Abstract
Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are part of the lifelong learning experience of people worldwide. Many of these learners participate fully. However, the high levels of dropout on most of these courses are a cause for concern. Previous studies have suggested that there are patterns of engagement within MOOCs that vary according to the pedagogy employed. The current paper builds on this work and examines MOOCs from different providers that have been offered on the FutureLearn platform. A cluster analysis of these MOOCs shows that engagement patterns are related to pedagogy and course duration. Learners did not work through a three-week MOOC in the same ways that learners work through the first three weeks of an eight-week MOOC.
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Acknowledgments
We thank FutureLearn, The Open University, the University of Birmingham, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Leeds for allowing us access to the data used in this study. We also thank the FutureLearn Academic Network for establishing connections between researchers with an interest in this area.
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Ferguson, R. et al. (2015). Moving Through MOOCS: Pedagogy, Learning Design and Patterns of Engagement. In: Conole, G., Klobučar, T., Rensing, C., Konert, J., Lavoué, E. (eds) Design for Teaching and Learning in a Networked World. EC-TEL 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9307. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24258-3_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24258-3_6
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