Temporal Analysis of Meaningful Forum Posts for Online Learners in MOOCS

• In Event: Online Learning Experiences

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to identify the temporal dimension of content-related forum posts and investigate how the longitudinal trajectory of online meaningful participation influence learner retention. Specifically, latent semantic analysis and machine learning approaches were used to classify forum posts and a survival modelling technique will be used to quantify the effect of the temporal dimension of meaningful forum engagement on student attrition in MOOCs. The findings of this research provided significant implications on implementing effective discussion forums and preventing learner attrition.

Authors

• Bokai Yang, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire

• Hengtao Tang, University of South Carolina

• Ling Hao, Illinois State University

• John Rose, University of South Carolina