Who does what in a massive open online course?

Abstract

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) collect valuable data onstudent learning behavior: essentially complete records of all student interactions in a self-contained learning environment,with the benefit of large sample sizes. We present an overview of how the 108,000 participants behaved in 6.002x - Circuits and Electronics, the first course in MITx (now edX). We divide participants into tranches based on the extent of their assessment activities, ranging from browsers (who constituted ~ 76% of the participants but accounted for only 8% of the total time spent in the course) to certificate-earners (7% of theparticipants who accounted for 60% of the total time). We examine how the certificate earners allocated their time amongst the various course components and study what fraction of each they accessed. We analyze transitions between course components, showing, how student behavior differs when solving homework vs. exam problems. This work lays the foundation for future studies of how use of various course components, and transitions among them, influence learning in MOOCs.