Methodological issues in research on MOOCs - ECEL2014
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The document discusses methodological issues in research on MOOCs, highlighting the evolution of research phases from experimentation to a more critical approach towards learning analytics. It identifies gaps in methodological approaches and emphasizes the need for improved methodological debates and frameworks within the field. The authors call for addressing challenges such as ethical considerations and the internal consistency of research methods utilized in MOOCs research.
Methodological issues in research on MOOCs - ECEL2014
- 1. Methodological Issues in Research on MOOCs Juliana Raffaghelli and Donatella Persico Institute for Educational Technologies - National Research Council of Italy ECEL2014 13th European Conference on e-Learning 30-31 October, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2. Research assumptions and the development of a research field… …are based on the «methodological lens» adopted From: Mr. Tekhan, 2007 «Optika» - CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/theklan/474695210/
- 3. What can we learn taking a look at the methodological issues in a research field? Which are the main research problems relating to a vision of the «universe» Which are the values that are assumed as the base for quality research Which are the instruments selected to explore that universe research aims research methods methodological approaches
- 4. Research on MOOCs A hype (Young, 2013) Beyond the exploratory phase Consolidation of themes and objectives (Liyanagunawardena et al. 2013) Two phases of Scholarship (Ebben & Murphy, 2013) 2009-2011 «Experimentation, Enthusiasm, cMOOC» 2012-2013 «Critical approach, xMOOC, Learning Analytics» Little attention has been paid to the methodological approaches and methods in MOOCs research From: Mathiew Plourde, 2013 «MOOC Poster» - CC-BY 2.0 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/mathplourde/8620174342/
- 5. A literature review Distribution of papers analyzed per year Specialized databases consulted
- 6. Results I Research Aims 2009-2013 8 17 7 8 1 4 7 2 3 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 (DLM) Design for Learning in MOOCs (LPM) Learning Processes in MOOCs (CMET) Contribution of MOOCs to educational theory (MP) MOOCs' pedagogy (TM) Technological tools for MOOCs (TPM) Teaching processes in MOOCs (MID) MOOCs for institutional development (LR) Literature Review (MASM) Methodological approaches to study MOOCs
- 7. Results II Methodological Approaches 2009-13 6 12 2 7 6 11 4 9 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Theoretical Conceptual Literature Review Quantitative (exploratory, experimental, etc.) Qualitative (Discourse analysis, narrative analysis, Digital ethnography, etc.) Mixed Methods Design Based Research Not clear (23) Empirical research (18) Non empirical Learning analytics, survey and digital ethnography
- 8. Results III Methodological Approaches 2009-13 0 0 0 2 15 2 1 0 0 2 7 6 0 1 0 0 2 4 0 0 2 0 5 3 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Theoretical-Conceptual Descriptive-Exploratory/ QUAN-QUAL Descriptive-Case Study Intervention-Case Study Intervention-Experimental/Design Experiment Intervention-Experimental/ Random Experiment Literature Review
- 9. Results III Methods 2009-13 8 3 20 2 6 3 3 16 16 4 2 4 3 2 20 3 1 2 2 0 5 10 15 20 25 LearningAnalytics Interviews Survey FocusGroup Electroniccorpora(fora,tweets, socialnetworksposting,etc.) MultimodalLearningartifacts (assignments,presentations,data representationusedbylearners,… ExperimentalGroups Conceptual Descriptionofdimensions Virtualethnography Thematicanalysis Discourseanalysis Socio-pragmatic/ethnographic/ multimodalanalysisfor multimodalartifacts Contentanalysis DescriptiveStatistics Statisticalcorrelation Factorialanalysis InferencialStatistics Networkanalysis Data Collection Data analysis
- 10. Discussion Little variation with regard to the methodological approaches and methods adopted along the period 2009-2014. The methodological debate is missed and a profusion of methods are used jointly Understanding the MOOCs research evolution from Gorard’s “Full cycle of educational research” 11, 20% 17, 30% 5, 9% 17, 30% 4, 7% 2, 4% 0, 0% 1) Evidence analysis 2) Development of idea or artifact 3) Feasibility Study 4) Prototyping and trialing 5) Field Studies and design stage 6) Definitive testing 7) Dissemination Impact and monitoring"
- 11. Conclusions Taking into consideration the methodological issues, research on MOOCs is mostly collocated at the level of the first four phases of the “full cycle of educational research”. Two challenges for the future: “Methodological Tuning” Evolution of the methodological approaches under the pressure of the specific needs of this research field Other topics that should be analysed within the methodological debate: Ethics (big data are available) Internal consistence (connections between the research problem and the methods adopted) Generalization (QUAN) Educative/ontological/strategic value (QUAL) Nullius in verba… Time for discussion! From: Duncan Hull, 2005 «Question Everything» - CC-BY 2.0 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dullhunk/202872717/