Three artifacts were examined in a Massive Open
Online Course (MOOC) called Mechanical because
there is no professor to offer the course. Employing the
notion of inscription from actor-network theory, the
analysis focuses on the action of facilitation embedded
in these artifacts and the ways in which these actions
unfold. Using online ethnography, this study attempts
to explicate how the designers have delegated
facilitation to these objects. The findings suggest that
the artifacts play a distinct role in enacting forms of
facilitation and sustaining the course without teaching
presence. They indicate that the artifacts do not play
simply an intermediary role, but work to redistribute
facilitation and reformulate social relations. While
online courses have relied primarily upon teachers,
with the increased size and technological
interdependence of this MOOC, the examined artifacts
apparently remove the need for exposure to teachers,
by providing participants with peer interactions and
automated coordination and testing

Keywords

mechanical MOOC · MOOC · MOOC research