Demographic Survey

Dear MOOC Student,

I am Matthew Stranach, the principal investigator for a research study being conducted through University of Calgary’s Werklund School of Education. I would like to invite you to participate in my research study entitled Social Presence a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): A Case Study. The University of Calgary Conjoint Faculties Research Ethics Board has approved this research study. The focus of this research is to explore how participants’ social presence can affect teaching and learning within a MOOC. The researcher will seek to understand individual participants’ experiences of social presence within the course; the researcher will also explore how the population of the course as a whole perceives social presence. By looking at both individuals’ and groups’ experiences of social presence, the researcher will learn more about individuals’ reasons for participating in the MOOC, and the extent to which social presence affects their learning. This study will also provide the opportunity to learn about how MOOC design could be improved to enhance social presence as well as cognitive and teaching presences (elements of Garrison’s Community of Inquiry model).

There are no risks involved in participating in this research. Participation is entirely voluntary. There is no remuneration for participating in this study. Your participation in this research study is unrelated to the course or course grade.

For this research, data will be collected through an online demographic survey. This is a brief online survey seeking such information as age group, gender, geographic location (i.e. country), first language / mother tongue, and level of experience with online learning.

The data collected from all participants in the study will be analyzed and used to inform my Ed.D thesis, as well will be included in journal publications, presentations within the University of Calgary, and conference presentations.

The online Demographic survey will take 10 – 15 minutes to complete. By completing the survey, you have given consent for me to use your data as part of this study. Please note that the data will reported as an aggregate and your contribution will be anonymous.

If you want more details about something mentioned here, or information not included here, you should feel free to ask. I can be reached via email: [email protected].

If you have any concerns about the way you’ve been treated as a participant, please contact an Ethics Resource Officer, Research Services Office, University of Calgary at (403) 210-9863; email: [email protected]

If you would like to complete the survey, please click on the Continue button below.

I Agree