Dear Rey,

Here are a couple of papers on MOOC research which I found recently:

Brinton, C.G., Chiang, M., Jain, S., Lam, H., Liu, Z. and Wong, F.M.F. (2014) Learning about social learning in MOOCs: From statistical analysis to generative model. IEEE transactions on Learning Technologies, 7(4), pp. 346-359.

Conole, G.G. (2015) MOOCs as disruptive technologies: strategies for enhancing the learner experience and quality of MOOCs. Revista de Educación a Distancia, (39).

Here are some more articles:

Zhi-min, W. E. I. (2015). The Problems and Countermeasures of MOOC Localization Development. Journal of Northwest Normal University (Social Sciences), 1, 014.

Doherty, I., Harbutt, D., & Sharma, N. (2015). Designing and Developing a MOOC. Medical Science Educator, 25(2), 177-181.

Draffan, E. A., Wald, M., Dickens, K., Zimmermann, G., Kelle, S., Miesenberger, K., & Petz, A. (2015). Stepwise approach to accessible MOOC development. Studies in health technology and informatics, 217, 227.

Wilkowski, J., Deutsch, A., & Russell, D. M. (2014, March). Student skill and goal achievement in the mapping with google MOOC. In Proceedings of the first ACM conference on Learning@ scale conference (pp. 3-10). ACM.

Salmon, G., Gregory, J., Lokuge Dona, K., & Ross, B. (2015). Experiential online development for educators: The example of the Carpe Diem MOOC. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(3), 542-556.

Peter & Arthur, thank you very much for your contributions, they'll hep me to infer ideas on current trends.

The current state of affairs as regards research into MOOCs can be classified as fragmented, taking into account the different authors’ varying ontological 

conceptions as to what should actually be studied.

The following URLs may me useful. 

http://www.ugr.es/~portalin/articulos/PL_monograph1_2016/art_7.pdf

https://openpraxis.org/index.php/OpenPraxis/article/view/287

http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0360131516300793/1-s2.0-S0360131516300793-main.pdf?_tid=ae7a4604-efbe-11e6-8a7b-00000aab0f01&acdnat=1486751473_a4fdc0e0cefa3900b9927e34b1850729

Article A contemporary review of research methods adopted to underst...

@Kapila Asanga Dias I agree, It's a new field and, as usually in educational sciences, there are different foundations; but, any way, I think some topics should be "leading" the interest of researchers.

Hi Ray,

Glad you asked these questions. I am in the same boat. Currently working on my MOOC focusing on access in developing nations.

@Fortunata Msilu "Environmental" factors are relevant, including those related with access, that's why I recommended Activity Theory before, when answering your question here in RG.

Re "Environmental" factors: Can we discuss these a bit further?

I see two main types. One, factors that have a bearing on learners,  access being one of them, as mentioned by Fortunata Msilu. However, this is only a technical aspect which may be overcome easier than sociological and cultural factors.

Which brings me to the second type of factors, those which are connected to authoring MOOCs. On the production side, there is a massive economy of scales. German universities estimate the production cost of one MOOC between 30-40k Euro (approx. the same in US Dollars). I understand from Russian universities that they budget 10k or less. In any case, this is a lot of money and productions for the English speaking market definitely have an advantage since their target group is much larger in number.

The financial aspect is not the only one. I am open with you with my own experience with one of the Coursera offerings (who seem to dominate the market). While I was quite happy with the 'Learning how to Learn' course initially, I dropped out in disgust after the professors strongly recommended a text book containing blatant political statements of what I would call the extreme right wing kind. It had nothing to do with the course topic whatsoever.  While everyone has the right to her or his political opinions, this has no place in an educational science course.

I am afraid that due to the high production cost of MOOCs, we may see ourselves being swamped by products that advocate values which are not our own - is there a solution?

Dear Mr. Rey!

I found two brand new papers on MOOC which were published in 2017: please find them enclosed. Hope they are of benefit for YOU! Sincerely Bulcsu Szekely - Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland

Dear Leopoldo,

With respect to economical factor, I consider that with the purpose of reduce costs of MOOCs production, a alternative can be the collaboration between institutions for designing and implement these course. Currently, in the university of the Armed Forces ESPE, we are working in a research project for implementing MOOCs.

It be will successful if we find collaborators that apply a pedagogical methology similar our university and this way to design our own formats of courses trying to minize the problems that present these courses.  

A good day!

@Bulcsu Szekely Thank you for references; I think the retention problem in MOOCs should be one of main trends in MOOC research; although theoretical foundation problems is an unanswered question.

Seems like guidelines are needed to prevent propaganda, and I agree that retention is an issue.

The commercialisation of MOOCs - see what Coursera is doing and how its founders have moved elsewhere.

Retention rates are also an issue, with a very low number completing.

Instructional design and pedagogical issues.

Digital certificates such as Blockcerts (based on Blockchain) are potentially a breakthrough in learner empowerment and mobility of accreditation.

Hi!

I find this one useful, as many other articles from IRRODL:

Gasevic, D., Kovanovic, V., Joksimovic, S., & Siemens, G. (2014). Where is research on massive open online courses headed? A data analysis of the MOOC Research Initiative. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 15(5).

An interesting angle I am interested in is the new level of access MOOCs offer to students, combined with the scalability in their copurse design, and both of them in context of globalisation of teaching - in a similar way as, and following, how research has been globalised, However, "globalisation" has connotations of being somewhat deterministic - I like and apply Marginson and Rhoades' "glonacal" theory instead, leaving place for many interacting forces on local, national and global level. I have used it in the following article on a MOOC experiment in IRRODL. 

Article Using MOOCs at learning centers in Northern Sweden

Maybe this could help you : http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3080