MIT Libraries logoDSpace@MIT

MIT
View Item 
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • View Item
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Learning in an Introductory Physics MOOC: All Cohorts Learn Equally, Including an On-Campus Class

Author(s)
Colvin, Kimberly F.; Champaign, John; Liu, Alwina R.; Pritchard, David E.; Zhou, Qian; Fredericks, Colin; ... Show more Show less
Thumbnail
DownloadPritchard_Learning in an.pdf (1.511Mb)
PUBLISHER_CC

Publisher with Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution

Terms of use
Creative Commons Attribution http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Metadata
Show full item record
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.
Date issued
2014-09
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/90300
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics
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
ISSN
1492-3831

Collections
  • MIT Open Access Articles

Browse

All of DSpaceCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

My Account

Login

Statistics

OA StatisticsStatistics by CountryStatistics by Department
MIT Libraries
PrivacyPermissionsAccessibilityContact us
MIT
Content created by the MIT Libraries, CC BY-NC unless otherwise noted. Notify us about copyright concerns.