Posts
 |
| Senior lecturer David Malan (right), technologist Colton Ogden
from CS50/CS50x, and a special robotic guest incorporated live
broadcasts into their MOOC, “Introduction to Computer Science.” Photo: Harvard Gazette |
Expanded data and research about MOOC participants and evidence-based assessments of online learning trends might, however, begin to move the conversation beyond anecdotes and heated opinions.
Today, a joint Harvard and MIT research team published one of the largest investigations of MOOCs (massive open online courses) to date. Building on their prior work—a January 2014 report describing the first year of open online courses launched on edX, a non-profit learning platform founded by the two institutions—the latest effort incorporates another year of data, bringing the total to nearly 70 courses in subjects from programming to poetry.
“We explored 68 certificate-granting courses, 1.7 million
participants, 11 million participant-hours, and 1.1 billion
participant-logged events,” said the study’s co-lead author Andrew Ho, a
professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and chair of the
HarvardX research committee. The research team also used surveys to
gain additional information about participants’ backgrounds and their
intentions.
Ho and MIT's Isaac Chuang, professor of physics, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and senior associate dean of digital learning, led a group effort that delved into the demographics of MOOC learners, analyzed participant intent, and looked at patterns that “serial MOOCers,” or those taking more than one course, tend to pursue.
“What jumped out for me was the survey that revealed that in some cases as many as 39% of our learners are teachers,” said Chuang. “This finding forces us to broaden our conceptions of who MOOCs serve and how they might make a difference in improving learning.”
Read more...
Source: Harvard Gazette
