance teaching and learning, especially in large scale digital spaces, such as massive open online courses. However, there is a lack of research to fully capture the dynamic nature of massive open online courses and the different ways learners participate in these emerging massive e-learning ecologies. To fill in the research gap, this paper attempted to investigate the relationship between how learners choose to participate in a massive open online course, their initial motivation for learning, and the barriers they faced throughout the course. This was achieved through a combination of data-driven clustering approaches—to identify patterns of learner participation—and qualitative analysis of survey data—to better understand the learners’ motivation and the barriers they faced during the course. Through this study we show how, within the context of a Coursera massive open online course offered by the University of Illinois, learners with varied patterns of participation (Advanced, Balanced, Early, Limited, and Delayed Participation) reported similar motivations and barriers, but described differences in how their participation was impacted by those factors. These findings are significant to gain insights about learners’ needs which in turn serve as the basis to innovate more adaptive and personalized learning experiences and thus advance learning in these large scale environments.

scholarly journals An Unsupervised Method for Discovering How Does Learners' Progress Toward Understanding in MOOCs

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 40-49
Author(s):  
El mezouary Ali ◽  
Hmedna Brahim ◽  
Omar Baz
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Global Dimension ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Access To Education ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Learning Style Preferences ◽  
Massive Open Online Course ◽  
Style Preferences

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) seems to expand access to education and it present too many advantages as: democratization of learning, openness to all and accessibility on a large scale, etc. However, this new phenomenon of open learning suffers from the lack of personalization; it is not easy to identify learners’ characteristics because their heterogeneous masse. Following the increasing adoption of learning styles as personalization criteria, it is possible to make learning process easier for learners. In this paper, we extracted features from learners' traces when they interact with the MOOC platform in order to identify learning styles in an automatic way. For this purpose, we adopted the Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model (FSLSM) and used an unsupervised clustering method. Finally, this solution was implemented to clustered learners based on their level of preference for the sequential/global dimension of FSLSM. Results indicated that, first: k-means is the best performing algorithm when it comes to the identification of learning styles; second: the majority of learners show strong and moderate sequential learning style preferences.

scholarly journals Motivation and Knowledge: Pre-Assessment and Post-Assessment of MOOC Participants From an Energy and Sustainability Project

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Antonio Valdivia Vázquez ◽  
María Soledad Ramírez-Montoya ◽  
Jaime Ricardo Valenzuela González
Keyword(s):  
Online Course ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Attrition Rates ◽  
Inaccurate Information ◽  
Massive Open Online Course ◽  
Perceived Satisfaction ◽  
Important Research Topic ◽  
Study Support ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Post Assessment

Understanding factors promoting or preventing participants’ completion of a massive open online course (MOOC) is an important research topic, as attrition rates remain high for this environment.  Motivation and digital skills have been identified as aspects promoting student engagement in a MOOC, and they are considered necessary for success.  However, evaluation of these factors has often relied on tools for which the psychometric properties have not been explored; this suggests that researchers may be working with potentially inaccurate information for judging participants’ profiles.  Through a set of analyses (t-test, exploratory factor analysis, correlation), this study explores the relationship between information collected by administering valid and reliable pre and post instruments to measure traits of MOOC attendees.  The findings from this study support previously reported outcomes concerning the strong relationships among motivation, previous knowledge, and perceived satisfaction factors for MOOC completers.  Moreover, this study provides evidence of the feasibility of developing valid assessments for evaluation purposes.

scholarly journals Measuring Equity-Promoting Behaviors in Digital Teaching Simulations: A Topic Modeling Approach

AERA Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 233285842110456
Author(s):  
Joshua Littenberg-Tobias ◽  
Elizabeth Borneman ◽  
Justin Reich
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Topic Model ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Massive Open Online Course ◽  
Digital Simulations ◽  
Equity And Inclusion ◽  
Structural Topic Model

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues are urgent in education. We developed and evaluated a massive open online course ( N = 963) with embedded equity simulations that attempted to equip educators with equity teaching practices. Applying a structural topic model (STM)—a type of natural language processing (NLP)—we examined how participants with different equity attitudes responded in simulations. Over a sequence of four simulations, the simulation behavior of participants with less equitable beliefs converged to be more similar with the simulated behavior of participants with more equitable beliefs ( ES [effect size] = 1.08 SD). This finding was corroborated by overall changes in equity mindsets ( ES = 0.88 SD) and changed in self-reported equity-promoting practices ( ES = 0.32 SD). Digital simulations when combined with NLP offer a compelling approach to both teaching about DEI topics and formatively assessing learner behavior in large-scale learning environments.

scholarly journals Conexión de aprendizajes con recursos abiertos en MOOC: percepciones y prácticas

2018 ◽  
pp. 60-82
Author(s):  
Mtra. Mónica Yomar Guerrero Segovia ◽  
Dr. Leonardo David Glasserman Morales ◽  
Dra. María Soledad Ramírez Montoya
Keyword(s):  
Education Institution ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Access Technology ◽  
Massive Open Online Course ◽  
Educación A Distancia ◽  
Acceso Abierto ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Convergent Design

El escenario de esta investigación fue un curso masivo abierto en línea (MOOC) desarrollado por una institución de educación superior en México. El propósito fue analizar la relación del uso de las tecnologías de acceso abierto con el proceso de percepción de los participantes para conectar sus aprendizajes, con la finalidad de contribuir en la innovación de prácticas educativas en ambientes de educación a distancia. Los datos fueron estudiados desde una metodología mixta desarrollando un plan de acción de tipo convergente paralelo. Los resultados destacan que la interactividad de los participantes en las redes de conocimiento, conjuntamente con la adopción de estrategias de búsqueda para la selección de información relevante, son determinantes para facilitar la conexión de los aprendizajes. Se pretende que este estudio aporte directrices instruccionales en la implementación de ambientes virtuales de aprendizaje.Knowledge connection trough open learning resources in a MOOC: perceptions and practicesAbstractThe scenario of this research was developed within a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) developed by a higher education institution located in Mexico. The purpose was to analyze the relationship between the uses of open access technology to the process of perception of the participants to connect their learning, in order to contribute to the innovation of educational practices in distance learning environments. The data were studied from a mixed methodology approach with a parallel convergent design. The results highlight the interactivity of the participants in knowledge networks, together with the adoption of search strategies for selecting relevant information, they are crucial to facilitate the connection of learning. It is intended that this study provides instructional guidelines on the implementation of virtual learning environments.Recibido: 23 de junio de 2016Aceptado: 24 de enero de 2017

scholarly journals The Relationship between Indonesian Online Learners’ Learning Strategies and Learner-Instructor Interaction in Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)

Humaniora ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elysa Ratna Astuti ◽  
Marco Alexandro ◽  
Pupung Purnawarman
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Online Learners ◽  
Electronic Survey ◽  
Massive Open Online Course ◽  
Instructor Interaction ◽  
E Learning ◽  
The Relationship

This study aimed to expose the Indonesian online learners’ learning strategies used in MOOC and investigated the relationship between the learning strategies and learner-instructor interaction in MOOC. The method employed was quantitative research and used the correlational study. The data for this study were collected from 500 Indonesian online learners (359 females and 141 males) who enrolled in Sekolah TOEFL, one of the MOOCs in Indonesia. This study used translated and modified version of Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), students’ experience in e-learning questionnaire, and learner-instructor interaction in the online course. The three questionnaires were distributed through an electronic survey site, Google FormTM. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson Product Moment Formula to correlate both learning strategies and learner-instructor interaction. The findings enrich our understanding of learners’ learning strategies that are used in MOOC and reveal the relation of the learning strategies and learner-instructor interaction in MOOC.

Valor dos massive open online course (MOOC) na educação para a cidadania

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hermano Carmo ◽  
Teresa Maia e Carmo
Keyword(s):  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Massive Open Online Course ◽  
Tecnología Educativa

A sociedade contemporânea é marcada por três macrotendências que a identificam como uma sociedade singular na história humana: processo de mudança acelerada, desigualdade crescente e fibrilhação dos sistemas de poder. Tais tendências têm tido como efeitos um quadro de ameaças e oportunidades que tanto têm constituído gigantesco desafio aos sistemas educativos quanto configuram a urgência de ressocialização de todas as gerações vivas no sentido da construção de uma cidadania global. Nesse contexto, propõe-se um modelo que configura uma estratégia de educação para a cidadania, com dois eixos, quatro vertentes e dez áreas-chave. Seguidamente, descreve-se e discute-se a emergência quase explosiva dos Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) a partir de instituições de ensino superior internacionalmente reconhecidas, no quadro do novo paradigma digital, sua diversidade e seu potencial ainda em aberto. Confrontando a nova abordagem educativa com o modelo de educação para a cidadania proposto, conclui-se constituir um meio robusto para o potenciar.Palavras-chave:Conjuntura. Macrotendências. Educação para a cidadania. MOOC. Tecnologia educativa. Paradigma digital.Link: http://revista.ibict.br/inclusao/article/view/4171/3642

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document