Exploring the Temporal Dimension of Forum Participation in MOOCs: Educational Data Mining Perspective

• In Event: 67.051 - MOOCs: Pedagogies, Participation, and Perspectives

Abstract

Discussion forums are increasingly central to MOOCs, and it is vital for learners to participate in associated forum activities. Active forum participation positively relates to learner achievement in that more posts often yield better learner performance. However, this numerically aggregated measure overlooks the fact that longitudinal trajectories of forum participation temporally vary among learners with different motivations in taking MOOCs. Using educational data mining techniques, this research identified three clusters with different longitudinal participation trajectories and also indicated that intrinsically motivated learners outperformed others in their longitudinal forum engagement. Also, examining longitudinal trajectories of forum participation more accurately differentiated learner performance than the numerically aggregated measure. Last, learners persistently engaging in forums were more likely to perform better in MOOCs.

Authors

• Hengtao Tang, The Pennsylvania State University

• bo pei

• Wanli Xing, Texas Tech University