Multiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak

Abstract

While global massive open online course (MOOC) providers such as edX, Coursera, and FutureLearn have garnered the bulk of attention from researchers and the popular press, MOOCs are also provisioned by a series of regional providers, who are often using the Open edX platform. We leverage the data infrastructure shared by the main edX instance and one regional Open edX provider, Edraak in Jordan, to compare the experience of learners from Arab countries on both platforms. Comparing learners from Arab countries on edX to those on Edraak, the Edraak population has a more even gender balance, more learners with lower education levels, greater participation from more developing countries, higher levels of persistence and completion, and a larger total population of learners. This "apples to apples" comparison of MOOC learners is facilitated by an approach to multiplatform MOOC analytics, which employs parallel research processes to create joint aggregate datasets without sharing identifiable data across institutions. Our findings suggest that greater research attention should be paid towards regional MOOC providers, and regional providers may have an important role to play in expanding access to higher education.

A tömeges nyílt online kurzusok lehetőségei és kihívásai Magyarországon

“…A kooperáció egyik megnyilvánulási formája az egyre elfogadottabbá váló mikrokreditrendszer. 30 A mikrokreditrendszer lényege, hogy a hallgatók a diplomához szükséges tudást és krediteket részenként gyűjtik össze, és a rendszerhez kapcsolódó egyetemek elfogadják egymás megfelelő témában nyújtott kreditjeit. Az Európai Felsőoktatási Térség kreditátviteli rendszere jól be tudná fogadni ezt az újfajta együttműködést, ennek ellenére magyar kezdeményezésről mindezidáig csak a Kárpát-medence vonatkozásában, és az óbudai Egyetem részéről, kizárólag magyar nyelvű kurzusokra vonatkozóan hallottunk.…”

Prior Knowledge as a Predictor for Persistence

“…While trends and demographics of students in virtual learning environments (VLE) and MOOCs have been studied (e.g. (Ruipérez-Valiente et al, 2019)), Meaney and Fikes (Meaney and Fikes, 2019) have recently proposed that the feedback-loops of the innovations, as well as the research in LA are influenced by the bias of the early adopters. Specifically, they have found that the participants of MOOCs are often well-educated and less in need of learning interventions (Meaney and Fikes, 2019).…”

Macro MOOC Learning Analytics: Exploring Trends Across Global and Regional Providers

“…There are numerous studies that have discussed the impact of language and culture in learning [8], and previous researchers have linked the country of origin of MOOC participants to different behavioral patterns in the course [10] or to social identity threat in less developed countries [9]. Previous work that compared Arab learners in both Edraak (an Arabic MOOC provider) and edX found that learner populations in Edraak had a wider range of education levels and a more even gender, and the courses showed more favorable completion trends [12]. This previous work suggested that regional MOOC providers might be better positioned to fulfil their learners' needs as they offer courses in their local language, and taught by instructors of similar culture and background.…”

“…In this study we describe the methodology "Multiplatform MOOC Analytics" that we have applied to put together data and analysis of more than ten MOOC providers. While a simplified version of this method was previously proposed [12], it is the first time that we apply it with a large number of providers and institutions. We also provide preliminary results on how a number of demographic variables are distributed across all of these platforms.…”