Types of Participant Behavior in a Massive Open Online Course

In recent years there has been a proliferation of massive open online courses (MOOCs), which provide unprecedented opportunities for lifelong learning. Registrants approach these courses with a variety of motivations for participation. Characterizing the different types of participation in MOOCs is...

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Autores principales:	Tali Kahan, Tal Soffer, Rafi Nachmias
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Athabasca University Press 2017
Materias:	massive open online course types of participant behavior educational data mining cluster analysis Special aspects of education LC8-6691
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/d81be1dc784c410ebc17942c3f3e2596
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:d81be1dc784c410ebc17942c3f3e25962021-12-02T18:03:00ZTypes of Participant Behavior in a Massive Open Online Course10.19173/irrodl.v18i6.30871492-3831https://doaj.org/article/d81be1dc784c410ebc17942c3f3e25962017-09-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3087https://doaj.org/toc/1492-3831In recent years there has been a proliferation of massive open online courses (MOOCs), which provide unprecedented opportunities for lifelong learning. Registrants approach these courses with a variety of motivations for participation. Characterizing the different types of participation in MOOCs is fundamental in order to be able to better evaluate the phenomenon and to support MOOCs developers and instructors in devising courses which are adapted for different learners' needs. Thus, the purpose of this study was to characterize the different types of participant behavior in a MOOC. Using a data mining methodology, 21,889 participants of a MOOC were classified into clusters, based on their activity in the main learning resources of the course: video lectures, discussion forums, and assessments. Thereafter, the participants in each cluster were characterized in regard to demographics, course participation, and course achievement characteristics. Seven types of participant behavior were identified: Tasters (64.8%), Downloaders (8.5%), Disengagers (11.5%), Offline Engagers (3.6%), Online Engagers (7.4%), Moderately Social Engagers (3.7%), and Social Engagers (0.6%). A significant number of 1,020 participants were found to be engaged in the course, but did not achieve a certificate. The types are discussed according to the established research questions. The results provide further evidence regarding the utilization of the flexibility, which is offered in MOOCs, by the participants according to their needs. Furthermore, this study supports the claim that MOOCs' impact should not be evaluated solely based on certification rates but rather based on learning behaviors. Tali KahanTal SofferRafi NachmiasAthabasca University Pressarticlemassive open online coursetypes of participant behavioreducational data miningcluster analysisSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691ENInternational Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Vol 18, Iss 6 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	massive open online course types of participant behavior educational data mining cluster analysis Special aspects of education LC8-6691
spellingShingle	massive open online course types of participant behavior educational data mining cluster analysis Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Tali Kahan Tal Soffer Rafi Nachmias Types of Participant Behavior in a Massive Open Online Course
description	In recent years there has been a proliferation of massive open online courses (MOOCs), which provide unprecedented opportunities for lifelong learning. Registrants approach these courses with a variety of motivations for participation. Characterizing the different types of participation in MOOCs is fundamental in order to be able to better evaluate the phenomenon and to support MOOCs developers and instructors in devising courses which are adapted for different learners' needs. Thus, the purpose of this study was to characterize the different types of participant behavior in a MOOC. Using a data mining methodology, 21,889 participants of a MOOC were classified into clusters, based on their activity in the main learning resources of the course: video lectures, discussion forums, and assessments. Thereafter, the participants in each cluster were characterized in regard to demographics, course participation, and course achievement characteristics. Seven types of participant behavior were identified: Tasters (64.8%), Downloaders (8.5%), Disengagers (11.5%), Offline Engagers (3.6%), Online Engagers (7.4%), Moderately Social Engagers (3.7%), and Social Engagers (0.6%). A significant number of 1,020 participants were found to be engaged in the course, but did not achieve a certificate. The types are discussed according to the established research questions. The results provide further evidence regarding the utilization of the flexibility, which is offered in MOOCs, by the participants according to their needs. Furthermore, this study supports the claim that MOOCs' impact should not be evaluated solely based on certification rates but rather based on learning behaviors.
format	article
author	Tali Kahan Tal Soffer Rafi Nachmias
author_facet	Tali Kahan Tal Soffer Rafi Nachmias
author_sort	Tali Kahan
title	Types of Participant Behavior in a Massive Open Online Course
title_short	Types of Participant Behavior in a Massive Open Online Course
title_full	Types of Participant Behavior in a Massive Open Online Course
title_fullStr	Types of Participant Behavior in a Massive Open Online Course
title_full_unstemmed	Types of Participant Behavior in a Massive Open Online Course
title_sort	types of participant behavior in a massive open online course
publisher	Athabasca University Press
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/d81be1dc784c410ebc17942c3f3e2596
work_keys_str_mv	AT talikahan typesofparticipantbehaviorinamassiveopenonlinecourse AT talsoffer typesofparticipantbehaviorinamassiveopenonlinecourse AT rafinachmias typesofparticipantbehaviorinamassiveopenonlinecourse
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Types of Participant Behavior in a Massive Open Online Course

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