a redefinition of the teacher and student roles in language moocs

Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) Project no.: 621127

A redefinition of the teacher and student roles in Language MOOCs: The example of “How to

succeed in the English-B1 Level exam”

Elena Martín-Monje & María Dolores Castrillo de Larreta-Azelain

Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) Madrid, Spain

[email protected] & [email protected]

Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning

Contents • Introduction • Teacher & student roles in Language

MOOCs • Method: Participants & procedures • Research questions & data analysis • Discussion & conclusions • References


Introduction • Main features of MOOCs:

– Massive – Open – Online – Courses

• 2 basic types: xMOOC & cMOOC • 3 new challenges (Sharples el al., 2015)

1. Technologicallly 2. Educationally 3. Socially

https://www.google.es/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=OH5O073gwJoK1M&tbnid=6EBl092F73G-ZM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=https://twitter.com/Riverthia&ei=ou1LUtrtDOKH0AWS6oCAAQ&bvm=bv.53371865,d.Yms&psig=AFQjCNH1hnwtP_X-9a5JPf2Tp79oaQItqg&ust=1380794131818561


Introduction • EU-funded ECO project:

– MOOCs should be inclusive & cater for those in risk of exclusion, making use of latest technology

• sMOOC (Morgado, Teixeira & Jansen, 2015): – Social: learning marked by social interaction & participation – Seamless:

• Accessible from different platforms • Accessible through mobile devices • Integrating participants’ real life experiences through contextualization

of content (apps & gamification)

MOOC

Inclusion Accesibility

Ubiquity Mobility

sMOOC



Teacher roles in Language MOOCs Course stage

Teacher roles MOOC characteristics

Before

M

OO

C A

dmin

istra

tor,

man

ager

-

Tech

nolo

gist

-Re

sear

cher

MOOC structure designer-developer/ Organizer

Agenda, timeline

Content expert/ Content creator/ Content facilitator

Short subtitled videos Quizzes Aid and supporting materials

Assessment designer/ Evaluator

Peer- and self-assessment

Communication tools and structure designer

Email, forums, questions and answers tool, blog, wiki.

During Facilitators Facilitating discourse Curators Providing direct instruction

After Researcher Learning Analytics

Teacher Roles in Massive Open Online Language Courses (Castrillo, 2014:72)


Student roles in Language MOOCs

Viewers All-rounders Solvers Collectors

Bystanders

Based on Anderson et al., 2014


Method: Participants & procedures

6 Modules Resources Activities Social interaction

Gamification

Presentation Textual materials

Quizzes Forum

4 skills Audiovisual recordings

Past papers Facebook group

Summing up Extra resources

P2P actitivies Sub-groups with #

3 Nov. – 14 Dec. 2015



Method: Participants & procedures • Target group: EFL students with a CEFR B1 Level

interested in taking standardized test • Focus on learning strategies & tips to prepare efficiently

for language tests • Creation of sub-groups: (Every 500, automatically done by

platform)

Pampered group

• Strong facilitator presence

• Messages posted every day

• New topics for discussion every 2/3 days

Monitored group

• Participants’ interaction monitored regularly

• Messages posted every 2/3 days

• No new topics for discussion

Self-managed group

• Low facilitator presence

• Messages only posted to solve problems



Method: Participants & procedures • TEACHERS: 2 course organizers, 6 content creators, 4

facilitators • STUDENTS:

– 8208 participants registered – 5359 started the course (65% of those registered) – 644 completed the course (12% of those who started)

• STUDENT PROFILE – Spanish (91.6%) – Female (60.5%) – Late thirties (37.6 average age) – Higher Education (53.6% hold a BA/BSc , MA/MSc or similar) – Employed (56.8%)



Research questions & data analysis

RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1. Are participants’ learning expectations realistic? 2. How important is the teacher support in the MOOC? 3. Can a MOOC such as this one encourage students to

take a standardized test? RESEARCH METHODOLOGY • Initial questionnaire (3070 responses)

• Final questionnaire (351 responses)



1. Are participants’ learning expectations realistic?



2. Can the instructor presence have an impact on student engagement in Language MOOCs?

TEACHER PERSPECTIVE - No significant participation in any of the sub-groups - Low interaction in forums (1161 total)

Forum N. posts

Guidelines 250

General 54

Module 1 505

Module 2 100

Module 3 87

Module 4 80

Module 5 44

Module 6 41

Sub-group Teacher posts

Student posts

Pampered group

56 14

Monitored group

21 9

Self-managed group

4 7



2. How important is the teacher support in the MOOC?

TEACHER PERSPECTIVE - 767 joined the Facebook Group




STUDENT PERSPECTIVE - On the course

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Objectivesachieved

Reflectionencouraged

Learnerinvolvementencouraged

Learner interactionpromoted

Creativitypromoted

Inadequately (4)

To some extent (3)

To a large extent (2)

Completely (1)




STUDENT PERSPECTIVE - On support provided by peers and teachers

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Social interaction Student posts Work shared bypeers

Peer support Teacher support

I don’t know

Poor

Satisfactory

Good

Excellent



3. Can a MOOC such as this one encourage students to take a standardized test?



Discussion & conclusions • Initial data analysis →qualitative • Castrillo’s (2014) framework followed for teacher roles • Anderson et al.’s (2014)engagement profiles taken into

account • Sub-groups created in an attempt to increase the

number of ‘all-rounders’ • Facebook group created with the aim of enhancing

sMOOC features • Gamification strategies in place (badges)



Discussion & conclusions ANSWERS TO RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1. Are participants’ learning expectations realistic? Participants’ learning expectations are not realistic:

– Around 50% below required entry level. – Over 50% plan to take English B1 Level exam

2. How important is the teacher support in the MOOC? Instructor presence does not seem to have an impact on student

engagement: – No significant participation in ‘pampered’ or ‘monitored’ group. – Facebook group does not seem to have been particularly effective. – Those that completed the course seem to be ‘solvers’ – Students generally satisfied with course – Students rate similarly student and teacher support



Discussion & conclusions 3. Can a MOOC such as this one encourage students to take a

standardized test? A MOOC on language testing & its methodology can be useful to

encourage students to actually take the test.



Discussion & conclusions • Next steps:

– Improvements for next iteration: • Questionnaire on learning styles • Collaborative tasks →true learning community • Structured activities to be provided in FB group • Sub-grouping to be reconsidered (Axmann & Atkins, 2016)

– Quantitative study (LA): • N. Badges achieved • Forum participation • P2P

– BUT LA alone does not fully account for student behaviour & learning needs



References • Anderson, A., Huttenlocher, D., Kleinberg, J. y Leskovec, J. (2014). Engaging with massive

online courses. In WWW’14 Proceedings of the 23rd international conference on World wide web (pp. 687-698). New York: ACM.

• Axmann, M. & Atkins, R. (2016). Online Community-Based Practices for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) at Open Universities Autralia: A Case Study. In R.Mendoza-González (Ed.) User-Centered Design Strategies for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), pp. 83-98. Hershey (PA), USA: IGI Global.

• Castrillo de Larreta-Azelain, MD (2014) Language Teaching in MOOCs: the Integral Role of the Instructor. In Martín-Monje, E. & Bárcena, E. (Eds.) Language MOOCs. Providing Learning, Transcending Boundaries, pp. 67-90. Berlin: De Gruyter Open. Retrieved from http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/455678

• HOME, OpenupEd & ECO Project (2015). Definition Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Retrieved from http://www.openuped.eu/images/docs/Definition_Massive_Open_Online_Courses.pdf

• Morgado, L., Teixeira, A. & Jansen, D. (2015). D2.3 Instructional design and scenarios for MOOCs –version 2. ECO Project Deliverable.

• Sharples, M et al (2015) Mobile and Accessible Learning for MOOCs. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2015(1): 4, 1-8, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/jime.ai


http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/455678

http://www.openuped.eu/images/docs/Definition_Massive_Open_Online_Courses.pdf

http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/jime.ai

Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) Project no.: 621127

More information here:

THANKS! [email protected] & [email protected]

https://ecolearning.eu/

http://www.degruyter.com/viewbooktoc/product/455678