Team formation instruments to enhance learner interactions in open learning environments

Open learning environments, such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), often lack adequate learner collaboration opportunities; they are also plagued by high levels of drop-out. Introducing project-based learning (PBL) can enhance learner collaboration and motivation, but PBL does not easily scale up into MOOCS. To support definition and staffing of projects, team formation principles and algorithms are introduced to form productive, creative, or learning teams. These use data on the project and on learner knowledge, personality and preferences. A study was carried out to validate the principles and the algorithms. Students (n = 168) and educational practitioners (n = 56) provided the data. The principles for learning teams and productive teams were accepted, while the principle for creative teams could not. The algorithms were validated using team classifying tasks and team ranking tasks. The practitioners classify and rank small productive, creative and learning teams in accordance with the algorithms, thereby validating the algorithms outcomes. When team size grows, for practitioners, forming teams quickly becomes complex, as demonstrated by the increased divergence in ranking and classifying accuracy. Discussion of the results, conclusions, and directions for future research are provided.     

Semantically enriched Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are becoming an essential source of information for both students and teachers. Noticeably, MOOCs have to adapt to the fast development of new technologies; they also have to satisfy the current generation of online students. The current MOOCs’ Management Systems, such as Coursera, Udacity, edX, etc., use content management platforms where content are organized in a hierarchical structure. We envision a new generation of MOOCs that support interpretability with formal semantics by using the SemanticWeb and the online social networks. Semantic technologies support more flexible information management than that offered by the current MOOCs’ platforms. Annotated information about courses, video lectures, assignments, students, teachers, etc., can be composed from heterogeneous sources, including contributions from the communities in the forum space. These annotations, combined with legacy data, build foundations for more efficient information discovery in MOOCs’ platforms. In this article we review various Collaborative Semantic Filtering technologies for building Semantic MOOCs’ management system, then, we present a prototype of a semantic middle-sized platform implemented at Western Kentucky University that answers these aforementioned requirements.     

MOOC3.0：在校法语大学生如何E-learning

随着大规模在线开放课程日益受到关注,传统高等教育模式正面临挑战与机遇。该文以在校法语大学生E-learning体验为例,提出高校学生应注重培养E-learning能力,尽快适应线上线下共存的教育新时代。     

Publication trends in gamification: A systematic mapping study

The term gamification and gamified systems are a trending area of research. However, gamification can indicate several different things, such as applying the game-like elements into the design of the user interface of a software, but not all gamification is necessarily associated with software products. Overall, it is unclear what different aspects are studied under the umbrella of ‘gamification’, and what is the current state of the art in the gamification research. In this paper, 1164 gamification studies are analyzed and classified based on their focus areas and the research topics to establish what the research trends in gamification are. Based on the results, e-learning and proof-of-concept studies in the ecological lifestyle and sustainability, assisting computer science studies and improving motivation are the trendiest areas of gamification research. Currently, the most common types of research are the proof-of-concept studies, and theoretical works on the different concepts and elements of gamification.     

慕课背景下高职英语教学的创新方式研究

慕课是随着信息技术的发展而形成的大型网络在线教育系统,它以传统的学习资源和学习管理系统为基础发展而来。慕课将传统的学习管理系统与更多的网络教学资源结合起来形成了新的网络教学课程体系。慕课的发展以及慕课在高职英语教学中的应用,必然对传统的高职英语教学产生深刻的影响。本文主要研究慕课的概念、特点,当下高职英语教学过程中存在的问题以及如何在高职英语教学过程中发挥慕课的积极作用。     

Creating collaborative groups in a MOOC: a homogeneous engagement grouping approach

ABSTRACT

Collaborative learning can improve the pedagogical effectiveness of MOOCs. Group formation, an essential step in the design of collaborative learning activities, can be challenging in MOOCs given the scale and the wide variety in such contexts. We discuss the need for considering the behaviours of the students in the course to form groups in MOOC contexts, and propose a grouping approach that employs homogeneity in terms of students’ engagement in the course. Two grouping strategies with different degrees of homogeneity are derived from this approach, and their impact to form successful groups is examined in a real MOOC context. The grouping criteria were established using student activity logs (e.g. page-views). The role of the timing of grouping was also examined by carrying out the intervention once in the first and once in the second half of the course. The results indicate that in both interventions, the groups formed with a greater degree of homogeneity had higher rates of task-completion and peer interactions, Additionally, students from these groups reported higher levels of satisfaction with their group experiences. On the other hand, a consistent improvement of all indicators was observed in the second intervention, since student engagement becomes more stable later in the course.     

慕课发展与高校计算机课程改革探索

慕课发展背景下,高校计算机课程面临机遇与挑战.文章从课程设置、课程实施及课程评价等角度,论述了慕课发展背景下高校计算机课程的改革,提出合理规划课程,共享资源,线上线下相结合的学习与考核,优化评价结构等建议.     

用好慕课,加快提升优质教学资源均衡化之思考与解决方案

为贯彻全国教育大会精神与“新时代高教40条”相关内容,提出了用好慕课,加快提升优质教育资源均衡化,即提升教学资源薄弱高校教学水平之思考与解决方案。提出了解决课程资源不足与师资资源不足的途径,从教师、学生、教学管理、慕课网、政府管理部门五个层面探讨了需要解决的相关问题。     

Dissecting learning tactics in MOOC using ordered network analysis

Background

Select and enact appropriate learning tactics that advance learning has been considered a critical set of skills to successfully complete highly flexible online courses, such as Massive open online courses (MOOCs). However, limited by analytic methods that have been used in the past, such as frequency distribution, sequence mining and process mining, we lack a deep, complete and detailed understanding of the learning tactics used by MOOC learners.

Objectives

In the present study, we proposed four major dimensions to better interpret and understand learning tactics, which are frequency, continuity, sequentiality and role of learning actions within tactics. The aim of this study was to examine to what extent can a new analytic technique, the ordered network analysis (ONA), deepen the understanding of MOOC learning tactics compared to using other methods.

Methods

In particular, we performed a fine-grained analysis of learning tactics detected from more than 4 million learning events in the behavioural trace data of 8788 learners who participated in a large-scale MOOC ‘Flipped Classroom’.

Results and Conclusions

We detected eight learning tactics, and then chose one typical tactic as an example to demonstrate how the ONA technique revealed all four dimensions and provided deeper insights into this MOOC learning tactic. Most importantly, based on the comparison with different methods such as process mining, we found that the ONA method provided a unique opportunity and novel insight into the roles of different learning actions in tactics which was neglected in the past.

Takeaway

In summary, we conclude that ONA is a promising technique that can benefit the research on learning tactics, and ultimately benefit MOOC learners by strengthening the strategic support.     

关于MOOC的一点思考

MOOC自问世以来吸引了教育界和工业界的目光。分析了MOOC的现状和不足,将MOOC与智能导学系统结合,提出了智能MOOC的概念,设计了智能MOOC的通用模型iMOOC,指出了该模型中各部分的关系与功能。