The Influence Of Teachers’ Social Network Location On The Quality Of MOOC Discussion

The birth and rapid development of MOOC(massive open online courses)is known as a revolution in the history of education.However,MOOC teaching practice has the disadvantages of insufficient interaction and poor learning experience.Its rigid teaching mode can not meet the requirements of the knowledge-based society in the 21st century.Online discussion,as a way of collaborative learning,is the key to improve learning experience,promote knowledge innovation and cultivate high-quality talents.It is important to attach importance to online discussion.Developing interactive and collaborative learning mode is an important way for MOOC to develop high-quality sustainable development.Knowledge exchange and innovation is a social process.Close and cohesive interpersonal relationship is the premise of high-quality discussion among members.The relationship between teachers and students is the key to the quality of discussion.Based on the theory of social constructivism,this study chooses 120 courses of MOOC platform as the research object,studies the social network characteristics and discussion quality characteristics of MOOC forum by using social network analysis,content analysis and statistical analysis,and explores the relationship between the social network location of teachers and the discussion quality.The research contents include three parts:(1)the social network characteristics of different curriculum discussion;(2)the differences of discussion quality in different curriculum discussion;(3)exploring the influence of teacher social network location on the discussion quality.There are three main findings:(1)the overall structure of the social network in MOOC forum is loose,and the teachers occupy the center of the network,but the teacher interaction participation is not high,and the two-way communication is less,and the social network location of teachers in different curriculum is different.(2)Monologue is common among the members,and the quality of discussion of various courses is low,and there is no difference in the quality of discussion in different courses.(3)The more posts teachers post or reply,the lower the quality of discussion,the more topics teachers initiate get direct response from students,the higher the quality of discussion.The research shows that teachers are the core characters in the social network of MOOC discussion area.Their words and deeds can have a great influence on other members of the social network,and also directly affect the quality of online discussion.Therefore,to improve the quality of MOOC discussion,teachers should give full play to their role.Specific suggestions include:changing teaching concept,attaching importance to and guiding discussion;creating open topics to encourage learners to participate;discovering core participants and giving full play to their role in helping students;designing discussion activities according to the characteristics of subject knowledge.