Troubleshooters for tasks of introductory programming MOOCs
Lepp, Marina · Palts, Tauno · Luik, Piret · Papli, Kaspar · Suviste, Reelika · Säde, Merilin · Hollo, Kaspar · Vaherpuu, Vello · Tõnisson, Eno

PublishedSeptember 2018
JournalThe International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning
Volume 19, Issue 4, Pages 56-75
CountryEstonia, Europe

ABSTRACT
Learning programming has become more and more popular and organizing introductory massive open online courses (MOOCs) on programming can be one way to bring this education to the masses. While programming MOOCs usually use automated assessment to give feedback on the submitted code, the lack of understanding of certain aspects of the tasks and feedback given by the automated assessment system can be one persistent problem for many participants. This paper introduces troubleshooters, which are help systems, structured like decision trees, for giving hints and examples of certain aspects of the course tasks. The goal of this paper is to give an overview of usability (benefits and dangers) of, and the participants’ feedback on, using troubleshooters. Troubleshooters have been used from the year 2016 in two different programming MOOCs for adults in Estonia. These MOOCs are characterized by high completion rates (50–70%), which is unusual for MOOCs. Data is gathered from the learning analytics integrated into the troubleshooters’ environment, letters from the participants, questionnaires, and tasks conducted through the courses. As it was not compulsory to use troubleshooters, the results indicate that only 19.8% of the users did not use troubleshooters at all and 10% of the participants did not find troubleshooters helpful at all. The main difference that appeared is that the number of questions asked from the organizers about the programming tasks during the courses via helpdesk declined about 29%.

Keywords MOOC · open education · programming · troubleshooting system

Published atAthabasca, AB
ISSN1492-3831
RefereedYes
RightsAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
DOI10.19173/irrodl.v19i4.3639
URLhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3639
Export optionsBibTex · EndNote · Tagged XML · Google Scholar



AVAILABLE FILES
3639-28405-1-PB.pdf · 740.6KB20 downloads



Viewed by 113 distinct readers




CLOUD COMMUNITY REVIEWS

The evaluations below represent the judgements of our readers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Cloud editors.

Click a star to be the first to rate this document


POST A COMMENT
SIMILAR RECORDS

Open education
Pisutova, K.
Introduction to some concepts of openness in education. This presentation addresses concepts of Open Licensing (Creative Commons licenses), Open Content, Open Coursewere, Open Educational Resources, and Open Teaching ...
Match: mooc; open education

Writing to learn and learning to write across the disciplines: Peer-to-peer writing in introductory-level MOOCs
Comer, Denise; Clark, Charlotte; Canelas, Dorian; McGreal, Rory; Conrad, Dianne
This study aimed to evaluate how peer-to-peer interactions through writing impact student learning in introductory-level massive open online courses (MOOCs) across disciplines. This article presents the results of a ...
Match: introductory; mooc

Coursera’s introductory human physiology course: Factors that characterize successful completion of a MOOC
Engle, Deborah; Mankoff, Chris; Carbrey, Jennifer
Since Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are accessible by anyone in the world at no cost, they have large enrollments that are conducive to educational research. This study examines students in the Coursera MOOC, ...
Match: introductory; mooc

Open educational resources as a tool for educational equity: Evidence from an introductory psychology class
Nusbaum, Amy T.; Cuttler, Carrie; Swindell, Samantha
A college education is becoming increasingly expensive, and the burden of this cost is often felt disproportionately by marginalized students. One aspect of rising college costs are textbook prices, which have increased ...
Match: introductory

Evaluation of the UNED MOOCs implementation: Demographics, learners' opinions and completion rates
Gil-Jaurena, Inés; Callejo-Gallego, Javier; Agudo, Yolanda
The paper is a study about the MOOC experience at the Spanish National University of Distance Education (UNED), where we have collected initial and final information about learners' profiles and opinions, as well as ...
Match: mooc; open education; europe

A framework for the ethics of Open Education
Farrow, Rob
What difference does openness make to the ethics of teaching and research? This paper approaches this question both from the perspective of research into the use of open educational resources (OER) in teaching and ...
Match: mooc; open education

Opportunities and threats of the MOOC movement for higher education: The European perspective
Schuwer, Robert; Jaurena, Ines Gil; Aydin, Cengiz Hakan; Costello, Eamon; et al.
The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) movement is the latest ‘big thing’ in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) which threatens to transform Higher Education. Both opportunities and threats are extensively discussed in ...
Match: mooc; europe

MOOC strategies of European institutions: Status report based on a mapping survey conducted in November 2016 – February 2017
Konings, Lizzie; Jansen, Darco
Executive Summary This report presents the results of a MOOC survey amongst Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with a focus on Europe (97% of responses out of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)). The majority ...
Match: mooc; open education; europe

Open education e modelli di apprendimento flessibile
Menichetti, Laura
La “cultura open” sta cambiando profondamente il settore della formazione in tutto il mondo, nei suoi aspetti formali e non-formali.Il presente contributo mette a fuoco le diverse declinazioni e costruzioni di ...
Match: mooc; open education; europe

Open Education, Open Educational Practice and the concept of Openness: Issues and challenges
Gaskell, Anne
All the articles in this issue contribute to the debates surrounding Open Education, including Open Universities, Open Educational Resources (OER) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
Match: mooc; open education; europe