Abstract
<p class="3">To fully understand the phenomenon of massive open online courses (MOOCs), it is important to identify and map trends and patterns in research on MOOCs. This study does so by reviewing 362 empirical articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 2008 to 2015. For the purpose of this study, content analysis and discourse analysis were employed to analyze the articles. Accordingly, the trend line showing the number of articles per year indicates that the extent of research on MOOCs is likely to increase in the coming years. In terms of research areas, the findings reveal an imbalance and three research areas out of fifteen constitute more than half of all research on MOOCs. With regard to types of MOOCs, related literature is dominated by research on xMOOCs. The discourse in MOOC articles takes a mostly neutral standpoint, articles with a positive outlook outweigh those that are negative, and there is an increase in a more critical discourse. Theoretical or conceptual studies are preferred by researchers, although MOOC research generally does not benefit from being viewed through theoretical or conceptual lenses.</p>
Highlights
The phenomenon of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has recently attracted considerable attention in the fields of higher education (HE), lifelong learning, and distance education (DE)
The three most studied research areas constitute 53.7% of the overall corpus, which clearly identifies the remaining twelve research areas as those that need to be studied more. These findings related to research areas have revealed those areas that are most researched, and those that are most neglected and require a special focus to improve MOOC practices
The results of this study reveal and describe research trends and patterns in MOOC research over the time period from 2008 to 2015
Summary
The phenomenon of MOOCs has recently attracted considerable attention in the fields of higher education (HE), lifelong learning, and distance education (DE). In the light of such exuberant discussions about the “identity” of MOOCs, we believe that as a first step in exploring the phenomenon of MOOCs and trying to understand their past, present, and future, we should investigate research trends and patterns in the body of research on MOOCs. In the light of such exuberant discussions about the “identity” of MOOCs, we believe that as a first step in exploring the phenomenon of MOOCs and trying to understand their past, present, and future, we should investigate research trends and patterns in the body of research on MOOCs In this context, the aim of this study is to provide a panoramic overview of MOOC research from 2008 to 2015 by identifying trends and patterns through a systematic review of the related literature. The aim of this study is to provide a panoramic overview of MOOC research from 2008 to 2015 by identifying trends and patterns through a systematic review of the related literature Within this perspective, the purpose of this study is to address the following research questions
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