Learning in an Introductory Physics MOOC: All Cohorts Learn Equally, Including an On-Campus Class
Name
Pritchard_Learning in an.pdf
Size
1.51 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
35cdd753e59bfded0d30bbad95822c38
Author(s)
Colvin, Kimberly F.
Champaign, John
Liu, Alwina R.
Pritchard, David E.
Zhou, Qian
Fredericks, Colin
Date Issued
September 2014
Journal
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning
Publisher
Athabasca University
Citation
Colvin, Kimberly F., John Champaign, Alwina Liu, Qian Zhou, Colin Fredericks, and David E. Pritchard. "Learning in an Introductory Physics MOOC: All Cohorts Learn Equally, Including an On-Campus Class." International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol. 15, No. 4 (2014).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We studied student learning in the MOOC 8.MReV Mechanics ReView, run on the edX.org open source platform. We studied learning in two ways. We administered 13 conceptual questions both before and after instruction, analyzing the results using standard techniques for pre- and posttesting. We also analyzed each week’s homework and test questions in the MOOC, including the pre- and posttests, using item response theory (IRT). This determined both an average ability and a relative improvement in ability over the course. The pre- and posttesting showed substantial learning: The students had a normalized gain slightly higher than typical values for a traditional course, but significantly lower than typical values for courses using interactive engagement pedagogy. Importantly, both the normalized gain and the IRT analysis of pre- and posttests showed that learning was the same for different cohorts selected on various criteria: level of education, preparation in math and physics, and overall ability in the course. We found a small positive correlation between relative improvement and prior educational attainment. We also compared homework performance of MIT freshmen taking a reformed on-campus course with the 8.MReV students, finding them to be considerably less skillful than the 8.MReV students.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1902/3009
