The teaching presence in the forums of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to facilitate socio-cognitive conflicts

Heutte, Jean [Université de Lille] Depaepe, Fien [KU Leuven] Rivera Villa, Dennis [UCL] Frenay, Mariane [UCL] Raes, Annelies [KU Leuven] et al.

In education research, socio-cognitive conflicts are discrepancies of knowledge that can trigger in learners a cognitive imbalance. This imbalance could be beneficial for learning because it can lead to the reconstruction of knowledge. However, socio-cognitive conflicts can only promote learning when they are aimed at finding an epistemic solution to the cognitive imbalance. This requires a collaborative effort in an environment that facilitates cognitive and social processes and leads them to an optimal educational experience. The discussion forums of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) could potentially provide an environment where learners can have and resolve socio-cognitive conflicts. Several studies have provided guidelines on sound online pedagogical practices to encourage discussions aimed at the co-construction of knowledge. Nevertheless, few studies have analysed how these guidelines have been applied in MOOC forums and their effect on learning. This study seeks to fill this gap by analysing the cognitive and metacognitive prompts that MOOC instructors provide in discussion forums to help learners self-regulate their learning and resolve socio-cognitive conflicts. We study the effects that these prompts have in the social and cognitive interactions of the learners. Thus, our study contributes to a better understanding of how an online collaborative environment can support and foster the co-construction of knowledge.