beyond the mooc platform: gaining insights about learners from the social web

Beyond the MOOC platform:Gaining Insights about Learners

from the Social Web Guanliang Chen, Dan Davis, Jun Lin,

Claudia Hauff, Geert-Jan HoubenWeb Information Systems, TU Delft

Whythis research?

Learner

Engagement, retention, …

During MOOC

Whythis research?

Learner

Before MOOC

NOTHING


During MOOC

Whythis research?

Learner

Before MOOC

NOTHING


During MOOC

NOTHING

After MOOC

Howto solve the problem?

We propose:

a deeper understanding about learnerscan be gained by exploring their traces in the Social Web.

Whatresearch questions?


1 On what Social Web platforms can a significant fraction of MOOC learners be identified?



Are learners who demonstrate specific sets of traitson the Social Web drawn to certain types of MOOCs? 2



Are learners who demonstrate specific sets of traitson the Social Web drawn to certain types of MOOCs? 2

To what extent do Social Web platforms enable us to observe (specific) user attributes

that are highly relevant to the online learning experience? 3

Learner Identificationacross Social Web platforms

edX learners

Email Login name Full name+ +


edX learners


1. Explicit Matching

Profile images & links

Identification via emails


edX learners





2. Direct Matching

Identification via profile links from Step 1


edX learners





2. Direct Matching


3. Fuzzy Matching

Search learners by their login & full names

Compare: 1. profile link2. profile image3. login & full names


edX learners





2. Direct Matching


3. Fuzzy Matching

Search learners by their login & full names

Compare: 1. profile link2. profile image3. login & full namesMATCH !

Social Web platformsinvolved in our work

Matching Resultsfor 18 DelftX MOOCs

Lowest Highest Overall

Gravatar 4,37% 23,49% 7,81%

Twitter 4,99% 17,58% 7,78%

Linkedin 3,90% 11,05% 5,89%

StackExchange 1,23% 21,91% 4,58%

GitHub 3,43% 41,93% 10,92%

Matching Resultsfor 18 DelftX MOOCs

Lowest Highest Overall

Gravatar 4,37% 23,49% 7,81%

Twitter 4,99% 17,58% 7,78%

Linkedin 3,90% 11,05% 5,89%

StackExchange 1,23% 21,91% 4,58%

GitHub 3,43% 41,93% 10,92%

On average, 5% of learners can be identified on globally popular Social Web platforms.

Learners on

Twitter- To predict learners’ demographics (e.g., age & gender)

Learners on

Linkedin- Using skills to characterise learners

- Visualised by applying t-SNE techniques.

Learners onStackExchange

- Functional Programming learners in StackOverflow

- To what extent do learners change their question/answering behaviour during and after a MOOC?

Learners on

GitHub- To what extent do learners transfer their acquired

knowledge into practice?- Functional Programming learners

Take-homeMessages

On average, 5% of learners from 18 DelftX MOOCscan be identified on 5 globally popular Social Web platforms. 1

Take-homeMessages


Learners with specific traits prefer different types of MOOCs.2

Take-homeMessages


Learners with specific traits prefer different types of MOOCs.2

Learners’ post-course behaviour can be investigated by using their external Social Web traces.3

http://bit.ly/wis-learning-analytics

Thanks for your participation!

http://bit.ly/wis-learning-analytics

beyond the mooc platform: gaining insights about learners from the social web

Science