How Much Does Student Engagement with Videos and Forums in a MOOC Affect Their Achievement?

Engagement in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is based on students who self-organize their participation according to their own goals and interests. Visual materials such as videos and discussion forums are basic ways of engaging students in MOOCs. Student achievement in MOOCs is typically meas...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fernanda Cesar Bonafini, Chungil Chae, Eunsung Park, Kathryn Weed Jablokow
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Online Learning Consortium 2017-12-01
Series:Online Learning
Subjects:
Online Access:https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/1270
_version_ 1797328091790442496
author Fernanda Cesar Bonafini
Chungil Chae
Eunsung Park
Kathryn Weed Jablokow
author_facet Fernanda Cesar Bonafini
Chungil Chae
Eunsung Park
Kathryn Weed Jablokow
author_sort Fernanda Cesar Bonafini
collection DOAJ
description Engagement in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is based on students who self-organize their participation according to their own goals and interests. Visual materials such as videos and discussion forums are basic ways of engaging students in MOOCs. Student achievement in MOOCs is typically measured using assessments distributed throughout the course. Although there is research on the basic forms of student’s engagement and assessment in MOOCs, little is known about their effect on students’ achievement in the form of students completing a MOOC. Using binomial logistic regression models, this paper addresses this gap in the literature by presenting the degree to which student engagement with videos and forum posts can predict students’ probability of achievement in a MOOC. It also explores the extent to which participation behaviors and their intention to receive the course certification can be used to predict achievement in MOOCs. Using qualitative content analysis, this paper discusses the quality of the forum posts exchanged by participants in this MOOC. The findings from quantitative analysis support MOOC’s pedagogical assumptions, showing that students’ engagement in forums and with videos increases the probability of course achievement. It also shows that intention to certify plays a moderator effect on the number of videos watched, enhancing achievement in MOOCs. The findings from qualitative analysis reveal that most students’ posts in forums display more information acquisition than critical thinking. Implications for practice suggest MOOC designers and MOOC instructors foster engagement in forums by implementing discussion prompts that foster interactions about deep meaning of concepts or application of concepts covered in the MOOC. In regard to videos, implications for practice suggest the creation of interactive videos that promote students’ engagement and control such as inserting guiding questions and segmenting the video content. Future research comprising multiple MOOC cohorts is suggested to validate the empirical model presented in this study.
first_indexed 2024-03-08T06:45:58Z
format Article
id doaj.art-292e56c4f15442f6b1b71051a499b4d8
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2472-5749
2472-5730
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-08T06:45:58Z
publishDate 2017-12-01
publisher Online Learning Consortium
record_format Article
series Online Learning
spelling doaj.art-292e56c4f15442f6b1b71051a499b4d82024-02-03T07:55:23ZengOnline Learning ConsortiumOnline Learning2472-57492472-57302017-12-0121410.24059/olj.v21i4.1270How Much Does Student Engagement with Videos and Forums in a MOOC Affect Their Achievement?Fernanda Cesar Bonafini0Chungil Chae1Eunsung Park2Kathryn Weed Jablokow3The Pennsylvania State UniversityThe Pennsylvania State UniversityThe Pennsylvania State UniversityThe Pennsylvania State University Engagement in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is based on students who self-organize their participation according to their own goals and interests. Visual materials such as videos and discussion forums are basic ways of engaging students in MOOCs. Student achievement in MOOCs is typically measured using assessments distributed throughout the course. Although there is research on the basic forms of student’s engagement and assessment in MOOCs, little is known about their effect on students’ achievement in the form of students completing a MOOC. Using binomial logistic regression models, this paper addresses this gap in the literature by presenting the degree to which student engagement with videos and forum posts can predict students’ probability of achievement in a MOOC. It also explores the extent to which participation behaviors and their intention to receive the course certification can be used to predict achievement in MOOCs. Using qualitative content analysis, this paper discusses the quality of the forum posts exchanged by participants in this MOOC. The findings from quantitative analysis support MOOC’s pedagogical assumptions, showing that students’ engagement in forums and with videos increases the probability of course achievement. It also shows that intention to certify plays a moderator effect on the number of videos watched, enhancing achievement in MOOCs. The findings from qualitative analysis reveal that most students’ posts in forums display more information acquisition than critical thinking. Implications for practice suggest MOOC designers and MOOC instructors foster engagement in forums by implementing discussion prompts that foster interactions about deep meaning of concepts or application of concepts covered in the MOOC. In regard to videos, implications for practice suggest the creation of interactive videos that promote students’ engagement and control such as inserting guiding questions and segmenting the video content. Future research comprising multiple MOOC cohorts is suggested to validate the empirical model presented in this study. https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/1270MOOCsstudents’ achievement in MOOCsMOOC forumsvideos in MOOCs
spellingShingle Fernanda Cesar Bonafini
Chungil Chae
Eunsung Park
Kathryn Weed Jablokow
How Much Does Student Engagement with Videos and Forums in a MOOC Affect Their Achievement?
Online Learning
MOOCs
students’ achievement in MOOCs
MOOC forums
videos in MOOCs
title How Much Does Student Engagement with Videos and Forums in a MOOC Affect Their Achievement?
title_full How Much Does Student Engagement with Videos and Forums in a MOOC Affect Their Achievement?
title_fullStr How Much Does Student Engagement with Videos and Forums in a MOOC Affect Their Achievement?
title_full_unstemmed How Much Does Student Engagement with Videos and Forums in a MOOC Affect Their Achievement?
title_short How Much Does Student Engagement with Videos and Forums in a MOOC Affect Their Achievement?
title_sort how much does student engagement with videos and forums in a mooc affect their achievement
topic MOOCs
students’ achievement in MOOCs
MOOC forums
videos in MOOCs
url https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/1270
work_keys_str_mv AT fernandacesarbonafini howmuchdoesstudentengagementwithvideosandforumsinamoocaffecttheirachievement
AT chungilchae howmuchdoesstudentengagementwithvideosandforumsinamoocaffecttheirachievement
AT eunsungpark howmuchdoesstudentengagementwithvideosandforumsinamoocaffecttheirachievement
AT kathrynweedjablokow howmuchdoesstudentengagementwithvideosandforumsinamoocaffecttheirachievement