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Exploring co-studied Massive Open Online Course Subjects via social network analysis

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Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>10/06/2014
<mark>Journal</mark>International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning
Issue number8
Volume9
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) allow students to study online courses without requiring previous experience or qualifications. This offers students the freedom to study a wide variety of topics, freed from the curriculum of a degree programme for example; however, it also poses a challenge for students in terms of making connections between individual courses. This paper examines the subjects which students at one MOOC platform (Coursera) choose to study. It uses a social network analysis based approach to create a network graph of co-studied subjects. The resulting network demonstrates a good deal of overlap between different disciplinary areas. Communities are identified within the graph and characterised. The results suggests that MOOC students may not be seeking to replicate degree-style courses in one specialist area, which may have implications for the future moves toward ‘MOOCs for credit’.