There is a large variation in the background and learning objectives of online learners. It is important to understand what aspects of online courses matter most to learners. We partnered with popular social learning platform FutureLearn to analyze learner feedback from over 800 courses using data mining approaches. In this seminar, I will share some of our findings related to learner experiences and what aspects of online courses shape their learning experiences.  

Bio

Dr. Gaurav Nanda is a Postdoctoral Research Assistant working with Prof. Kerrie Douglas in Engineering Education at Purdue University.  He completed his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University  and Masters and Bachelors from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India. His research interests include application of text mining and machine learning methods to analyze real-world data. Currently, he is studying learner experiences in online courses by applying text mining approaches on user generated data such as discussion forums and open-ended feedback.