Fereshte Goshtasbpour (OU IET)

Educators and large-scale online teaching: What free-flowing discussions in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) tell us

This talk will present the findings of a study on educators’ contributions to the discussion areas of FutureLearn MOOCs. It will specifically discuss the reasons that inhibit educators’ contributions from fostering deep learning in discussions. Drawing on the Community of Inquiry framework, it will explain why educators’ social, pedagogical and cognitive contributions mostly encourage surface learning and what modifications to educators’ activities are required to support learning in MOOCs. The talk will cover the mixed research design and findings about the frequency and type of educators’ contributions as well as the way and extent to which learners engaged with them.

Summary of the study: https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/exploring-instructors-contributions-to-massive-open-online-courses

Relevant paper: https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjet.12787