“Error 404- Struggling Learners Not Found” Exploring the Behavior of MOOC Learners

Abstract

Lack of timely instructors’ support when the learners are struggling with the course contents and activities is one frequent problem of MOOC learners. The early identification of these learners could help instructors spend part of their limited time assisting them and avoid potential dropouts. This paper presents a MOOC case study that explores the behavior of learners who reported problems in private messages and discussion forums. The study aimed at the identification of parameters that might allow the detection of learners struggling with different course aspects. As the results suggested, the comparison of the learners’ activity traces reveals some common sequences that in the future could facilitate the identification of learners facing problems, even without reporting them. On the other hand, statistical analyses on learners’ behavior showed non-significant differences between the learners reporting putting their maximum effort to overcome a problem before asking for help and the ones who did not.