Public perceptions towards MOOCs on social media: an alternative perspective to understand personal learning experiences of MOOCs

ABSTRACT

This study attempted to assess public perceptions of and interest in MOOCs by examining how Weibo increases public discussion of MOOCs as well as by interpreting how individual learners talk about their learning experiences. Over 4,000 microblog posts were collected and analysed between 2013 and 2018. The findings showed that Weibo is used as a public service medium to augment the publicity of the MOOC movement and increase the accessibility of MOOC portals. The results also demonstrated that Weibo acts as a space for learners to share their personal learning experiences, which reflect aspects of autonomous, self-regulated, interactive and cooperative learning. By posting on Weibo, close peer connections and learning groups were established to encourage MOOC learning. This study’s findings further the scholarly understanding of how MOOCs are discussed on social media and address an important gap around what is known in one of the largest and most under-researched sites of informal online learning.

KEYWORDS:

• MOOCs
• microblogs
• content analysis
• learning experience

Acknowledgements

The authors would also like to thank Beijing Normal University Big Data Centre for Technology-mediated Education and the National Institute for Digital Learning and in Dublin City University. The first author conducted the primary analysis which was validated by the second, third and fourth authors. All authors contributed to the literate review and read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and materials

The data that support the findings of this study comprise Weibo data are available in our database. We include full references to all of the papers in this article text.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [project number 61907004].

Notes on contributors

Yinjuan Shao

Yinjuan Shao is a research fellow at Advanced Innovation Centre for Future Education, School of Educational Technology, Beijing Normal University [email protected].

Jingjing Zhang

Jingjing Zhang is the director of the Big Data Centre for Technology-mediated Education at Beijing Normal University. She holds a PhD and an MSc from the University of Oxford. Before joining BNU, she trained at the OECD, Paris, and then interned at the UN headquarters in New York. [email protected].

Eamon Costello

Costello Costello is a researcher at Open Education Unit, National Institute for Digital Learning Dublin City University, Ireland. His Doctoral study analysed the implications of massively distributed collaborative development processes for education and educational technology and focused on the community of the Open Source VLE Moodle. [email protected].

Mark Brown

Mark Brown is Ireland's first Chair in Digital Learning and Director of the National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL). Mark coordinates the Digital Learning Research Network which includes over 50 DCU staff with a research interest in the area and who produce a broad range of scholarly outputs related to blended, Online and Digital (BOLD) education. [email protected].