Hi all,
This is a short microethnography on ‘community membership’ inside an EDX Course called Urban Sustainable development run by University of Wageningen (Netherlands) in conjunction with the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS).
https://media.heanet.ie/page/266675d15f6d45c99e699d56f3f8d34a
Also included here is a transcript of the video file above.
Transcript of video-Microethnography of a MOOC community_AOMahoney
My conclusions:
The course is well organised and laid out in a clear, sequential way and provided a welcoming 
interface for early student on-boarding and discussion. Discussion questions were easy and did not require huge time commitment to complete. Yet evidence of community development is not really there on the discussion boards.
I did find evidence of community in the gamification element that took place in weeks 1 and 4, where students submitted images of their city onto a map of the world, and in week 4 they uploaded their carbon footprint image onto a map of the world. When students were asked to represent their city, their home, their community, this seemed to result in what Kozinet described as a central consumption activity. It seemed to be an activity that users felt was important to them.
The greater the centrality of the consumption interest to the person, the higher the interest level and concomitant level of activity knowledge and skill.
The lesson that I learnt from this Mooc was that the activities that resulted in the highest amount of community engagement were those that were personalising and linking the learning back to school, home or community.
Your findings are really fascinating Adrienne and I’m so thankful for the transcript of the video file! (Means I was able to read during a big institution meeting and check in with the video slides simultaneously) – just another example of how providing multiple modes of delivery is helpful for access.
Great observation about the number of students in NL taking the MOOC from their home institution. That really says something about the MOOC model and how it sometimes supplants and/or supplements a ‘local-delivery’ of subject content.
I also share your observation about the “central consumption activity” and I’d add the SDT angle that this is effective because it involves fostering a sense of competence (by the fact that students can share something they know very well) and elements of autonomy as well (they get to decide what it is they share and how it reflects their identity).
Thanks again for sharing your artefact!
Your artefact gives a very good background of what the MOOC was about and how it was structured, making it very clear where interaction was required and in what way participants could interact and give feedback to each other.
I also liked the idea of using a ‘timeline’ artefact which clearly shows how the course started and continued, also including the necessary prompting or help from the organisers. Participants were initially asked to share something that was familiar to them but not necessarily personal for them (such as the tall building). This could then have encouraged them to feel more at ease and participate even more in the discussions.
I like your artefact Adrienne. and thank you for the insights.
Really like the way you have presented your micro-ethnography, Adrienne, and some fantastic visuals and commentary here! Also brilliant that you’ve included a transcript which, as David mentioned, is great for accessibility and allowing multiple ways to engage with the artefact.
The lack of evidence of community on the discussion boards seems to be a common theme through many of the xMOOCs in the micro-ethnographies, yet it was fascinating to see how the map/image activity drew students in and your comments on Kozinet’s “central consumption activity”. I saw some evidence of this during my own study, when students produced a radio bumper, where it was possible for them to share a little of their identity through the activity; interest in the activity also encouraged students to develop their skills in the area. I ended up making my own, and did feel a little sense of achievement at producing something which helped to foster a few connections later on. Have you felt anything similar while studying?
Great artefact – really enjoyed it!
Thanks for sharing, Adrienne – I really appreciated your findings and found your content really engaging with both the visuals along with the commentary. Your point around the most successful activities being those that can personalised is a very good one and I liked the first activity where students were required to take their own photo and reflect on the concept in their own context. It’s absolute common sense but I find that it doesn’t happen regularly enough in education. Thanks again and great work.
So clear and easy t follow, I love it 🙂
The point you raise about having activities other than just text posts from students is fantastic. The MOOC I looked at only had discussion threads when it came to any sort of interaction. Having something like the photo challenge to get people talking sounds like a great idea, and one that doesn’t involve the course organisers having to mark or comment on hundreds (or thousands!) of replies 🙂
Brilliant artefact! I love how you used audio instead of text!
Unlike other MOOCs it seems that they really tried to encourage community and it’s a shame that it wasn’t very successful. Interesting though that the gamification exercises evoked more responses – maybe people are just not very interested in the conventional discussion boards and educators should be more creative in the way they design activities?
Games where the students score points and compete on a Leaderboard perhaps? They could get “Achievements” that unlock as well. Start a little competition between the students 🙂