Effect of Instruction Intervention on MOOC Forum Discussion: Student Engagement and Interaction Characteristics

This study delves into the effect of instruction intervention on a MOOC forum discussion to ascertain its impact on students’ participation and the characteristics of their interactions. Using a mixed-method approach combining social network analysis (SNA) and inductive qualitative analysis, the relationships and underlying interactions within an EFL MOOC discussion were examined. The findings revealed that instruction intervention by teachers effectively augmented students’ engagement within the discussion area, fostering both instructor-learner and learner-learner interactions. Additionally, the conventional hub-and-spoke structure, where the instructor serves as the central node in the MOOC forum, was found to be subject to change through instruction intervention. Network analysis of the original post and a comparative assessment of two instances highlighted the direct reply tie definition as the most informative for revealing interaction relationships. It is recommended that teachers and teaching assistants actively and strategically participate in MOOC discussions to facilitate independent learning in the era of intelligent education.