Improving MOOC student learning through enhanced peer-to-peer tasks

Abstract

In the context of MOOCs, activities that imply a deeper learning are, undoubtedly, P2P tasks. However, the traditional MOOC structure makes very difficult to evaluate the learning level obtained by students when performing these activities. This situation is especially problematic as students increasingly demand the universities to certify the knowledge acquired by means of MOOCs, so higher education institutions must guarantee their learning. In order to address this challenge, in this paper it is proposed a new type of P2P activity, designed to automatically provide students a valuable feedback about their work. This new type of activity is supported by a module, including a coordination engine and a formal revision component communicating by means of the LTI protocol with an automatic revision assistant, which allows differentiating a genuine contribution from the simple repetition of ideas. Moreover, and experimental validation is carried out. Results show first evidences that most students (up to 82%) improve their learning when employed the new proposed technology.