Abstract
Many publications and surveys refer to the high drop out rate in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) which is around 90%, especially if we compare the number of students who register against those who finish. Working towards improving student engagement in MOOCs, we focus on providing specific research-based recommendations on formative assessment and feedback practices that can advance student activity. In this respect, we analysed some significant research papers on formative assessment and feedback methods applicable to face-to-face teaching environments that advance student engagement, and concluded with related requirements and conditions that can be applied also to MOOCs. We also analysed 4050 comments and reviews of the seven most active and highly rated MOOCs (6 Coursera ones and 1 from EdX) provided by the students who have mainly completed those courses via CourseTalk. Based on this content analysis, we have formulated fourteen recommendations that support also the requirements/conditions of our conceptual and theoretical framework analysis. The results obtained shed some light in a rather unexplored research area, which is the research on formative assessment and feedback practices specifically for stronger engagement in MOOCs.
Highlights
Massive Open Online Courses are the latest trend in the area of e-learning and remote education and have significant popularity in the higher education community
There is already some research activity on identifying the factors that influence student engagement that can be categorized into two broad categories: a) the non-didactic ones and didactic ones such as course structure and content, self-paced or not, workload and duration, course topic, type of exams, type of assessments and feedback, and interaction with students and instructors, etc. (Adamopoulos, 2013)
In this paper we focus on formative assessment and feedback practices that could be applied in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for enhancing student engagement
Summary
Massive Open Online Courses are the latest trend in the area of e-learning and remote education and have significant popularity in the higher education community. The drop out rates are very high in the range of 90% or more (Clow, 2013; Lewin, 2013) and the research community should focus on addressing this issue by trying to understand the causes and suggest specific solutions so that open education achieves its high potential and does not fail In this respect, there is already some research activity on identifying the factors that influence student engagement that can be categorized into two broad categories: a) the non-didactic ones (students’ and instructors’ profiles, their demographics, reputation of institutions and of the teaching staff involved, certification options, fee options, course popularity, etc.) and didactic ones such as course structure and content, self-paced or not, workload and duration, course topic, type of exams, type of assessments and feedback, and interaction with students and instructors, etc.
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