Idea Sharing Improves MOOCS Learning

Sharing ideas in an online environment has a distinct advantage over sharing personal details in driving learning engagement in massive open online courses (MOOCS), according to research done by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.  Online learning engagement can be increased by nearly one-third by simply prompting students to share course ideas in a discussion forum rather than having them share information about their identity or personal motivations for enrolling, said Unnati Narang, a professor of business administration at the Gies College of Business. With less than 10% of online learners completing courses, and less than 5% participating in course discussions, there’s a stark need for online learning platforms to identify and employ strategies that can enhance student engagement, Narang said. Initially, online platforms placed a lot of emphasis on having discussion forums to engage students. But over time, those efforts tended to fizzle out, Narang said.