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  • Do MOOC Conversations Matter? Investigating the Role of Social Presence and Course-Relevant Discussion in Career Advancement

This content will become publicly available on July 17, 2026

Title: Do MOOC Conversations Matter? Investigating the Role of Social Presence and Course-Relevant Discussion in Career Advancement
While MOOCs have been widely studied in terms of student engagement and academic performance, the extent to which engagement within MOOCs predict career advancement remains underexplored. Building on prior work, this study investigates how participation in discussion forums, specifically social presence and the use of course-relevant keywords, affects career advancement. Using GPT-assisted content analysis of forum posts, we assess how these engagement factors relate to both achievement during the course and post-course career advancement. Our findings indicate that social presence and use of course-relevant keywords has a positive relationship with course achievement during the MOOC. However, no significant relationship was found between career advancement and either social presence or course-related keywords in discussion forums. These findings suggest that while active engagement in MOOC discussion forums enhances academic achievement, it might not directly translate into career advancement, highlighting a possible disconnect between learning participation in MOOCS and professional outcomes.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1931419
PAR ID:
10648067
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
ACM
Date Published:
Page Range / eLocation ID:
236 to 240
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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