Toward criteria-based automatic group formation in MOOCs

Abstract

Effective use of Collaborative Learning in MOOC contexts faces many challenges. One of them regards the possibility to create groups according to a set of criteria, which is not currentlly supported by MOOC platforms. This paper presents our work in progress on this problem. We introduce the design and initial results of an experiment where groups based on homogeneous levels of activity, as creation criteria, are compared with randomly created control groups. The preliminary results provide initial evidence about the feasibility and eventual advantages of using criteria-based group formation in MOOCs.