This paper addresses the question of identifying a concept dependency graph for a MOOC through unsupervised analysis of lecture transcripts. The problem is important: extracting a concept graph is the first step in helping students with varying preparation to understand course material. The problem is challenging: instructors are unaware of the…

Due to the fundamental differences between traditional education and massive open online courses (MOOCs), and because of the ever-increasing popularity of the latter, more research is needed to understand current and future trends in MOOCs. Although research in the field has grown rapidly in recent years, one of the main challenges facing…

MOOCs are becoming more and more involved in the pedagogical experimentation of universities whose infrastructure does not respond to the growing mass of learners. These universities aim to complete their initial training with distance learning courses. Unfortunately, the efforts made to succeed in this pedagogical model are facing a dropout rate…

There are millions of MOOC participants who vary in gender, age, educational level, employment status, intentions, etc. Although MOOC participants' characteristics have been studied, there is still a lack of knowledge of the divergence between the participants and completers of MOOCs with different levels of difficulty. The term 'level of…

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are the latest online teaching and learning medium through website and are seen as a key factor in future lesson delivery. One well-established and popular MOOC is Coursera which is provided by Stanford University. Online participation and interactions are complex phenomena and the answers to the questions in…

Understanding student ideas in large-enrollment biology courses can be challenging, because easy-to-administer multiple-choice questions frequently do not fully capture the diversity of student ideas. As part of the Automated Analysis of Constructed Responses (AACR) project, we designed a question prompting students to describe the possible…

A sense of belonging (SoB) is a valued concept in campus-based learning, being firmly linked with improved student attainment, increased learner satisfaction, and reduced attrition rates. Some researchers, echoing the work of Maslow (1962), even assert that learners cannot fulfill the goals of higher education without acquiring SoB. This study…

In recent years, computer science has become a cornerstone of modern society. As a result, enrollment in undergraduate computer science programs has expanded rapidly. While the influx of talent into the field will undoubtedly lead to countless technological developments, this growth also brings new pedagogical challenges. Educational resources,…

Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, are online courses that cater to a huge population. MOOCs have been around for quite some time; however, they have begun to gain importance only in recent years. With technology-infused classroom instructions on the rise, techno-savvy students with little patience for hour-long (or even longer) lectures and…

We explore interpretations of MOOCs around the globe and, in particular, interpretations of MOOCs in Norway. Based on a review of previous studies relevant to these topics, we present two contrasting views on the emergence and development of MOOCs, namely the global interruption view and the national mediation view. We suggest, based on previous…

The short history of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has been turbulent. Initial hype has quickly disappeared. MOOCs appear to be experiencing their first stage of maturation offering an opportunity to consider the design of established MOOCs that have been offered on a continual basis. This paper describes a MOOC designed to provide an…

Much is made of the diversity for MOOCs learners--with their varied motivations and interests; yet MOOCs are often run and judged on the assumption that learners would progress through the course in its entirety, to completion. This paper presents an analysis of three recently delivered MOOCs that were designed to support a broader set of learner…

We propose a new model for learning that relates video watching behavior and engagement to quiz performance. In our model, a learner's knowledge gain from watching a lecture video is treated as proportional to their latent engagement level, and the learner's engagement is in turn dictated by a set of behavioral features we propose that quantify…

Purpose: The study seeks to investigate the factors that influence MOOC usage by students in tertiary institutes in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach: As this study sought both to test existing UTAUT variables and potentially identify additional variables impacting MOOC usage, a mixed method approach was used. The quantitative study was used to…

Discussion forums are increasingly central to massive open online courses (MOOCs), and it is vital for learners to participate in associated forum activities. Active forum participation positively relates to learner achievement in that more posts yield better learner performance. However, this numerically aggregated measure overlooks the fact that…