Needs Analysis of the Meetup Function Design for Massive Open Online Course Learners

in Taiwan

Wei-Ting Lin, Chao-Hsiu Chen, & Wei-I Lee

Massive open online course, MOOC

• Complete course

includes course videos, syllabus, lecture notes, assignments,

reading lists, reading materials, tests, and interaction

• Open

free for registration, watching videos, downloading learning

materials

• Coursera, edX

Massive open online course, MOOC

• MOOC vs. OCW

course vs. courseware

certification vs. non-credit

collaborative learning vs. self learning

• A major difference between MOOC & OCW is

“interaction”

Interactions in an online environment

• More interactions can enhance cognitive presence,

social presence, and teaching presence (Moore, Masterson,

Christophel, & Shea, 1996).

• Interactions increase learner satisfaction and learning

effectiveness (Swan, 2002).

Interactions in an online environment

• However, interaction in online learning environments is

often restricted by devices and technologies.

• Commonly used text-based technologies:

discussion boards, short message services (SMS), e-mail,

etc.

Interactions in an online environment

• Text-based technologies have less media richness than

face-to-face conversation (Lan & Sie, 2010).

F2F > Telephone > Text-based communication

• Media richness is a critical factor that influences user

satisfaction in online environments (Simon & Peppas, 2004).

Interactions in an online environment

• From computer-mediated communication to face-to-

face: Meetup

Interactions in an online environment

• Is the Meetup design useful to Taiwan learners?

Method

• Reviewing relevant research and Coursera Meetup to

form a basic design.

• Analyzing learners’ needs and attitudes toward face-to-

face discussion. (Survey: 62 participants)

• Interviewing 3 online learners and 1 professor who had

incorporate OCW materials to his instruction.

Results

(b) Is it hard to you to post and describe learning questions on discussion board?

(c) Is it hard to you to reply and answer others’ questions on discussion board?

(a) 87.1% of the participants prefer face-to-face discussion to computer-mediated communication

Results

(e) Willingness of face-to-face discussion with other learners; some learners are your familiar friends

(d) Willingness of face-to-face discussion with other learners you don’t familiar

Results

(f) Willingness of face-to-face discussion with other learners who are all your familiar friends.

Taiwan learners are shy!

Results• Interviewees’ suggestions:

– Function allows users to set group criteria such as “groups only

visible to friends”, “groups only visible to MOOC classmates”,

and “groups only visible to learners who had joined the same

group(s) with me.”

– Learners should be able to remain anonymous if they look for

help from someone they don’t know.

– Every user has a personal reputation score which gets higher if

the user frequently helps others.

– History logs.

Scenario 1

A student used his

mobile device to

learn statistics, and

he encountered a

problem about

ANOVA.

Scenario 2

Several students

taking “Introduction

to Computer Science”

wanted to start a

scheduled study

group.

Scenario 3

A businessman was

waiting for his flight

at the airport. He

used mobile phone,

launched the

MOOC-meetup and

clicked “Who’s

around?” to search

other users with

the same learning

interests.

Conclusion

1. Learners prefer face-to-face discussion to computer-

mediated communication.

2. Learners prefer joining a learning group with people

they know.

3. Learners prefer setting the criteria to screen group

members.

4. The function should include history logs of meet-up

groups and participants.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

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