The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods and challenges of motivating learners to get more involved in online discussion. A comparison of the same course run in Xuetangx. com and edX. org is made,indicatin...The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods and challenges of motivating learners to get more involved in online discussion. A comparison of the same course run in Xuetangx. com and edX. org is made,indicating the cultural differences as well as the forum teacher assistants’ strategies to manage posts in Chinese and in English. An empirical account of how students actually communicate in the discussion forum,as part of assignments graded or as free space for questions and answers,is distinguished. The findings of the analysis of MOOC discussion forum posts indicate that the learning community which the Chinese learners are in tends to be more dynamic while learners in multi-cultural learning communities have diverse expectations of a MOOC and their use of discussion tends to be more superficial. Additionally, the differences in learning strategies as well as attention to language proficiency enhance communication. With more learners in both platforms, we have a long way to go to keep motivating learners to participate in MOOC discussion both in XuetangX and in edX platform.展开更多
文摘The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods and challenges of motivating learners to get more involved in online discussion. A comparison of the same course run in Xuetangx. com and edX. org is made,indicating the cultural differences as well as the forum teacher assistants’ strategies to manage posts in Chinese and in English. An empirical account of how students actually communicate in the discussion forum,as part of assignments graded or as free space for questions and answers,is distinguished. The findings of the analysis of MOOC discussion forum posts indicate that the learning community which the Chinese learners are in tends to be more dynamic while learners in multi-cultural learning communities have diverse expectations of a MOOC and their use of discussion tends to be more superficial. Additionally, the differences in learning strategies as well as attention to language proficiency enhance communication. With more learners in both platforms, we have a long way to go to keep motivating learners to participate in MOOC discussion both in XuetangX and in edX platform.
