Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) sind in den letzten
Jahren in aller Munde, wenn es darum geht, technologiegestütztes
Lernen für große Zielgruppen zu verwirklichen.
MOOCs bieten dabei kostenlose Bildung mit offenem Zugang
an, sowohl für die breite Öffentlichkeit als auch für spezielle
Zielgruppen (z.B. Weiterbildung). Die in den Medien
diskutierte Absprungrate (Drop-Out) führte zu einer notwendigen
Reflexion über Vor- und Nachteile dieses Verfahrens.
Die Autor_innen dieses Beitrags schlagen daher einen
neuen pädagogischen Ansatz vor: Der Online-Kurs (MOOC)
soll durch Präsenzunterricht ergänzt werden, um den sozialen
Prozess des Lernens gezielt zu unterstützen. Während
die Anreicherung von Präsenzveranstaltungen mit Online-
Anteilen als „Blended Learning“ beschrieben wird, wird die
Anreicherung von reinem Online-Lernen durch Präsenzangebote
als „Inverse Blended Learning“ bezeichnet. Im Beitrag
wird ein MOOC für Erwachsenenbildner_innen, der durch
Präsenzangebote erweitert wurde, als Fallstudie vorgestellt.
Aus den Daten der Nutzer_innen und ihren Aktivitäten kann
mit Hilfe von Verfahren des Learning Analytics Rückschlüsse
gezogen werden. Dabei zeigt sich in diesem Beispiel, dass
– vermutlich durch das große Angebot und die starke Nutzung
von Begleitangeboten zum MOOC – mit 48,2 Prozent eine
sehr hohe Zertifizierungsquote (N=3.064 registrierte Nutzer_
innen) erreicht werden konnte. Zudem wird eine Verbesserung
der Interaktion zwischen den Teilnehmenden auf der
MOOC-Plattform als auch in den zugehörigen Diskussionsforen
beobachtet. ... Read more

Despite evidence that learning analytics has become institutionalised within higher education since its emergence in 2011, there remain questions regarding its impact on informing curricula, pedagogy and ultimately, on student success. A variety of factors can impact on the successful implementation of learning analytics. Despite its huge potential, learning analytics may become stuck in the middle of, inter alia, the need to balance operational needs and resource allocation, and different perceptions of learning, agency and loci of control in learning, teaching and macro-societal factors. In this conceptual paper, we propose an institutional cartography of learning analytics and explore the impact of a number of micro, meso and macro institutional factors that may impact and shape the institutionalisation of learning analytics. We utilise a socio-critical model for understanding student success as a conceptual basis for developing this cartography. ... Read more

While many strategies for protecting personal privacy have relied on regulatory frameworks, consent and anonymizing data, such approaches are not always effective. Frameworks and Terms and Conditions often lag user behaviour and advances in technology and software; consent can be provisional and fragile; and the anonymization of data may impede personalized learning. This paper reports on a dialogical multi-case study methodology of four Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) providers from different geopolitical and regulatory contexts. It explores how the providers (1) define 'personal data' and whether they acknowledge a category of 'special' or 'sensitive' data; (2) address the issue and scope of student consent (and define that scope); and (3) use student data in order to inform pedagogy and/or adapt the learning experience to personalise the context or to increase student retention and success rates.

This study found that large amounts of personal data continue to be collected for purposes seemingly unrelated to the delivery and support of courses. The capacity for users to withdraw or withhold consent for the collection of certain categories of data such as sensitive personal data remains severely constrained. This paper proposes that user consent at the time of registration should be reconsidered, and that there is a particular need for consent when sensitive personal data are used to personalize learning, or for purposes outside the original intention of obtaining consent. ... Read more

A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is a type of online learning environment that has the potential to increase students' access to education. However, the low completion rates in MOOCs suggest that student engagement and progression in the courses are problematic. Following the increasing adoption of gamification in education, it is possible that gamification can also be effectively adopted in MOOCs to enhance students' motivation and increase completion rates. Yet at present, the extent to which gamification has been examined in MOOCs is not known. Considering the myriad gamification elements that can be adopted in MOOCs (e.g., leaderboards and digital badges), this theoretical research study reviews scholarly publications examining gamification of MOOCs. The main purpose is to provide an overview of studies on gamification in MOOCs, types of research studies, theories applied, gamification elements implemented, methods of implementation, the overall impact of gamification in MOOCs, and the challenges faced by researchers and practitioners when implementing gamification in MOOCs. The results of the literature study indicate that research on gamification in MOOCs is in its early stages. While there are only a handful of empirical research studies, results of the experiments generally showed a positive relation between gamification and student motivation and engagement. It is concluded that there is a need for further studies using educational theories to account for the effects of employing gamification in MOOCs. ... Read more

We present a mobile game app (EUR Game) that has been designed to complement teaching and learning in higher education. The mobile game app can be used by teachers to gauge how well students are meeting the learning objectives. Teachers can use the information to provide 'just-in-time' support and adapt their lessons accordingly. For the students, the game app is a study tool that can be used to test their own understanding and monitor their study progress. This, in turn, supports students' self-regulated learning. Gamification elements are also included in the game app to enhance the learning experience. During the demonstration, participants will experience the features of the game app and be engaged in an interactive session to explore the possible ways to use the mobile game app to support teaching and learning. ... Read more

In recent years, massive open online courses (MOOCs) led the road into a new era of learning environment systems. Since 2008, e-Learning witnessed a new type of course which is massive in student numbers, open for anyone, and available for all without limitations. MOOCs integrate social networking, accessible online resources, and open-ended outcomes and are publicly shared. In addition, MOOCs offer several online variables that allow researchers from analytical disciplines (learning analytics) to translate these variable data values into research actions and interpret patterns. In this chapter, we present a detailed analysis of a MOOC case study offered in the previous 2 years, 2015 and 2016. The Graz University of Technology, the University of Graz, and partners from the Medical University of Graz collaborated on a project producing a MOOC called “Dr. Internet.” This MOOC aims to investigate whether the Internet helps or hurts in the endeavor to increase health literacy of the public and how it affects the practitioner-patient relationship. Nevertheless, the research study in this chapter is looking onto a different point of view. We will follow a quantitative investigation and apply learning analytics techniques on learners’ behavior as well as scrutinize traces they left behind in videos, discussion forums, and quizzes. In addition, we try to further inspect the dropout rate and level of engagement. It can be outlined that the early analysis results show that those MOOCs behaved similar to other studies but they differ in the higher number of reads in the discussion forum. Reasonable didactical interventions assisted to change learners’ attitudes toward online learning. This chapter will also describe the didactical approach of the Dr. Internet MOOCs. ... Read more

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been a hype in technology
enhanced learning systems the last couple of years. The promises behind
MOOCs stand on delivering free and open education to the public, as well as
training a large criterion of students. However, MOOCs clashes severely with
students dropout which by then forced educationalists to deeply think of
MOOCs effectivity from all angles. As a result, the authors of this paper propose
a pedagogical idea that strongly depends on injecting the online learning
(MOOC) with face-to-face sessions to refresh the students minds as well as integrating them in the real learning process. The authors after that analyze the results of their experiment using Learning Analytics. The outcomes have shown a
new record of certification ratio (35.4%), an improvement of student interaction
in the MOOC platform, and a manifest in social interaction in the MOOC discussion forum. ... Read more

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) require students’ motivation either intrinsically or extrinsically to complete any of its courses. Even though MOOCs enjoy great popularity and bring many benefits to the educational community, some concerns arise with MOOC advancement. In fact, MOOCs are affected by low completion rate and face issues with respect to interactivity and student engagement along MOOC duration, which may convert student excitement to boredom and then drop out at any stage. A key result of research in the past couple of years has proved that students’ engagement in MOOCs is strongly related to their activities online. These activities are related to the interaction between student and logging in the MOOC, reading and writing in the MOOC discussion forum, watching videos and doing quizzes. In this research paper, we present our research in deploying a gamification mechanic in MOOCs to increase student engagement. The gamification approach relies on weekly feedback to drive student intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Following learning analytics on students’ data from a MOOC offered in 2014, 2015, and 2016, the outcome of this approach showed an obvious increase in students’ activity and engagement in discussion forums, login frequency and quiz trials. The active students’ cohort allotment has increased in comparison with previous versions of the same MOOC as well as the completion rate has incremented up to 26% of the total number of participants. ... Read more