What We Learned When We Compared Discussion Posts From One MOOC Hosted on Two Platforms

• In Event: Discussing Online Discussions

Abstract

We qualitatively compared discussion posts from a data science ethics MOOC that was hosted on two platforms. We characterized one platform as “open” because learners can see the posts of others before responding and the other as “locked” because they cannot. Our objective is to determine whether these platform differences are consequential and have the potential to impact student learning. Posts on the “open” platform were characterized by failure to address the prompt and showed evidence of reflection and persuasion tactics. Posts on the “closed” platform were characterized by an apparent intent to complete the task completion, assertiveness, and showed a diversity of ideas. We discuss implications findings may have on MOOC platform choice and tailoring tasks to platform affordances.

Authors

• Rebecca M. Quintana, University of Michigan

• Juan Daniel Pinto, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Yuanru Tan