Discover Dentistry: encouraging wider participation in dentistry using a massive open online course (MOOC)

Abstract

This paper describes how a relatively new style of online learning, a massive open online course, may be used to raise aspirations and widen participation in dental professions

Exploratory study of MOOC learners’ demographics and motivation: The case of students involved in groups

“…Although previous studies revealed that professional and educational pursuits for example are among principal motivators for MOOC learners (Stokes et al, 2015;Radford et al, 2015), these results seem to signal the importance of friendship in MOOCs and other learning environments. While Belanger and Thornton (2013) did find that MOOC learners were also motivated by social experience, this study reveals the effect friends have on MOOC enrollment.…”

“…However, compared to other studies (Radford et al, 2015;Stokes, Towers, Jinks & Symington, 2015;Zhong et al, 2016), earning credits and the relationship with participants' program, which can be assimilated to educational pursuit in previous studies, are not as important as friends when it comes to stirring students to enroll into a MOOC. For instance, 53.7% were stimulated by the connection of the course to their program, but 79.5% did not enroll to earn credits.…”

A Contemporary Review of Research Methods Adopted to Understand Students’ and Instructors’ Use of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

“…There are studies which administered the survey before a MOOC was started. Such studies can be useful for understanding course participants' demographics [28], motivation for enrollment [26], [34]- [36], intended study behaviour [26], [36], [37], and pre-course attitudes [38]. Additionally, there are researchers who carried out the survey by the end of a MOOC.…”

Video-Conference Interviews: Ethical and Methodological Concerns in the Context of Health Research

“…On the other hand, so-called xMOOC adopts a more traditional pedagogy and relies on a tutor-centered approach. In whatever way they are categorized, MOOCs are widely known to exhibit two core features; (1) open access where anyone can participate in an online course (Levy, 2011;Martin, 2012;Pappano, 2012;O'Prey, 2013;Chen, 2015;Bates, 2014;Czerniewicz, Deacon, Fife, Small & Walji, 2015;Terras & Ramsay, 2015;Conole, 2015;Robinson, Kerski, Long, Luo, DiBiase & Lee, 2015), and (2) scalability in which courses are designed to support an indefinite number of participants (Chen, 2013;Conole, 2015;Robinson et al, 2015;Stokes, Towers, Jinks & Symington, 2015;Agrawal, Kumar & Agrawal, 2015;Czerniewicz et al, 2015).…”