Towards a Better Understanding of Mobile Learning in MOOCs

Abstract

The pervasive presence of mobile devices and growing trends like ubiquitous learning make new demands on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Users learn increasingly on the go and with multiple devices, instead of being tied to a fixed workstation. However, there is a lack of research how the usage of mobile devices influences the learning behavior and outcome in MOOCs. Thus, this paper presents a first quantitative study to examine this question. To enable a statistical analysis, a proof-of-concept implementation outline is presented, which enhances the Learning Analytics capabilities of the openHPI MOOC platform with contextual data to process various learning behavior metrics. Based on an analysis of four courses, it was found that users who additionally learnt with mobile applications showed a higher engagement with the learning material and completed the course more often. Nevertheless, the reasoning must be addressed with qualitative analyses in future, to better support their learning process and success on mobile and stationary devices.