Supporting Teachers in the Design and Implementation of Group Formation Policies in MOOCs: A Case Study

Date

2018-01-01

Author

Sanz-Martinez, Luisa
Er, Erkan
Dimitriadis, Yannis
Martinez-Mones, Alejandra
Bote-Lorenzo, Miguel L.
Er, Erkan

Metadata

Show full item record

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Item Usage Stats

141
views

0
downloads

Collaborative learning strategies, which can promote student learning and achievement, have rarely been incorporated into pedagogies of MOOCs. Such strategies, when implemented properly, can boost the quality of MOOC pedagogy. Nonetheless, the use of collaborative groups in MOOCs is scarce due to several yet critical contextual factors (e.g., massiveness, and variable levels of engagement) that hamper the group formation process. Therefore, there is a need for supporting MOOC teachers in the design and implementation of group formation policies when implementing collaborative strategies. This paper presents a study where two instruments were used to explore solutions to this need: a guide to support teachers during the planning of the group formation, and a technological tool to help them implement the collaborative groups designed and to monitor them. According to the results of the study, the design guide made the teachers aware of the contextual factors to consider when forming the collaborative groups, and allowed teachers inform some configuration parameters of the activity (e.g., duration and assessment type) and the group formation (e.g., criteria and parameters needed to build the groups). The technological tool was successfully incorporated into the MOOC platform. Lessons learned from the findings of the study are shared and their potential to inform the design guide is discussed.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/90421

Journal

JOURNAL OF UNIVERSAL COMPUTER SCIENCE

Collections

Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Article

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

Creating collaborative groups in a MOOC: a homogeneous engagement grouping approach Sanz-Martinez, Luisa; Er, Erkan; Martinez-Mones, Alejandra; Dimitriadis, Yannis; Bote-Lorenzo, Miguel L. (2019-11-01) Collaborative learning can improve the pedagogical effectiveness of MOOCs. Group formation, an essential step in the design of collaborative learning activities, can be challenging in MOOCs given the scale and the wide variety in such contexts. We discuss the need for considering the behaviours of the students in the course to form groups in MOOC contexts, and propose a grouping approach that employs homogeneity in terms of students? engagement in the course. Two grouping strategies with different degrees o...
The Integration of Mathematics Discourse, Graphical Reasoning and Symbolic Expression by a Virtual Math Team Çakır, Murat Perit (Springer, 2013-01-01) Learning mathematics involves mastering specific forms of social practice. In this chapter, we describe socially situated, interactional processes involved with collaborative learning of mathematics online. We provide a group-cognitive account of mathematical understanding in an empirical case study of an online collaborative learning environment called Virtual Math Teams. The chapter looks closely at how an online small group of mathematics students coordinates their collaborative problem solving using cha...
Multi-dimensional students' evaluation of e-learning systems in the higher education context: An empirical investigation Özkan Yıldırım, Sevgi (2009-12-01) There has been little research on assessment of learning management systems (LMS) within educational organizations as both a web-based learning system for e-learning and as a supportive tool for blended learning environments. This study proposes a conceptual e-learning assessment model, hexagonal e-learning assessment model (HELAM) suggesting a multi-dimensional approach for LMS evaluation via six dimensions: (1) system quality, (2) service quality, (3) content quality, (4) learner perspective, (5) instruct...
Motivators and Barriers in the Development of Online Communities of Practice BARAN, BAHAR; Çağıltay, Kürşat (2010-01-01) Problem statement: Recently, online Communities of Practice have become a very popular teaching method in teachers' professional development. However, keeping teachers active in these learning environments is a very challenging process. Therefore, investigating this challenge is critical for designing effective online Community of Practice (oCoP) environments for teachers' professional development.
Using Kahoot to Improve Reading Comprehension of English as a Foreign Language Learners Korkmaz, Sezen (2021-01-01) With the advent of technology over the past decade, teachers have started to incorporate live games into second or foreign language (L2) teaching to create an active learning environment and thus keep learners engaged in learning tasks. The present study reports on the findings of an investigation into the impact of the online “Kahoot!” game on improving reading comprehension of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. The participants of the study included a total of 38 undergraduate students studying...

Citation Formats

L. Sanz-Martinez, E. Er, Y. Dimitriadis, A. Martinez-Mones, M. L. Bote-Lorenzo, and E. Er, “Supporting Teachers in the Design and Implementation of Group Formation Policies in MOOCs: A Case Study,” JOURNAL OF UNIVERSAL COMPUTER SCIENCE, pp. 1110–1130, 2018, Accessed: 00, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/90421.