MOOCs - Identifying Priorities for Research

[This post is based on H817 activity 4 - being revisited in the penultimate week of the MOOC]

My 3 areas of priority for research into MOOCs/Open Education

Learner motivations – I view this as a priority as there are high drop-out rates from MOOCs and it would be good to see if this is a problem (it may not be – learners may be very satisfied with learning just part of a MOOC) and, if it is a problem, what can be done to enable more learners to be successful.

·      What reasons are learners learning for?

·      Why are they using Open Education rather than other courses?

·      Are they motivated by badges?

·      Why do many learners drop out of MOOCs?

Learner Support

·      What level of support do learners need? How is this affected by the type of course and / or the type of learner? (e.g. learners from developing countries with little school infrastructure may have different support needs compared to learners from countries with well-established schooling systems).

·      Do learners need a certain level of digital literacy before they can get the most out of a MOOC?

·      What role, if any, can tutors/course designers play?

·      Network development – do networks need to be encouraged by tutors, or can they be left to grow spontaneously if learners have sufficient access to online tools?

·      Use of technology – do learners spontaneously use a variety of technologies, like Google+ and Twitter, or does such usage need to be prescribed or encouraged, either by activity design or by tutorial inputs?

·      What are the factors that enable learners to self-direct their own learning / self-assess or peer-assess their own learning?

Funding Models

·      How do different funding models impact on the learning experience? E.g. in a MOOC funded by advertising, does the presence of the advertising on the MOOC materials have any impact on learner motivations?

·      Is the quality of learning enhanced in some funding models compared to others? E.g. can we research the quality of the learning on a traditional face-to-face course funded by student fees at a physical university vs the same course taught for free on a MOOC?