Usher Maya, Hershkovitz Arnon
Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education, School of Education, Tel Aviv University, 6997801 Tel Aviv, Israel.
J Sci Educ Technol. 2022;31(5):649-659. doi: 10.1007/s10956-022-09984-x. Epub 2022 Aug 6.
Higher education instructors constantly rely on educational data to assess and evaluate the behavior of their students and to make informed decisions such as which content to focus on and how to best engage the students with it. Massive open online course (MOOC) platforms may assist in the data-driven instructional process, as they enable access to a wide range of educational data that is gathered automatically and continuously. Successful implementation of a data-driven instruction initiative depends highly on the support and acceptance of the instructors. Yet, our understanding of instructors' perspectives regarding the process of data-driven instruction, especially with reference to MOOC teaching, is still limited. Hence, this study was set to characterize MOOC instructors' interest in educational data and their perceived barriers to data use for decision-making. Taking a qualitative approach, data were collected via semi-structured interviews with higher education MOOC instructors from four public universities in Israel. Findings indicated that the instructors showed great interest mostly in data about social interactions between learners and about problems with the MOOC educational resources. The main reported barriers for using educational data for decision-making were lack of customized data, real-time access, data literacy, and institutional support. The results highlight the need to provide MOOC instructors with professional development opportunities for the proper use of educational data for skilled decision-making.
高等教育教师不断依靠教育数据来评估和评价学生的行为，并做出明智的决策，比如确定重点讲授哪些内容以及如何以最佳方式让学生参与学习。大规模开放在线课程（MOOC）平台可能有助于数据驱动的教学过程，因为它们能获取自动且持续收集的大量教育数据。数据驱动教学倡议的成功实施在很大程度上取决于教师的支持与接受程度。然而，我们对教师关于数据驱动教学过程的观点，尤其是涉及MOOC教学的观点的理解仍然有限。因此，本研究旨在描述MOOC教师对教育数据的兴趣以及他们认为在利用数据进行决策时所面临的障碍。采用定性研究方法，通过对以色列四所公立大学的高等教育MOOC教师进行半结构化访谈来收集数据。研究结果表明，教师大多对有关学习者之间社交互动的数据以及MOOC教育资源存在的问题表现出极大兴趣。报告中提到的利用教育数据进行决策的主要障碍包括缺乏定制数据、实时访问、数据素养以及机构支持。研究结果凸显了有必要为MOOC教师提供专业发展机会，以便他们能恰当地利用教育数据做出明智决策。
