Presentation of the full paper at Learning@Scale 2019 in Chicago (IL), USA. Abstract:While global massive open online course (MOOC) providers such as edX, Coursera, and FutureLearn have garnered the bulk of attention from researchers and the popular press, MOOCs are also provisioned by a series of regional providers, who are often using the Open edX platform. We leverage the data infrastructure shared by the main edX instance and one regional Open edX provider, Edraak in Jordan, to compare the experience of learners from Arab countries on both platforms. Comparing learners from Arab countries on edX to those on Edraak, the Edraak population has a more even gender balance, more learners with lower education levels, greater participation from more developing countries, higher levels of persistence and completion, and a larger total population of learners. This "apples to apples" comparison of MOOC learners is facilitated by an approach to multiplatform MOOC analytics, which employs parallel research processes to create joint aggregate datasets without sharing identifiable data across institutions. Our findings suggest that greater research attention should be paid towards regional MOOC providers, and regional providers may have an important role to play in expanding access to higher education.

1. LOGO
Multiplatform MOOC Analytics:
Comparing Global and Regional
Patterns in edX and Edraak
José A. Ruipérez Valiente - jruipere@mit.edu
Sherif Halawa - shalawa@qrf.org
Justin Reich - jreich@mit.edu
@JoseARuiperez

2. INTRODUCTION
2

3. Educating the world with MOOCs
Great prospects for human development
Mainly already educated learners and from affluent
countries (Chuang & Ho, 2014; Hansen & Reich, 2015)
 Language, self-regulated capacities, stereotype threat, digital
literacy, technology access, effort/benefit...
With Global MOOC providers shifting their focus …
… regional MOOC providers might play a different role
3 @JoseARuiperezMultiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak

4. Motivation & Research questions
Global MOOCs struggle to reach learners in need
 How do regional initiatives compare?
To which extent MOOC trends are universal versus
context-dependent?
 Do regional MOOC providers help narrow educational and gender
gaps for the local population?
 Do regional MOOC providers have better engagement, participation
and completion metrics for the local population?
Present some discussion about findings
4 @JoseARuiperezMultiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak

5. Background and context
This work focuses in the Arab World countries
 Important e-learning gaps in the Arab World (Abouchedid & Eid)
 One of the lowest tertiary enrolment rates globally (World Bank)
 Arab World countries rank in the “Very low” English proficiency (Wikipedia)
Multiplatform MOOC Analytics approach using data from:
 MITx/HarvardX, founders of edX in 2012
 Edraak, founded in 2013 by the QRF to surpass English barriers
• Produce their courses in Arabic in collaboration with industry and academic experts
 Commonalities: Spread free education and Open edX
5 @JoseARuiperezMultiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak

6. Data sample
HarvardX and MITx on edX from 2012 to May 2018
 565 MOOC iterations, 12.67 million course registrations
Edraak from June 2014 to September 2018
 231 MOOC iterations, 3.77 million course registrations
We use modal IP for the country of origin detection
We define three cohorts based on participants:
 Edraak (N = 589,817)
 MITxHx Arab (N = 120,868)
 MITxHx Rest (N = 3,267,199)
6 @JoseARuiperezMultiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak

7. Methodology
Replication approach that allows ’apples to apples’
Common variables:
 Demographics: Nationality, level of education, gender, age
 Participation: Viewed, explored, completed
 Human development index (HDI) from the United Nations
Replication procedure:
1. Researchers shape their data into the same format
2. Collaboratively generate common script for analysis and execute it
3. We share only high level aggregate data and generate analysis
7 @JoseARuiperezMultiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak

8. RESULTS
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9. Participation numbers
 High amount of Arab learners are reached (590k vs. 120k)
 Correlation between HDI and learners per million inhabitants
 Moderate-high in MITxHx Arab (0.69, p < 0.001)
 Importantly declines in Edraak (0.26, p = 0.23)
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10. Level of education
Edraak reaches less educated
learners
 Around 13% of the learners of
Edraak have a Master or Doctorate
 Compared to 19.6% of MITxHx
Arab and 25.5% of MITxHx Rest
10 @JoseARuiperezMultiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak

11. Gender and age
Higher participation of younger
female Arab participants in
Edraak
 Edraak: 50.67% female, median year
of birth 1992
 MITxHx Arab: 27.85% female,
median year of birth 1991
 MITxHx Rest: 34.09% female,
median year of birth 1988
11 @JoseARuiperezMultiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak

12. Course participation and completion
 Higher exploration and participation in Edraak
 Correlation between HDI and percentage completed
 Moderate-high in MITxHx Arab (0.55, p = 0.007)
 A bit attenuated in Edraak (0.45, p = 0.03)
12 @JoseARuiperezMultiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak

13. DISCUSSION AND FUTURE STEPS
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14. Influence of English proficiency
 Based on survey data
from MITx and HarvardX
 Both cohorts clear
relationship between
completion and English
proficiency
 More acute in the cohort
of Arab learners
14 @JoseARuiperezMultiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak

15. Different contents and difficulty
15 @JoseARuiperez
Course type Cohort Participants per course % Explored % Completed
CS
5.19% Edraak
7.8% edX
Edraak 4060 25.6 6.91
MITxHx Arab 1697 9.87 1.20
MITxHx Rest 43110 11.76 2.74
GHSS
31.17% Edraak
26.55% edX
Edraak 6747 40.09 13.40
MITxHx Arab 330 19.44 5.59
MITxHx Rest 8484 22.57 6.41
HHRDE
47.19% Edraak
27.07% edX
Edraak 6675 35.08 10.54
MITxHx Arab 225 17.42 5.86
MITxHx Rest 8102.0 21.59 7.38
STEM
16.45% Edraak
38.58% edX
Edraak 3997 18.75 3.61
MITxHx Arab 384 18.46 2.33
MITxHx Rest 8364 23.73 4.22
Multiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak

16. Use of licensed courses in Edraak
Licensed courses from edX were Arabized:
 All content translated and Arabic transcripts were created
Engagement is higher in Edraak-produced Courses
compared to edX licensed courses
 11 times more completion, and around 3 times more exploration
 Split attention between watching the video and reading the transcript
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17. Conclusions & Future Work
 Edraak Arab learners show better engagement metrics and a
decreased educational level and gender gaps
 Regional MOOC providers might be more successful to fulfill the
original goal – More research is needed in regional settings
 Delving into potential reasons and learners’ perceptions
 Expanding these findings with a bigger partnership of providers
and the same methodology:
 Global partners: Adding data from Coursera, FutureLearn…
 Regional partners: Adding data from OpenHPI, XuentangX, UPVx…
 If this sounds interesting and you would like to join… reach out to me!
17 @JoseARuiperezMultiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak

18. LOGO
José A. Ruipérez Valiente - jruipere@mit.edu
Sherif Halawa - shalawa@qrf.org
Justin Reich - jreich@mit.edu
Multiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak @JoseARuiperez

19. References
 Kizilcec, R. F., Saltarelli, A. J., Reich, J., & Cohen, G. L. (2017). Closing global achievement gaps in
MOOCs. Science, 355(6322), 251–252. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aag2063
 Hansen, J. D., & Reich, J. (2015). Democratizing Education? Examining Access and Usage Patterns in
Massive Open Online Courses. Science, 350(6265), 1254–1248. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab3782
 Ruipérez-Valiente, J. A., & Reich, J. (2018, September). Participation of the Arab World in MOOCs.
In 2018 Learning With MOOCS (LWMOOCS) (pp. 47-50). IEEE.
 Wikipedia English Proficiency - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EF_English_Proficiency_Index
 Abouchedid, K., & Eid, G. M. (2004). E-learning challenges in the Arab world: Revelations from a case
study profile. Quality Assurance in education, 12(1), 15-27
 Bayt.com Infographic: Online Education and the Job Market in the Middle East -
https://www.bayt.com/en/blog/27054/bayt-com-infographic-online-education-and-the-job-market-in-the-
middle-east/
 Clow, D. (2013, April). MOOCs and the funnel of participation. In Proceedings of the Third International
Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (pp. 185-189). ACM.
@JoseARuiperezMultiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak

20. Year-by-year learner retention
Consistent trend in both providers exemplifying the
difficulty of retaining learners
@JoseARuiperezMultiplatform MOOC Analytics: Comparing Global and Regional Patterns in edX and Edraak