Browsing by Author "Pérez Álvarez, Ronald"

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Analyzing learners’ behavior beyond the MOOC: an exploratory study
(2019) Pérez Sanagustín, María del Mar; Sharma, Kshitij; Pérez Álvarez, Ronald; Maldonado Mahauad, Jorge Javier; Broisin, Julien
Most of literature on massive open online courses (MOOCs) have focused on describing and predicting learner’s behavior with course trace data. However, little is known on the external resources beyond the MOOC they use to shape their learning experience, and how these interactions relate with their success in the course. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study that analyzes data from 572 learners in 4 MOOCs to understand (1) what the learners’ activities beyond the MOOC are, and (2) how they relate with their course performance. We analyzed frequencies of the students’ individual activities in and beyond the MOOC, and the transitions between these activities. Then, we analyzed the time spent on outside the MOOC content as well as the nature of this content. Finally, we predict which transitions better predict final learners’ grades. The results show that we can predict accurately students’ grades of the course using only internal-course fine-grained data of student’s interactions with video-lectures and exams combined with trace data of interactions with content outside the MOOCs. Also, data shows that learners spent 75% of their time on the MOOC, but go frequently to other content, mainly social networking sites, mail boxes and search engines.
Design of a Tool to Support Self-Regulated Learning Strategies in MOOCs
(2018) Pérez Álvarez, Ronald; Maldonado Mahauad, Jorge Javier; Pérez Sanagustín, Mar
The massive and open nature of MOOCs contribute to attracting a great diversity of learners. However, the learners who enroll in these types of courses have trouble achieving their course objectives. One reason for this is that they do not adequately self-regulate their learning. In this context, there are few tools to support these strategies in online learning environment. Also, the lack of metrics to evaluate the impact of the proposed tools makes it difficult to identify the key features of this type of tools. In this paper, we present the process for designing NoteMyProgress, a web application that complements a MOOC platform and supports self-regulated learning strategies. For designing NoteMyProgress we followed the Design Based Research methodology. For the evaluation of the tool, we conducted two case studies using a beta version of NoteMyProgress over three MOOCs offered in Coursera. The findings of these …
How to map learning activities through URLs? the case of Coursera platform
(CEUR-WS, 2018) Pérez Álvarez, Ronald; Maldonado Mahauad, Jorge Javier; Pérez Sanagustín, Mar
The increased use of online learning environments such as MOOCs creates an ideal setting for data collection and the application of learning analytics techniques to better understand how we learn. However, access to data from today's MOOC platforms is limited, and it is often difficult to collect and clean up data to obtain information that will help to better understand how learning occurs in these contexts. In this study we analyze how to track the learning traces of the students' activities on the MOOC Coursera platform to understand their behavior. The study analyzed the URL patterns of 13 MOOCs offered by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile on this platform. As a result, 5 categories of activities were identified in the URLs: 1) the actions of the students on the platform; 2) the content involuted in the learning process; 3) the context in which the learning took place, and 4) the social interaction with other students. These results aim to provide guidance to other researchers in analyzing the behavior of students at MOOCs de Coursera and applying learning analytic techniques
Learning analytics at UC-engineering: Lessons learned about infrastructure and organizational structure
(CEUR-WS, 2020) Pérez Sanagustín, Mar; Pérez Álvarez, Ronald; Maldonado Mahauad, Jorge Javier; Hilliger, Isabel; Hernández Correa, Josefina
The development of Learning Analytics (LA) capabilities in a Higher Education institution is challenging. On the one hand, the institution requires of a technological infrastructure for adapting and/or developing LA services. On the other hand, the institution also needs of an organizational structure for designing and implementing new processes for assuring the adoption of these services. There are two different approaches for developing the necessary infrastructure and organizational structure. One consists on following a top-down process, in which the leadership of the LA initiative is mainly driven by institutional managers, who provide the necessary means. Another is bottom-up, where the initiatives are led by ground-level teaching staff without involving institutional managers. This article presents both approaches through two LA initiatives of Engineering School at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC-Engineering). We show how these two initiatives emerged and integrated into existing academic processes to improve teaching and learning at an institutional level. The infrastructure and organizational structure resulting from each initiative is presented, as well as the lessons learned. This paper aims at serving as an example for other universities in Latin America interested on developing and incorporating LA capabilities.
Tools to support self-regulated learning in online environments: literature review
(Springer Verlag, 2018) Pérez Álvarez, Ronald; Maldonado Mahauad, Jorge Javier; Pérez Sanagustín, Mar; Maldonado Mahauad, Jorge Javier
Self-regulated learning (SRL) skills are especially important in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), where teacher guidance is scarce, and learners must engage in their learning process trying to succeed and achieve their learning goals. However, developing SRL strategies is difficult for learners given the autonomy that is required in this kind of courses. In order to support learners on this process, researchers have proposed a variety of tools designed to support certain aspects of self-regulation in online learning environments. Nevertheless, there is a lack of study to understand what the commonalities and differences in terms of design are, what the results in terms of the effect on learners’ self-regulation are and which of them could be applied in MOOCs. Those are the questions that should be further explored. In this paper we present a systematic literature review where 22 tools designed to …