Exploring Learner Engagement Patterns in Teach-Outs Using Topic, Sentiment and On-topicness to Reflect on Pedagogy

MOOCs have developed into multiple learning design models with a wide range of objectives. Teach-Outs are one such example, aiming to drive meaningful discussions around topics of pressing social urgency without the use of formal assessments. Given this approach, it is crucial to evaluate learners' engagement in the discussion forum to understand their experiences. This paper presents a pilot study that applied unsupervised natural language processing techniques to understand what and how students engage in dialogue in a Teach-Out. We used topic modeling to discover the emerging topics in the discussion forums and evaluated the on-topicness of the discussions (i.e. the degree to which discussions were relevant to the Teach-Out content). We also applied content analysis to investigate the sentiments associated with the discussions. We have taken a step toward extracting structure from students' discussions to understand learning behaviors happen in the discussion forum. This is the first study to analyze discussion forums in a Teach-Out.