ERIC Number: EJ1067942
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Jul
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1537-2456
EISSN: N/A
Mining Data from Weibo to WeChat: A Comparative Case Study of MOOC Communities on Social Media in China
Zhang, Ke
International Journal on E-Learning, v14 n3 p305-329 Jul 2015
This article starts with an overview on China's MOOC phenomenon and social media, and then reports a comparative, multiple case study on three selected MOOC communities that have emerged on social media in China. These representative MOOC communities included: (a) MOOC Academy, the largest MOOC community in China, (b) Zhejiang University of Technology MOOC Group, the first officially registered student MOOC organization in China's universities, and (c) a fully online community devoted for high school (or younger) students in MOOCs. Data were collected through a variety of Chinese social media (e.g., Sina Weibo, QQ Qun, and WeChat), social networking sites (e.g., Baidu Tieba, GuoKr, Sina blog, etc.), news press, and Web-based community portals. Text mining and content analyses were conducted to study the varied MOOC communities and how they functioned on social media to promote MOOCs as well as to support MOOC learners and the broader community. Implications for research and practice of MOOC communities are discussed.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Data Collection, Online Courses, Social Networks, Internet, Universities, High Schools, Student Organizations, Information Retrieval, Content Analysis, Data Analysis, Comparative Analysis, Publicity, Communities of Practice, Case Studies, Qualitative Research, Statistical Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: China
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A