Coursera: MOOC to be shared learning space
Role & Timeline
Independent researcher & designer
4 months (academic research project)
Skills & Tools
UX Research, Mixed Methods Research, Survey Design, Usability Testing, Heuristic Evaluation, Data Analysis, Affinity Mapping, Wireframing, Qualtrics, Loop 11, FigJam, Figma
Overview
Understand
Research & Discovery
Research Approach
Methods
Findings
Design Solutions
Next Steps
Reflections
Overview
This independent research project for my master’s degree in Human Computer Interaction emphasizes a shared learning space with social media features to improve online learning experiences. Among many Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), I chose Google Certificate Courses on Coursera to analyze students’ experiences with discussion forums using UX methodology. Based on the analysis, I developed design solutions incorporating social media design principles to create more effective learning communities. While my original research examined both instructional and platform design elements, this portfolio focuses on the UX and interface design aspects.
Problem
MOOCs struggle with high dropout rates, as a lack of meaningful interactions — with peers and instructors — contributes to poor student engagement.
Approach
I conducted mixed-methods research combining surveys, usability testing, and heuristic evaluation along with analysis based on social media frameworks— to identify forum improvement opportunities.
Impact
Based on research with 25+ participants across multiple methods, I identified key forum design issues and developed design recommendations to enhance peer learning experiences.
Understand the problem
MOOCs face high dropoout as a major challenge
Research shows 75-95% of drop out rate is caused by multiple factors, such as lack of motivation, inadequate monitoring, and poor course design. However, lack of personal interactions with peers and instructors is one critical factor that stands out.
The initial principles of MOOC design heavily rely on interaction with other learners, but their large scale makes individual attention impossible. Students want to resolve doubts and correct errors, but the lack of engaging interactions between peers and instructors removes opportunities to enhance learning experiences for students.
Research shows that integrating social media into online learning can improve both learning outcomes and experiences. This is where I found a key design opportunity — bridging the gap between what MOOC platforms currently offer and what students actually need for collaborative learning.
Research Question
How might we improve the shared learning space of MOOC to enhance peer interaction and collaborative learning experiences?
Methods
Heuristic evaluation based on social media framework
When evaluating the official discussion forum, I assessed how effective and accessible it was for learners. Moreover, I analyzed whether it meets the four core features of social media based on Ellison and Boyd’s social media framework: profiles, communication, connection list (friends list), and traverse connections. This framework helped determine if the forum functions as an effective shared discussion space for social learning.
Survey participants recruited from online communities
Once the heuristic evaluation was done, I recruited 21 Google Certificate students for the survey. Students across 5 different programs (UX Design, Data Analytics, IT Support, Project Management, Digital Marketing) were recruited through Coursera Google Certificate online communities. The specific survey distribution medium was chosen to find students who are likely to utilize learning communities for their online learning.
The survey followed a funnel approach, progressing from general course experience to specific discussion forum feedback, combining Likert scale and open-ended questions.
Usability testing developed from pilot test
Usability testing was conducted with people familiar with MOOCs but new to Google Certificate Programs to evaluate usability objectively without bias from existing platform familiarity.
I conducted a pilot test to identify potential issues. The pilot revealed two key areas for improvement:
2 key areas to improve usability testing
Based on feedback, I clarified technical requirements and created a shared account for testing. 4 participants completed usability testing and post-test surveys.
Research & Discovery
Research approach with mixed methods and different user groups
I chose mixed methods for researching users’ experiences with MOOC and its forum design. Surveys, usability testing, and heuristic evaluation were utilized to collect quantitative and qualitative data. To conduct this research, I strategically recruited different participant groups — current Google Certificate students for their real experiences and MOOC-experienced users new to this specific platform — so that participants could still fall into the defined user group without biased testing.
For a research-backed pedagogical approach, I applied Ellison and Boyd’s social media framework to identify missing features on the forum to provide students a social learning platform.
Findings
I organized qualitative survey responses using affinity mapping, which revealed six key problem themes. These themes, combined with quantitative data and usability testing results, point to three critical areas.
6 key problem themes from affinity mapping
Students avoid forums depite course success and seek better alternatives
Survey data from 21 students across five Google Certificate programs revealed a striking disconnect between course satisfaction and forum engagement.
Forum usage patterns and external platform migration
While 90% of students expressed satisfaction with the overall course content, only 9.5% were satisfied with discussion forums—a 10x difference that highlights how forums are failing their purpose. More than half of students avoid the official forums entirely throughout their course, and one-third of respondents actively seek alternatives on platforms like Facebook, Reddit, and Slack to enhance their learning outcomes.
Survey participants' feedback on forum experience
This migration to external platforms validates that students value peer learning when proper tools exist—they're just not finding them in the official forums.
Navigation & Discoverability issues create technical barriers
My evaluation revealed that navigation difficulties and missing notifications create significant engagement barriers. Due to high post volume, students struggle to find relevant discussions and can't track responses to their contributions, making meaningful conversations nearly impossible. The course also provides a Slack community for learning, but access was inconsistent and difficult to discover. Access to Slack learning community was inconsistent and difficult to discover.
Usability testing validated these issues across multiple tasks. The table below shows how participants struggled with basic forum functions—from recognizing reply buttons to tracking their own previous comments.
Problems recognized during usability testing
Most notably, 100% of participants failed to find external Slack community. Interestingly, while searching for the Slack channel, participants discovered posts from frustrated learners with the same struggle: "Hey everyone, there used to be a Slack channel to connect with others in this program. Does anyone know what happened to that?"
This reveals that actual learners actively seek community connections but are discouraged by discoverability problems.
Survey participant's feedback on forum experience
These technical limitations prevent the social engagement that forums are designed to foster.
Missing social connection despite learning value
Analysis using Ellison and Boyd's social media framework revealed that the forum consistently failed to provide social engagement and connection crucial for successful MOOCs. The forum lacks accessible user profiles, connection systems, and meaningful interaction tools. While users can edit their profile information such as work experience and career goals, other users have no access to this information. For connections, while moderator profiles are accessible, users cannot actually connect with them, making their purpose questionable.
Learning value vs. social connection survey responses
Survey results showed an important distinction: while some users found forums somewhat helpful for accessing educational content, they strongly disagreed that forums help them connect with peers. This suggest forums may deliver information but completely miss the collaborative learning benefits that make social learning effective.
Survey participant's feedback on forum experience
Design solutions
Creating social learning connections
As user patterns showed they want interaction and social connection was missing, I added missing social media features to encourage learners’ connections. Also, to resolve the discoverability issue of external forums, I included a button where all the supported external forums can be found - including the Slack community and Whatsapp group chat that Google UX course was promoting. Next to the external forums page link, resources and syllabus were placed together. I grouped these together because users naturally looked for external communities in informational sections during testing. Placing them together creates a comprehensive ‘course information hub’ for students.
<image of main page with connection list, profile, exterior forums, resources, syllabus button>
Building easier navigation with consistency
Throughout different research methods, navigation issues were repeatedly reported as a critical barrier to forum engagement. Users struggled with poor content organization and difficulty finding relevant discussions among high-volume posts. To provide users with an effective navigation experience regardless of post volume, I introduced filtering and tagging systems that users can apply when they make a post and search as well.
<image of forum page with filter consistent options, color-coded tags, entry points>
Easier access to 'my activity' and notifications
Research revealed that users couldn’t track their forum contributions or receive notifications about responses, breaking conversation continuity. The existing “Your Activity” page showed only posts users replied to, not their actual comments, making it impossible to follow discussions. I redesigned the ‘Find Your Activity’ page to support ongoing engagement by adding real-time notification alerts and individual activity tracking systems.
<image of find your activity with new view>
next steps & reflections
Next steps
Since this was a research-focused project rather than implementation-focused, the next phase would involve creating interactive prototypes and testing them with MOOC students to measure whether the suggested design solutions bring improvements in engagement and peer connections.
Reflections
This academic research provided me with valuable insights into MOOC design challenges and how some aspects of social media can have a positive influence on learning design. Even though that was an important theme of this project, I was still able to learn about new insights about UX research methodology.
Survey design learnings
I could have asked more “why” questions to understand user motivations. For example, when participants said they don’t use external forums, I could have explored whether this was due to lack of awareness or perceived lack of need. However, I intentionally kept surveys concise to maintain completion rates, focusing on direct experiences rather than deeper motivations.
usability testing insights
Testing revealed that users often behave differently than anticipated, sometimes succeeding through workarounds rather than intuitive pathways. This reinforced the importance of observing actual user behavior versus making assumptions about how interfaces should work.