"Instead, there was a really good focus on mixing up the way you learn, speaking to tutors by phone and email, using chat forums, and face-to-face study sessions.
Abedi et al. (2015), in a face-to-face study, coincides with Zhang and Rahimi (2014) in that teacher CF is the most favoured.
Furthermore, the fact that the community prefers face-to-face study groups benefits the members in increasing the intensity level of collaboration.
Collaborative learning: The development of small, face-to-face study group learning communities in which grade-level teachers share their practice enables deeper analysis of practice.
On the contrary, discussions taking place over Facebook or blogs, and although they also afford collaborative learning, they display less intensity of collaboration than the face-to-face study groups.
The plan under which the various variables were tested involved face-to-face study at the beginning of a 17 week semester which was followed by online teaching and learning in the second half of the semester.
"Join a Meetup Group" (face-to-face study group) has been propagated by Coursera to build rapport and provide mutual support among MOOC learners; however, studies remain scant regarding its effectiveness and sustainability.
Our findings suggest that, with proper design and facilitation, face-to-face study group would be a practicable and effective approach to leverage MOOC students' motivation, engagement, and deeper learning.
The effect size was less than in the original face-to-face study (24% vs. 50%).
When a face-to-face study visit was not possible, participants completed the measures over the phone or by mail.
Active students preferred face-to-face study groups rather than online study groups, but online quizzes rather than pencil and paper quizzes.
