How are hashtags and Twitter used in MOOCs?

This whiteboard animation video summarizes Veletsianos, G. (in press). Toward a generalizable understanding of Twitter and social media use across MOOCs: who participates on MOOC hashtags and in what ways? Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 1-16.

Some researchers have proposed that social media platforms (such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube) might help address some of the problematic features of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS). For example, social media might complement MOOC discussion boards in significant ways. The evidence to support this claim is limited. In this study, I analyze the tweets and users associated with 116 unique courses and provide evidence that shows that that learners make up only about 45% of users and contribute only about 35% of tweets. The majority of users contribute minimally, and an active minority of users contributes the preponderance of messages. These findings do not reveal substantive evidence of learners contributing to multiple hashtags, which may suggest that learners did not find Twitter to be a useful space that provided added value or responded to their needs. Ultimately, these results demonstrate the need for greater intentionality in integrating social media into MOOCs.

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This video features the song Take Care by David Szesztay available under a Creative Commons license