Our research has contributed to measures and mechanisms of social processes in digital learning environments, using digital learner traces, in MOOCs. We contributed interaction-based indicators of whether MOOC learners are forming a community based on relationships. Through this work we put forward a multi-level conceptualization of MOOC participation, which enables to measure learner relationships arising from interactions. We have also provided evidence that MOOCs are identity-based communities, not bond-based communities. This is a valuable contribution since most digital learning pedagogy, as well as instruments to measure processes in digital learning settings, are designed for bond-based communities common in university courses. Indicators of MOOC as identity-based communities have been replicated on another dataset. These have been published in The International Review of Research of Open and Distance Learning (2018; IF 0.7), Computers and Education (2020; IF 5.3), Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference (2016), among others. Various empirical and review studies on the subject are listed below.
- How do we model learning at scale? A systematic review of research in MOOCs.
- Differences in forum communication of residents and visitors in MOOCS
- Network Patterns of Direct and Indirect Reciprocity in edX MOOC Forums
- Are MOOC forums changing?
- Understanding Social Learning Behavior of xMOOC Completers.
- Analysis of MOOC Forum Participation
- How Effective is Your Facilitation? Group-Level Analytics of MOOC Forums
- Untangling MOOC learner networks
- Examining communities of inquiry in massive open online courses: The role of study strategies.
- Social presence in Massive Open Online Courses.
- Exploring communities of inquiry in Massive Open Online Courses.
- Exploring the development of social capital in cMOOC through language and discourse.
- Roles of course facilitators, learners, and technology in the flow of information of a cMOOC.