Analysis of MOOC Forum Participation

Abstract

The integration of social learning practices into massive open online courses (MOOCs) raises numerous learning and teaching challenges. While research into formal online education has provided some insight into the strategies for facilitating online learner-to-learner and learner-to-teacher interactions, the differences between MOOCs and more mainstream online courses impede any direct adoption and application. This paper reports a study linking the analysis of MOOC learner and teacher interactions to those in formal online education. The study compares MOOC forum activity of the individuals occasionally posting on the forum, and the ones contributing to the forum regularly. Through the social network analysis of forum posting and voting, we highlight the similarities and differences in how the networks of regular and occasional participants develop and interact. The findings provide some insight into how social learning practices can be promoted regardless of the course population size.