Public Response to “the MOOC Movement” in China: Examining the Time Series of Microblogging

In China, microblogging is an extremely popular activity and is proving to be an effective mechanism to gauge perceptions about social phenomena. Between 2010 and 2015 Sina Weibo, China’s largest microblogging website, generated 95,015 postings from 62,074 users referencing the term massive open on...

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Autores principales: Jingjing Zhang, Kirk Perris, Qinhua Zheng, Li Chen
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Athabasca University Press 2015
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/86cc208f70374bdbad35b7abda5f7f30
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:86cc208f70374bdbad35b7abda5f7f302021-12-02T19:25:15ZPublic Response to “the MOOC Movement” in China: Examining the Time Series of Microblogging10.19173/irrodl.v16i5.22441492-3831https://doaj.org/article/86cc208f70374bdbad35b7abda5f7f302015-09-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/2244https://doaj.org/toc/1492-3831 In China, microblogging is an extremely popular activity and is proving to be an effective mechanism to gauge perceptions about social phenomena. Between 2010 and 2015 Sina Weibo, China’s largest microblogging website, generated 95,015 postings from 62,074 users referencing the term massive open online courses (MOOCs), a method of online course delivery popularized in North America that has spread globally. Time series analyses revealed distinct patterns in the volume of postings during a four-year period, and subsequently by month, by week, and by the time of day. The volume of postings during the week, for example, peaked on Monday and declined daily to a low point on Saturday. Relative to maximizing learner engagement, the findings may provide insight to parties who deliver MOOCs to employ or test strategies on timing (i.e., time of year to offer/not offer a MOOC, time of week to release/not release new material, time of day to schedule/not schedule chat sessions). The paper also serves to demonstrate a mechanism to retrieve big data from social media sources, otherwise underutilized in educational research. Jingjing ZhangKirk PerrisQinhua ZhengLi ChenAthabasca University PressarticleMOOCsmicrobloggingdata miningtime seriesWeiboSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691ENInternational Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Vol 16, Iss 5 (2015)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic MOOCs
microblogging
data mining
time series
Weibo
Special aspects of education
LC8-6691
spellingShingle MOOCs
microblogging
data mining
time series
Weibo
Special aspects of education
LC8-6691
Jingjing Zhang
Kirk Perris
Qinhua Zheng
Li Chen
Public Response to “the MOOC Movement” in China: Examining the Time Series of Microblogging
description In China, microblogging is an extremely popular activity and is proving to be an effective mechanism to gauge perceptions about social phenomena. Between 2010 and 2015 Sina Weibo, China’s largest microblogging website, generated 95,015 postings from 62,074 users referencing the term massive open online courses (MOOCs), a method of online course delivery popularized in North America that has spread globally. Time series analyses revealed distinct patterns in the volume of postings during a four-year period, and subsequently by month, by week, and by the time of day. The volume of postings during the week, for example, peaked on Monday and declined daily to a low point on Saturday. Relative to maximizing learner engagement, the findings may provide insight to parties who deliver MOOCs to employ or test strategies on timing (i.e., time of year to offer/not offer a MOOC, time of week to release/not release new material, time of day to schedule/not schedule chat sessions). The paper also serves to demonstrate a mechanism to retrieve big data from social media sources, otherwise underutilized in educational research.
format article
author Jingjing Zhang
Kirk Perris
Qinhua Zheng
Li Chen
author_facet Jingjing Zhang
Kirk Perris
Qinhua Zheng
Li Chen
author_sort Jingjing Zhang
title Public Response to “the MOOC Movement” in China: Examining the Time Series of Microblogging
title_short Public Response to “the MOOC Movement” in China: Examining the Time Series of Microblogging
title_full Public Response to “the MOOC Movement” in China: Examining the Time Series of Microblogging
title_fullStr Public Response to “the MOOC Movement” in China: Examining the Time Series of Microblogging
title_full_unstemmed Public Response to “the MOOC Movement” in China: Examining the Time Series of Microblogging
title_sort public response to “the mooc movement” in china: examining the time series of microblogging
publisher Athabasca University Press
publishDate 2015
url https://doaj.org/article/86cc208f70374bdbad35b7abda5f7f30
work_keys_str_mv AT jingjingzhang publicresponsetothemoocmovementinchinaexaminingthetimeseriesofmicroblogging
AT kirkperris publicresponsetothemoocmovementinchinaexaminingthetimeseriesofmicroblogging
AT qinhuazheng publicresponsetothemoocmovementinchinaexaminingthetimeseriesofmicroblogging
AT lichen publicresponsetothemoocmovementinchinaexaminingthetimeseriesofmicroblogging
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