Potenziare l’interazione in un MOOC di Italiano accademico

Language learning in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) poses some challenges for managing interaction in virtual learning environments “with unrestricted access and potentially unlimited participation” (Bàrcena & Martin-Monje 2014). Tracking the “invisible” online student (Beaudoin 2002) with tools offered by Learning Analytics can help overcome these challenges by providing relevant information about student engagement patterns and their modes of interaction. The paper aims to investigate how to guide online language learning so as to reduce the decline of activity, thus enhancing active participation aimed at developing learner linguistic skills. The case study of an Academic Italian Language MOOC for Slavic-speaking students is presented, its first and second edition attracting 37 and 50 participants from Slavic-speaking countries. The relation between student forum performance and student-tutor interaction has been investigated to verify the conditions required for potentiating social language learning. Additional data extracted from the learning system activity logs as well as the post-course questionnaire results have been reported so as to observe the invisible side of the course dynamics and learners’ satisfaction. The data analysis has helped to understand how online learning process takes place and how to facilitate participant interaction in Language MOOCs, providing some solutions for the course next iteration.