On May 26 2015, 9:30 – 18:30hrs, the VOR Divisions ICT and Higher Education jointly organize a symposium on research on MOOCs. The symposium will take place in Wageningen University, the Netherlands.
During a number of presentations you will get an overview of current research into MOOCs and during the afternoon you will have the opportunity to listen to short case presentations by participants regarding research into MOOCs. But you can also provide your own cases to present at the symposium. There is an option on the registration form to indicate your interest in presenting a case.
Costs: There are no fees associated with the symposium, even if you are not a VOR member.
Target audience: Researchers interested in online, distance, open education; ICTO-staff, PhD-students.
Location:
Wageningen University Campus
Orion building Room C2035 (maximum capacity 100 persons)
Street address: Bronland 1, 6708 WH Wageningen
Building 103
Tel: +31 (0)317 48 87 77
Registration: Please use this form to register for the symposium
Note:
The symposium will be in English to cater for a broad audience and to make the results more easy to share afterwards.
Agenda
9:30 – 10:00 Registration
10:00 – 10:15 Welcome – introduction
Dr. Karel Kreijns, Open University of the Netherlands, Chair VOR-Division ICT
Prof. dr. Martin Mulder, ECS, Wageningen University, Chair VOR-Division Higher Education
10:15-10:50 – What is a successful learning process in a MOOC?
Joos Buijs, Hanneke Duisterwinkel, Eindhoven University of Technology
Nowadays MOOC platforms register a number of data about the students, the learning material and the interaction. This data is an important source of information to better understand the student behavior, which can lead to improved MOOCs. But how do you analyse this data? Proces mining can help to get a better understanding of this data in particular with regards to the interaction process. One important area of research is the click behavior of studends in a MOOC, for example while interacting with a video. By relating this behavior to the end score of the students, successful interaction patterns can be discovered. This information can then be used to design new MOOCs or to adapt existing ones. In this session we will demonstrate how process mining can help the analysis of learning behavior in MOOCs and we will present the lessons learned based on the data from our own MOOCs.
10:50-11:25 – MOOC takers’ outcome beliefs, their attitude, and their intention toward enrolling in MOOCs and completing them
Karel Kreijns, Marco Kaltz, Jaap Walhout, Welten Institute, Open University of the Netherlands
Currently, an abundance of papers exists reporting the reasons MOOC takers have explaining why they have enrolled in a MOOC. However, to date no empirical research is available that examined the causal relationship between these reasons—or modal outcome beliefs—and the behavioral intention to enrol in one or more MOOCs in the near future (e.g., within six months) and to complete them. This article reports a study in which this relationship is examined in five Spanish MOOCs using the Reasoned Action Approach framework (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010). All measures were Rasch calibrated before entering Structured Equation Modelling analysis to investigate the chain modal outcome beliefs and their evaluations, attitude, and behavioral intention. Hayes process analysis was used to test the mediating role of attitude in this chain.
11:25 – 12:00 – The effects of MOOC takers’ skills and abilities and their past experience with MOOCs on their self-efficacy
Jaap Walhout, Karel Kreijns, & Marco Kaltz, Welten Institute, Open University of the Netherlands
Currently, a lot of attention is paid to the MOOCs in terms of what they are, how they may change distance education, what different types of MOOCs can be distinguished, and so on. However, empirical research regarding the determinants of MOOC takers’ intention to enroll in MOOCs and to complete them is lacking. The Reasoned Action Approach framework (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) was used to get insight in these determinants. Specifically, the effects of the MOOC takers’ attitudes, the perceived norm (i.e., social pressure) and the MOOC takers’ perceived behavior control (i.e., self-efficacy) on the intention to enroll in MOOCs and to complete them were investigated. Also, the MOOC takers’ skills and abilities, and their past experiences regarding completing MOOCs were included in the study as background variables. Structured Equation Modelling was used to examine the various relationships and model fit. Hayes Process analysis was used to examine the mediating roles of attitude, perceived norm, and perceived behavior control.
12:00 – 13:00 lunch
13:00 – 14:00 Case Presentations – speakers list TBA
14:00 – 15:00 break-out group presentations
15:00 – 15:30 Pitches of group discussions
15:30 – 16:05 – Who is the Learner in the DelftX Engineering MOOCs?
Pieter de Vries, TU Delft
The Delft University of Technology (TUD) deployed her first generation of massive open online courses (MOOCs) in 2013-2014 delivered through the edX platform. These DelftX MOOCs were engineering courses designed at the level equivalent to that of a bachelor-program entry level. Almost 140 thousand students registered, around 3,7% received certificates of completion, and the rest participated to a degree reflective of their needs. To better understand the experiences of this massive number of learners, and ultimately enhance the MOOCs, TUD conducted the collection and analysis of data about learners and their contexts. This exploratory research focuses on the specific analyses pertinent to describing the demographics of an Engineering MOOC participant, as observed in the first generation of TUD MOOCs. The implications of the observed participant demographics are analysed and discussed.
16:05 – 16:40 – MOOCs, Motivation and Awareness
Ning Ding, Hanze University of Professional Education
The MOOC presentation includes three parts. First, we are going to present the students’ awareness of MOOC in China. Data was collected from ten Chinese universities. It is interesting to discover what motivates the Chinese students to participate into MOOC. Second, we have also conducted the same questionnaire survey in the International Business School of Hanze University of Applied Sciences (UAS) in 2014 and 2015. We explored whether students’ awareness towards MOOC change over one year. Third, as the designer of Hanze MOOC and also the first MOOC in IBS from UAS, I would like to share my experiences or pitfalls about running MOOC.
16:40-17:15 Students’ learning experiences in MOOCs: A literature review and thematic content analysis
Olga Pilli, ICLON, Leiden University
Massive open online courses (MOOCs) as a third generation distance education enable anyone anywhere to study free in higher education. In recent years, various studies have been conducted on the position of MOOCs in education. However, these studies are quite general and an overview of insights into students’ learning experiences in open online courses is still needed. In this study, literature concerning students’ learning experiences in MOOCs were systematically explored. Four themes emerged from the literature: 1) participation and engagement, 2) retention, 3) assessment for learning, and 4) study success. These themes intentions to provide widespread understanding on the students’ learning experiences so that this review study further suggests a framework for the factors account for learning experiences in MOOCs. Finally, based on the findings, some implications are proposed for further research and for providers as a new perspective to improve and enhance the current context of MOOCs to optimizing student learning.
17:15 – 17:30 Wrap-up
Dr. Karel Kreijns, Open University of the Netherlands, Chair VOR-Division ICT
Prof. dr. Martin Mulder, ECS, Wageningen University, Chair VOR-Division Higher Education
17:30 – 18:30 Drinks and bites
