Deconstructing disengagement: analyzing learner subpopulations in massive open online courses
| Published | April 2013 |
| Conference | LAK '13: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge Pages 170-179 |
| Country | United States, North America |
ABSTRACT
As MOOCs grow in popularity, the relatively low completion rates of learners has been a central criticism. This focus on completion rates, however, reflects a monolithic view of disengagement that does not allow MOOC designers to target interventions or develop adaptive course features for particular subpopulations of learners. To address this, we present a simple, scalable, and informative classification method that identifies a small number of longitudinal engagement trajectories in MOOCs. Learners are classified based on their patterns of interaction with video lectures and assessments, the primary features of most MOOCs to date.In an analysis of three computer science MOOCs, the classifier consistently identifies four prototypical trajectories of engagement. The most notable of these is the learners who stay engaged through the course without taking assessments. These trajectories are also a useful framework for the comparison of learner engagement between different course structures or instructional approaches. We compare learners in each trajectory and course across demographics, forum participation, video access, and reports of overall experience. These results inform a discussion of future interventions, research, and design directions for MOOCs. Potential improvements to the classification mechanism are also discussed, including the introduction of more fine-grained analytics.
| Keywords | MOOC · learner engagement · trajectories of engagement |
| Published at | California |
| Language | English |
| Refereed | Yes |
| DOI | 10.1145/2460296.2460330 |
| Export options | BibTex · EndNote · Tagged XML · Google Scholar |
Viewed by 554 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
Digging deeper into learners' experiences in MOOCs: Participation in social networks outside of MOOCs, notetaking and contexts surrounding content consumption
Veletsianos, George; Collier, Amy; Schneider, Emily
Researchers describe with increasing confidence what they observe participants doing in massive open online courses (MOOCs). However, our understanding of learner activities in open courses is limited by researchers' ...
Match: Schneider, Emily
MOOCs for professional teacher development
Jobe, William; Östlund, Christian; Svensson, Lars
A MOOC is a trending concept in education that is disrupting traditional methods of
learning consumption. The emergence and use of MOOCs for professional teacher development is still uncommon, but on the verge of ...
Match: MOOC; United States
Alternative models of education delivery
UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education
The key goal of this Policy Brief is to produce a number of alternative models of education delivery in the formal education sector. It was felt that the creation of five alternative models would sufficiently populate ...
Match: MOOC
Shared task on prediction of dropout over time in Massively Open Online Courses
Rosé, Carolyn P.; Siemens, George
The shared task on Prediction of Dropout Over Time in MOOCs involves analysis of data from 6 MOOCs offered through Coursera. Data from one MOOC with approximately 30K students was distributed as training data and ...
Match: MOOC
MOOCs - A review of the state-of-the-art
Yousef, Ahmed Mohamed Fahmy; Chatti, Mohamed Amine; Schroeder, Ulrik; Wosnitza, Marold; Jakobs, Harald
Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have drastically changed the way we learn as well as how we teach. The main aim of MOOCs is to provide new opportunities to a massive number of learners to attend free online courses ...
Match: MOOC
Conversaciones desde el sur del ecuador: Retos y oportunidades que plantean los REA en Oceanía
James, Rosalind; Bossu, Carina
En las últimas décadas, se han producido una serie de cambios estructurales fundamentales (tanto internamente, en el seno de la educación superior, como fuera de ella) que han transformado el carácter de las ...
Match: MOOC
Designing for quality?
Littlejohn, Allison; Hood, Nina
There are significant complexities in interpreting and measuring quality in MOOCs. In this chapter, we examine experts' perceptions of how to measure quality in MOOCs, using empirical data we gathered through ...
Match: MOOC
Multimodal profusion in the literacies of the Massive Open Online Course
Knox, Jeremy; Bayne, Siân
This paper takes a view of digital literacy, which moves beyond a focus on technical methods and skills in an attempt to maintain a broader approach that encompasses a critical view of the learning subject. In doing ...
Match: MOOC
A MOOC camp-based flipped classroom: Integrating MOOCs into university curriculum
Mabuan, Romualdo A.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are dramatically breaking borders and barriers to teaching and learning as they democratize access to quality international education for teachers and students across the globe. MOOC ...
Match: MOOC
Moving forward with TESSA: What is the potential for MOOCs?
Stutchbury, Kris
Teacher Education in sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) is an educational development project run by The Open University, UK. Working collaboratively with partners in Africa, The Open University published (in 2010) a set Open ...
Match: MOOC









