Conclusions:
- My research topic sounds good including MOOC study, content analysis and social network analysis)
- Changing the term on the research topic "Critical Thinking" to "Sensemaking" or "Interaction" is good. However, I need to learn more about "sensemaking" as a specific study area.
- I can continue working on the proposal. Finishing the literature review, specifying the research questions and methodology.
- No need to worry about technology right now. Technology should not interfere research.
- Submit a timeline to let him know what time he will get what.
Abstract
The proposed study will examines the relationship between two methods - content analysis and social network analysis - of assessing critical thinking in discussion forums of massive open online courses (MOOCs). The study proposes that the results from content analysis would highly relate to the results obtained from social network analysis. The study will focus on results of interaction analysis of TAT (Transcript Analysis Tools, Fahy, 2001) model and its relationship with the centrality measures obtained from social network analysis. This study will not only support online educators with useful information in interpretation of educational data analysis but also provides evidence-based considerations for the design of learning activity as well as the organization of content/learning resources, Moreover, the technique proposes in this study will present insight into the process of knowledge construction in online learning environment in terms of interaction. This study will also add to the body of research in MOOCs and interaction in relation to validation of existing measurements.
