Coursera & Khan Academy on the Social Web
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Take a “social web” look back at Coursera & Khan Academy. How does it co-create both brands? What does it reveal about both communities? And how can social web data facilitate – both producers’ & consumers’ – informed decision-making in adjusting their “education mix”?
![aggregated general background
Coursera & Khan Academysocial web presence quantitatively
web domains, web traffic, keyword performance, business insights, social media statistics: facebook, twitter, google+, youtube & linkedin; competitive analysis, wikipedia insights
(pp. 3-33)
original social web data
Coursera & Khan Academysocial web presence qualitatively
facebook, twitter & google+ pages, groups, comment networks, communities, posts, content analysis, fans, demographics, traffic sources, keywords; personal network & interest profiles, search results, news articles, text mining, inbound links, reddit, youtube
(pp. 34-95)
a week of tweets
Coursera & Khan Academydetailed insights provided bya small fragment of big data
general statistics, influential tweeters, demographics, keywords, content analysis,natural language processing, text mining, sentiment analysis
(pp. 96-121)
conclusions
brand essence, swot, positioning& more
Coursera & Khan Academy…and what does the social websay about education?
(pp. 122-130)
outline
link to datasets
tools used & DIY resources for self-driven education
(pp. 131-132)
Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose August 2014
Thisresearchpaper*isconcernedwithsocialwebdatainthecontextofeducation.Studyingsocialwebpresenceoftwoinstitutions,Coursera&KhanAcademy–botharguablylabeled“revolutionary”(reflectionsorevenleadersofthetransformingeducation)–illustrateswhatkindofinformationthesocialwebprovidestolearners,shapingtheir“educationmix”;educators,personalizingeducation(altools)theyprovide&reinforcingtheirpositioning;andwhatthegeneralfunction&“stateofthings”ofsocialmediaineducationis.Evensimpleanalysesonthesocialweb“dataset”(quitebig,indeed)mightprovideuswithinformationcomplementing–insomecasesevensubstituting(/fillingthegapsof)–the(internal/private)behavioraldatafromanonlineeducationaltoolusage.Ratherthanmakinganefforttodefine“theoneandonlyperfectcentralizedgeneraleducationsystem”(ifsuchathingexists)&eventhoughbothservicesmightpossiblyexhibitmanycommonfeatures(e.g.the“whatever,whenever,wherever,howevereducation”notion),we’llattempttodefineboth21stCenturyeducationtools,Coursera&KhanAcademyas“brands”co-createdbytheirsocialwebpresence,offeringpersonalized/personalizable(“madetomeasure”)educationsuitableforaspecificgroup,individualhumanbeing, moment,occasion,needetc.;andsotakingaspecificpartin“educationmix”ofanindividual.
ThedatawerecollectedduringJanuary-June2014–forparticularanalyses/datasetsalwaysseethefooterontheright–&analyzedinsummer2014.Duetothat,weshouldkeepinmindthatthestateofbothCoursera’s& KhanAcademy’sbrandisbiasedtowardsthefirsthalfof2014–andevenmoreregardingthe“aweekoftweets”part(yet,asyouwillsee,freeingthedataofthe“ungeneralizablepiece”,wecangainquitedetailedinsightsprovidedbyaverysmallfragmentofthe“bigTwitterdata”).Although“theideal”ofanyweband/orsocialmediaanalysiswouldbealongditudial&automatedevaluation/reportingprocess(yet,beforethatanexploratoryresearchisneeded),youmightbesurprisedbytherichness&highinformativevalueofsuch“singlecapturedstate”.
* This research paper is part of the work-in-progresstext “How to Create Self-Driven Education”. It was posted online to (potentially) educate professionals, academics & the generalpublic about possibilities of mining the social web. …also to get some feedback and (above all) spread the word about self-driven education & contribute to the vision. =)
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RUZICKA,Jakub(2014).COURSERA&KHANACADEMYONTHESOCIALWEB:THESOCIALWEBCO-CREATINGBRANDS,REVEALINGCOMMUNITIES&FACILITATING–BOTHPRODUCERS’ &CONSUMERS’–INFORMEDDECISION-MAKINGINADJUSTINGTHEIR“EDUCATIONMIX”.[workingpaper]CharlesUniversityinPrague,FacultyofSocialSciences,InstituteofSociologicalStudies.
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Coursera & Khan Academy on the Social Web
- 1. JAKUBRŮŽIČKA jameslittlerose@gmail.com cz.linkedin.com/in/littlerose summer 2014 | working paper @ COURSERA & KHAN ACADEMYON THE SOCIAL WEB the social web co-creating brands, revealing communities& facilitating -both producers’ & consumers’ -informeddecision-making in adjusting their “education mix”
- 2. aggregated general background Coursera & Khan Academysocial web presence quantitatively web domains, web traffic, keyword performance, business insights, social media statistics: facebook, twitter, google+, youtube & linkedin; competitive analysis, wikipedia insights (pp. 3-33) original social web data Coursera & Khan Academysocial web presence qualitatively facebook, twitter & google+ pages, groups, comment networks, communities, posts, content analysis, fans, demographics, traffic sources, keywords; personal network & interest profiles, search results, news articles, text mining, inbound links, reddit, youtube (pp. 34-95) a week of tweets Coursera & Khan Academydetailed insights provided bya small fragment of big data general statistics, influential tweeters, demographics, keywords, content analysis,natural language processing, text mining, sentiment analysis (pp. 96-121) conclusions brand essence, swot, positioning& more Coursera & Khan Academy…and what does the social websay about education? (pp. 122-130) outline link to datasets tools used & DIY resources for self-driven education (pp. 131-132) Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose August 2014 Thisresearchpaper*isconcernedwithsocialwebdatainthecontextofeducation.Studyingsocialwebpresenceoftwoinstitutions,Coursera&KhanAcademy–botharguablylabeled“revolutionary”(reflectionsorevenleadersofthetransformingeducation)–illustrateswhatkindofinformationthesocialwebprovidestolearners,shapingtheir“educationmix”;educators,personalizingeducation(altools)theyprovide&reinforcingtheirpositioning;andwhatthegeneralfunction&“stateofthings”ofsocialmediaineducationis.Evensimpleanalysesonthesocialweb“dataset”(quitebig,indeed)mightprovideuswithinformationcomplementing–insomecasesevensubstituting(/fillingthegapsof)–the(internal/private)behavioraldatafromanonlineeducationaltoolusage.Ratherthanmakinganefforttodefine“theoneandonlyperfectcentralizedgeneraleducationsystem”(ifsuchathingexists)&eventhoughbothservicesmightpossiblyexhibitmanycommonfeatures(e.g.the“whatever,whenever,wherever,howevereducation”notion),we’llattempttodefineboth21stCenturyeducationtools,Coursera&KhanAcademyas“brands”co-createdbytheirsocialwebpresence,offeringpersonalized/personalizable(“madetomeasure”)educationsuitableforaspecificgroup,individualhumanbeing, moment,occasion,needetc.;andsotakingaspecificpartin“educationmix”ofanindividual. ThedatawerecollectedduringJanuary-June2014–forparticularanalyses/datasetsalwaysseethefooterontheright–&analyzedinsummer2014.Duetothat,weshouldkeepinmindthatthestateofbothCoursera’s& KhanAcademy’sbrandisbiasedtowardsthefirsthalfof2014–andevenmoreregardingthe“aweekoftweets”part(yet,asyouwillsee,freeingthedataofthe“ungeneralizablepiece”,wecangainquitedetailedinsightsprovidedbyaverysmallfragmentofthe“bigTwitterdata”).Although“theideal”ofanyweband/orsocialmediaanalysiswouldbealongditudial&automatedevaluation/reportingprocess(yet,beforethatanexploratoryresearchisneeded),youmightbesurprisedbytherichness&highinformativevalueofsuch“singlecapturedstate”. * This research paper is part of the work-in-progresstext “How to Create Self-Driven Education”. It was posted online to (potentially) educate professionals, academics & the generalpublic about possibilities of mining the social web. …also to get some feedback and (above all) spread the word about self-driven education & contribute to the vision. =) download (/save) the documentfor higher resolution| optimized for fullscreenview RUZICKA,Jakub(2014).COURSERA&KHANACADEMYONTHESOCIALWEB:THESOCIALWEBCO-CREATINGBRANDS,REVEALINGCOMMUNITIES&FACILITATING–BOTHPRODUCERS’ &CONSUMERS’–INFORMEDDECISION-MAKINGINADJUSTINGTHEIR“EDUCATIONMIX”.[workingpaper]CharlesUniversityinPrague,FacultyofSocialSciences,InstituteofSociologicalStudies. click a linkin the text for more information | click a red framed visual for an updated web result or higher resolution
- 3. Coursera & Khan Academysocial web presence quantitatively web domains, web traffic, keyword performance, business insights, social media statistics: facebook, twitter, google+, youtube & linkedin; competitive analysis, wikipedia insights (pp. 3-33) aggregatedgeneral background Thefirstsectionofthistextis(mainly)basedondataprovidedbythirdparties.Therefore,itisrathersuggestivethanconclusive,givesincompleteinformation&servesonlyasageneralintroductionintothetopic.Itssignificancewillbereinforcedinthethreefollowingsections(i.e.includingconclusions),whereitcomplementstheoriginaldatacollected&providesframeworkfortheoverallpictureofCoursera’s&KhanAcademy’ssocialwebpresence.
- 4. the internet about 3 billion users about 1 billion websites the top 500 sites on the web blogs more than 6.7 million bloggers about 80% of internet users read blogs facebook about 1.3 billionmonthly active users about 80% of daily active usersoutside the US & Canada more than 50 million facebook pages twitter 255 million monthly active users about 77% of accountsoutside the US about 500 million tweets per day google+ 540 million monthly active users about 5.5 million pages* * a simple estimate based on google’sstatement that more than 1 million pages were created in the first 6 months(g+ launched in November 2011) youtube more than 1 billion users 80% youtube trafficoutside the US 100 hours of video uploaded every minute linkedin 186million monthly active users more than 3 millioncompany pages over 39 million students& recent college graduates reddit about 115 million monthly unique visitors largest demographic group of 18-29 year old males wikipedia over 500 million monthly unique visitors over 4.5English articles over 10 edits/sec of wikipedia& its sister projects This slide is an introductory one in order to set some general benchmarks to estimate the bias of our (prospective) Coursera’s& Khan Academy’s brand definition based on the social web analyses that make up this report.* * I’ve also attempted to establisha generalization principles for social media research (disclaimer: way more theoretical =)), particularly focused on social media algorithms and offline & online political participation, here. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose June 2014 stats source: internetlivestats.com newsroom.fb.com/company-infoabout.twitter.com/company google.com/+/brands youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.htmlpress.linkedin.com/about bit.ly/1jZqHBX (techcrunch.com) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Statistics blog.digitalinsights.in expandedramblings.comcomscore.com
- 5. category label category URI result label result refcount result description Philosophy of education http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:Philosophy_of_education Education 7048 Educationinitsbroadest,generalsenseisthemeansthroughwhichtheaimsandhabitsofagroupofpeoplelivesonfromonegenerationtothenext.Generally,itoccursthroughanyexperiencethathasaformativeeffectonthewayonethinks,feels,oracts.Initsnarrow,technicalsense,educationistheformalprocessbywhichsocietydeliberatelytransmitsitsaccumulatedknowledge,skills,customsandvaluesfromonegenerationtoanother,e.g.,instructioninschools. Knowledge sharing http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:Knowledge_sharing Education http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:Education State schools http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:State_schools State school 6194 Stateschools,alsoknownaspublicschoolsorgovernmentschools,generallyrefertoprimaryorsecondaryschoolsmandatedfororofferedtoallchildrenbythegovernment, whethernational,regional,orlocal,providedbyaninstitutionofcivilgovernment,andpaidfor,inwholeorinpart,bypublicfundingfromtaxation.Thetermmayalsorefertoinstitutionsofpost-secondaryeducationfunded,inwholeorinpart,andoverseenbygovernment. High schools and secondary schools http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:High_schools_and_secondary_schools Secondary school 4579 Secondaryschool(theterm"highschool"ismostoftenassociatedwithEnglish-speakingcountries,thoughthetwoarefarfromsynonymous)isatermusedtodescribeaneducationalinstitutionwherethefinalstageofschooling,knownassecondaryeducationandusuallycompulsoryuptoaspecifiedage,takesplace.Itfollowselementaryorprimaryeducation,andmaybefollowedbyuniversity(tertiary)education. School types http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:School_types Educational stages http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:Educational_stages School terminology http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:School_terminology Elementary and primary schools http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:Elementary_and_primary_schools Primary school 3422 Aprimaryschool(fromFrenchécoleprimaire)isaninstitutioninwhichchildrenreceivethefirststageofcompulsoryeducationknownasprimaryorelementaryeducation. PrimaryschoolisthepreferredtermintheUnitedKingdomandmanyCommonwealthNations,andinmostpublicationsoftheUnitedNationsEducational,Scientific,andCulturalOrganization.Insomecountries,andespeciallyinNorthAmerica,thetermelementaryschoolispreferred. School types http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:School_types Educational stages http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:Educational_stages School terminology http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:School_terminology Gender http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:Gender Mixed-sex education 3089 Mixed-sexeducation,alsoknownascoeducation,istheintegratededucationofmaleandfemalestudentsinthesameinstitution.Itistheoppositeofsingle-sexeducation. Mostolderinstitutionsofhighereducationwerereservedforthemalesexandsincethenhavechangedtheirpoliciestobecomecoeducative. School types http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:School_types Educational environment http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:Educational_environment Mixed-sex education http://dbpedia.org/resource/Category:Mixed-sex_education the “education” keyword Beforewebegininterpretation&discussionofthegathereddataabouttwoeducationalinstitutions,Coursera&KhanAcademy,let’sconsiderthe“education”conceptitself.Forthedefinition,we’veasked–unsurprisingly–oneoftheproductsofthesocialweb,Wikipedia,thefreeopenonlineencyclopedia.Properlyspeaking,theanswerwasgivenbyDBpedia,“acrowd-sourcedcommunityefforttoextractstructuredinformationfromWikipediaandmakethisinformationavailableontheWeb”.[self]ItskeywordsearchAPIprovideduswiththe“education” queryresultsrankedbythenumberofinlinkspointingfromotherWikipediapagesattheparticularresultpage(therefcountcolumn).* Atfirstsight,wecanobservethatthe“education”conceptiscloselyrelatedto“school”–primarilyinits“traditionalK-12schooleducation”meaningwhichdominatestheresults.Yet,aswecanlearnrightfromtheveryfirstdescriptionofeducation’s“deep”(philosophical)meaning, suchcontextis“narrow”&“technical”.Inrecentyears–arguablyespeciallyduetothemassexpansionofICT,theInternet,and(therefore)openeducationalresourcesfacilitatingeducationpersonalization(andmass-scalesupport&analytics)–wearegettingmoreawareofthe(intrinsicallymotivated)self-driven&informaleducationopportunities.Wikipedia,blogarticles&YouTubetutorialsbyprofessionalsoramateurs-enthusiasts,specializededucationalportals,communityforums,onlineprofessionalcommunities,open-sourcecommunities;blendedlearning,MOOCs,MITOpenCourseWare,Codecademy,TED,GitHub,andamyriadofothernon-profit&for-profitonlineeducationalprojects&newconceptsineducation.**Basedonthepremiseofincreasingprofessional/academicspecialization–however,ratherthanwithinonediscipline,“picking”suitableskillsacrossvariousdisciplines(interdisciplinary)–toachieve–freelychosen(whatever,whenever,wherever,however),intrinsicallymotivatedand,tosomeextent,uniquemastery,wemightarguethat“school”inthe“education-school” associationcouldbereplacedby“educationmix”***,whereparticulareducationaltools&entitiesactas“brands”withaclearpositioningoftheirproducts,meetingtheneedsofparticulartargetgroups(formoreinsight,seethelongtail)&customizingtheirmixesaccordingthedatatheyhave.Thearchetypesofan“educator”(producer)&a“learner”(consumer)willoftenblendina“prosumer”(formoreinsight,seeWikinomics).Onthesubjectofthe“educationmix”customization,wewillseethatthesocialweb–evenstandingalone,notcombinedwithotherdata–cangiveusadetailedanswertoourresearchquestion“WhatarethebrandsofCoursera&KhanAcademy?”,withtheaforementionedparticularinterestin“Whatkindofinformationdoesthesocialwebprovidetolearners,shapingtheir“educationmix”;educators, personalizingeducation(altools)theyprovide&reinforcingtheirpositioning;andwhatisthegeneralfunction&“stateofthings”ofsocialmediaineducation?” * Defining the “21stCentury education concept” based on a single Wikipedia query only could be seen as “sloppy”, possibly empowering the digital education revolution sceptics with some solid & sound arguments about not enough critical thinking. On that account, I should mention that I’ll save some more elaborated theoretical background / model / framework for the aforementioned work-in-progress text “How to Create Self-Driven Education”. ** I am –by not means –trying to provide you with a curated list of all online educational resources & currently discussed concepts. It might not even be possible, since –based on the scope our definition of an “educational resource” –it might be concluded that we actually learn from everything we interact with. Try to type the “(free) online education” query, and/or any specific topic you want to learn, inyour favourite search engine,and you’ll still see only a few planets in the giant digital universe of available educational resources. *** Coining a term is fun, and even more entertaining if the term can be somewhat useful. =) Since meanings are rather created in everyday life, based on a necessity of having them, let’s not give any “hard” definition to the “education mix” concept. Wecan just say, it’s kind of analogous to the “marketing mix” concept. Under the “education mix” paradigm, schools, study programmes, job positions etc. serve as “mere” archetypes/recipes, helping us to assemble our own qualification, positioning & “brand”; employing various education providers& ways of how to devote our time efficiently to improve our lives. Neither learners nor educators search for a “perfect educational institution” but rather for a“perfect (yet flexible) education mix” tailored for specific needs & goals. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: wiki.dbpedia.org/Lookup) | June 2014
- 6. google books WordfrequencyofGoogle’sEnglishbookcorpusshowsusasimilarstory.The“education”keywordseemstobestronglycorrelatedwith“school”.Wecanseethat“the”oneofthemeansofobtainingeducationhas(almostalways)beendiscussedmorethantheultimategoal(&process)itself. WearenowreadytobegintheCoursera&KhanAcademycomparison. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (source: books.google.com/ngrams) | May 2014
- 7. Withrespecttotheendusers,bothCoursera&KhanAcademyrepresentwebpagesofferingfree-for-profit&non- profit,inthatorder-educationalcontent.BothorganizationsoperateintheUS.KhanAcademyissixyearsolder,whichgaveitmoretimetoreinforceits“transformingeducation” authority/brandlabel,aswe’llseeinthefollowingpartsofthetext. domainname COURSERA.ORG domainid D164365199-LROR creationdate 2012-01-12T01 updateddate 2013-07-02T20 registryexpirydate 2023-01-12T01 sponsoringregistrar GoDaddy.com,LLC(R91-LROR) sponsoringregistrarIANAid 146 registrantname AndrewNg registrantorganization Dkandu,Inc. registrantstreet 1975ElCaminoReal registrantcity MountainView registrantstate/province California registrantpostalcode 94040 registrantcountry US registrantphone 1.415377 registrantemail admin+dns@coursera.org domainname KHANACADEMY.ORG domainid D118495620-LROR creationdate 2006-03-14T22 updateddate 2014-04-29T00 registryexpirydate 2019-03-14T22 sponsoringregistrar GoDaddy.com,LLC(R91-LROR) sponsoringregistrarIANAid 146 registrantname ShantanuSinha registrantorganization KhanAcademy registrantstreet POBox1630 registrantcity MountainView registrantstate/province California registrantpostalcode 94042 registrantcountry US registrantphone 1.650337 registrantemail bills@khanacademy.org web domains Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: who.is) | May 2014
- 8. introduction 76 11% science 32 5% part 31 5% health 29 4% learning 25 4% global 21 3% data 19 3% educational resources math Early math Differential calculus Arithmetic Integral calculus Pre-algebra Multivariable calculus Algebra I Differential equations Geometry Linear algebra Algebra II Applied math Trigonometry Recreational math Probability and statistics Math contests Precalculus science Biology Cosmology and astronomy Physics Health and medicine Chemistry Discoveries and projects Organic chemistry economics & finance Microeconomics Finance and capital markets Macroeconomics Entrepreneurship arts and humanities History Music Art history Philosophy American civics computing Computer programming Cryptography & information theory test prep SAT CAHSEE MCAT IIT JEE NCLEX-RN AP Art History GMAT partner content The Museum of Modern Art Crash Course The J. Paul Getty Museum Stanford School of Medicine California Academy of Sciences MIT+K12 Exploratorium LeBron asks Asian Art Museum The Brookings Institution All-Star Orchestra The Aspen Institute Silicon Schools Fund and Clayton Christensen Institute NASA Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (source: api-explorer.khanacademy.org, tech.coursera.org/app-platform/catalog/) | May 2014 categories Arts Biology & Life Sciences Business & Management Chemistry Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence Computer Science: Software Engineering Computer Science: Systems & Security Computer Science: Theory Economics & Finance Education Energy & Earth Sciences Engineering Food and Nutrition Health & Society Humanities Information, Tech & Design Law Mathematics Medicine Music, Film, and Audio Physical & Earth Sciences Physics Social Sciences Statistics and Data Analysis Teacher Professional Development laguages English Chinese Spanish French Russian Portuguese Turkish Ukrainian German Hebrew Japanese Arabic Greek Italian TheofficialAPIsofbothservicesallowustoobtainlistsofallopeneducationalresourcesthatcanbefoundonCoursera’s&KhanAcademy’swebsites. Courseraoffers(asofMay2014)664courses–consistingof(video)lectures,additionalmaterials,communityforum&assignments(notonly)suitableincaseonewantstogain(paid) signaturetrackcertificateand/orcompleteawholespecialization–organizedinto25categories,lecturedmainlybyUniversity/CollegeProfessors,andmanifestlyaimedatUniversity/Collegestudents,(prospectiveorcurrent)professionalsand/orlife-longlearners. WemightwanttocomplementCoursera’sbuildincategorizationofcourses(ontheleft),since–despitebeingproperforCoursera’susers–itmightbetoogeneralforourunderstandingofitscontent,concerningtheratherniche-specializationofhighereducationcourses.ThecommonfeaturesoftheeducationalcontentavailableonCourseracanbealsounderstoodbyasimplefrequencyanalysis*ofkeywordsincourses’names.Themostfrequentonestellusthereare“atleast”–onlybasedonthedetected“introduction”keyword–11%ofintroductory- levelcourses,generallyrather“science”courses,sometimesserialized(havingmore“parts”). Slightlyfavouredtopicsare“health”,“learning”,“global”&“data”,followedby(notincludedinthetable,about0.5-1timeslessfrequent)“teaching”,“analysis”,“programming”,“systems”, “history”,“world”,“management”,“engineering”,“chemistry”&“society”.NotethatCourseracanalsobedefinedbytheUniversities&otherpartnerswithwhichitcooperatesonthepreparation/distributionofcoursesand/ortowhichitprovidesanMOOCplatform.Wewilltalkabouttheminthefollowingpartsofthetext. KhanAcademy’s56categoriesofopeneducationalresources-consistingofthousandsofsmalllectures,practiceproblems,mini-projects,points&badges(achievements)toreinforceextrinsicmotivation,discussionforums,andlearningmanagementenvironmentforlearners, educators,orparents–arestructuredquiteclearly–regardingits“UScommoncoreprimary/highschooleducation”nature.KhanAcademy’sprimary&highschoolcurriculum–aswewillalsoseelateron–isfrequentlyusedto“fix”one’sgeneraleducationaswell.Thecontentis–almostexclusively–createdbythefounderofKhanAcademy,SalmanKhan. BothplatformsofferopeneducationalmaterialsinlanguagesotherthanEnglish.Tobemorespecific,therearecoursestaughtdirectlyinanotherlanguagethanEnglish(Coursera)andcourses/lectureswithavailabletranslatedtranscripts(in-videosubtitles)createdbyvolunteercommunities(KhanAcademy,recentlyalsoCoursera) * Such analysis serves as an introductory one only. As we will hopefully see by the end of this report, social weband social & online media mentions give us a much more accurate overall picture.
- 9. web traffic InspiteofthefactCourseragenerallyappearstoreachlargeraudience–accordingtobothpages’trafficestimates*–thedistinctionseemstobeblurredintheUS–possiblybecauseKhanAcademyofferseducationalresourcestailoredfortheUSK-12educationsystem.Thetrafficofthe“newer”ofbothinstitutions,Coursera,givestheimpressionofgrowingsteadily,whileKhanAcademy’smostrecenttrafficseemstoberathersteady,withregardtoitsregularfluctuations(Ibetyouwon’tfindsummerholidaysintheKA’slinechart=)). Othermetrics/estimatesmightalsobebiasedbythecompositionofAlexa’sglobaltrafficpanel*.However,forpotentialfuturepurposes(e.g.hypothesistesting),wemighttemporarily(utillwehaveotherdata)assumethatCourseraisvisitedratherbymen,whereasKhanAcademy’susersareratherwomen.KhanAcademymightalsobefrequentlyvisitedbystudents/professionals,whopossiblywanttofillthegapsintheirgeneraleducation. *Alexa's traffic estimates are based ondata from its global traffic panel, which is a sample of millions of Internet users using one of over 25,000 different browser extensions. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: alexa.com) | May 2014
- 10. web traffic Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: alexa.com) | May 2014 Bothservicesappeartobemostpopular–nosurprisehere–intheUS.However,wemightarguethatwhileCourseraseemstohavewiderreacharoundtheglobe,innon-(natively-)Englishspeakingworld,KhanAcademyslightlyleadsinCanada&theUK.Besidestheimportanceofnames/brandsofbothinstitutions,thetopsearchengineskeywordsprovidedbyAlexadonotsaymuch.Yet,italreadyindicatesthediscussion,arisingfromsocialmediacontentanalysisinthefollowingpartsofthetext,aboutCoursera’sbrandbeingmore“diverse”,basedonparticularcoursersonetakes,Professors&partnerinstitutions;andKhanAcademy’sbrandbeingmore“centralized”& dependentonthepersonofSalmanKhan–besidesotherthingscausedbythedifferenceineducationalcontentproductiononbothwebsites.Becausethesharpriseofsearchtrafficinmid2013isobservableinbothgraphs,itwasnotexaminedinmoredetail,sinceitisnotthesubjectofthisresearchandmightbecausedbyamodificationofAlexa’smethodologyand/orincreasedpublicityofboththankstoaninfluentialpublisher/medium.
- 11. web traffic Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: alexa.com) | May 2014 TheinboundlinkanalysissuggeststhataboutthreetimesmoresiteslinktoKhanAcademythantoCoursera–ontheotherhand,aswealreadyknow, KhanAcademyexistsaboutfourtimeslongerthanCoursera.Ingeneral,theimportanceofsocialmedia(Facebook&YouTubeinparticular)forbothinstitutions’trafficisshown.KhanAcademy’ssubdomainsshowthe(webtraffic)importanceofSmartHistory,KA’sresourceforarthistory,andtwoofitsvolunteertranslatorcommunities. YoumightalsonoticetheTurkishnewspaperHurriyet(Coursera)–wewillexplaintheconnectionbetweenCoursera&Turkeylater–and“the”Chineseonlinemedium&SNS(socialnetworkingservice),Sina.Unsurprisingly,regardingthelargeIndianpopulation,there’sasignificantinterestinCourserainIndia(google.co.in).Wewilltalkaboutbothservices’geography&demographyingenerallateron.
- 12. web traffic estimated 8,022,800monthly visits estimated 4,152,930monthly visitors estimated 4,055,700monthly visits estimated 3,149,610monthly visitors Coursera.org Course:Machine Learning Course: Human-Computer Interactio Course: Cryptography I Course: Computer Science 101 top pages KhanAcademy.org About | Khan Academy Knowledge Map | Khan Academy Computer programming | Khan Academy top pages Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: site-seo-analysis.com, opensiteexplorer.org, trafficestimate.com) | May 2014 Onceagain,despitethefactthewebsitetrafficestimatesareonlyapproximate,eventhispagesupportstheapproachingdiscussionofKhanAcademyhavingastrongercommunity,andofCourserahavinghigherreachbuildarounddiversetargetgroups. Perhapsbecausethetransformationofeducationis“poweredby”ICTdevelopment,themostpopularCoursera’scoursesseemtobethetechn(olog)icalones.
- 13. keyword performance Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: semrush.com) | May 2014 Organic keywordsfrom an alternative source seem to support the previous discussion. Moreover they emphasize Coursera’s & Khan Academy’s partner institutions. The analysis of competitors based on organic search shows that Khan Academy is –as for organic search – looked up as a source of open educational resources for mathematics. Courseraappears to (organically) be a general online class platform, MOOC platform in particular, since it competes with websites offering University/College and/or professional online courses.
- 14. business insight number of followers: 14,399 number of followers: 33,435 Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (source: linkedin.com) | May 2014 We’llstartourquickbusinessinsightintoCoursera&KhanAcademybyexaminingtheirprofilesonthebusiness-orientedsocialnetworkLinkedIn. Thefor-profitvs.non-profitdifferencebetweenbothinstitutionsreflectsitselfinthefactthatCoursera,unlikeKhanAcademy,updatesitscompanypageonaregularbasis,focusingitsnews&storiesoncollege/professionalpopulation&recruitingnewemployees.Courserais(expectedly)alsolargerconcerningnumberofemployees(/companysize).
- 15. business insight number of followers: 14,399 number of followers: 33,435 Whilethepreviousorganicsearch(/keyword)competitionwasbasedonsearchterms–i.e.,slightlymoretext-basedcategorization–LinkedIn’srecommendationsystemgivesthe“relatedsearchrecommendations”usingclicks,termoverlap& lengthbias[self]–i.e.,supposedly,eveninourcaseof“peoplealsoviewed”,thoseshouldbeslightlymorehumanbehavior-basedrecommendations. Wecanseethatbothportalsareperceivedtobeamongtheleadersintherealmofonline/MOOCeducation(edX,Udacity,Udemy).Grockit–providingUSstandardizedexampreparation–reflectsKA’srecenteducationalcontent& partnerships(discussedinthefollowingpartsofthetext).Finally,weshouldalsomentionKnewton,anadaptivelearning(/educationalcontentpersonalization) platform.Itspresenceamongothereducationaltoolscomplementsourconceptionofcurrenttrendsineducation. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (source: linkedin.com) | May 2014
- 16. business insight Anothermethodologyoffindingcompetitors,thistimecrowd-sourced,bringssomenewplayerstotheoverallpictureofonlinecoursesmarket. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: crunchbase.com) | May 2014
- 17. business insight number of followers: 14,399 number of followers: 33,435 Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: crunchbase.com) | May 2014 Informationaboutfunding–fromourviewpoint–seemstobeimportantonlytoidentifytheinfluencesonCoursera’soperation, itsinvestors(similarlyitspartnerinstitutionsdiscussedlater). Nevertheless,itmightbemisleadingtoassumethatKhanAcademyjust“livesalifeofitsown”.Sincethistopicwillshowupmanytimesinthefollowingtwopartsofthetext,itwillbeenoughtomentionitsrecentpartnershipswithCollegeBoard,BankofAmerica,NASA,andtheWhiteHouse;anditsfinancialbackingfromtheBill&MelindaGatesFoundation.
- 18. business insight Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: crunchbase.com) | May 2014 Institutionsare–arguably,toagreatextent–shapedbypeoplewhoworkinthem(&thereforedeterminetheirdevelopment).Besidesthefoundersofbothinstitutions, SalmanKhan(KhanAcademy),andDaphneKoller& AndrewNg(Coursera),wecanseeothermembersoftheboard,employeesand/orpartners,aboutwhomwecanlearnmoresimplybylookinguptheirnamesinourfavouritewebsearchengine.
- 19. Coursera Inc. 1975 El Camino Real West , CA 94040,Mountain View,CA,94040,United States www.coursera.org Industry Internet Educational Services Employees 45 SIC Schools & Educational Services, Nec(8290) NAICS Educational Support Services(611710) People VincentPrice Member of Advisory Board MargaretSheil Member of Advisory Board RafaelBras Member of Advisory Board JohnEtchemendy Member of Advisory Board PeterLange Member of Advisory Board PhyllisWise Member of Advisory Board AndrewNg Co-Founder PhilipHanlon Member of Advisory Board ChristopherEisgruber Member of Advisory Board PatrickAebischer Member of Advisory Board JohnDoerr Director ScottSandell Director Vice President(s) JessicaNeal Vice President -Talent Chief Executive Officer DaphneKoller co-founder and co-CEO RichardLevin Chief Executive Officer President(s) LilaIbrahim President business insight KhanAcademy Inc. PO BOX 1630,Mountain View,CA,94042, United States www.khanacademy.org Industry Educational Services Employees N/A SIC Services-Educational Services (8200) NAICS Administration of Education Programs (923110) Director(s) Salman Khan Founder& Executive Director Other JenniferOverholt Volunteer and Math Content Creator Thesamequeryusinganalternativesourceshouldbeenough*toroughlyillustratethedifferenceinorganizationstructurebetweenfor-profit&non-profitorganization,whichwillcomplementourfutureconclusionsaboutCoursera’s& KhanAcademy’scommunities. * If we were to create an as-much-as-possible complete list of both companies’ team members, we should certainly also use web search engines; search blogs, news articles, different social media APIs etc. A good place to start would be herefor Coursera& herefor Khan Academy. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: insideview.com) | May 2014
- 20. January January January January A B C D E F G H I J K google search WhilethetrafficestimatesappearedtoworkinfavourofCoursera,Googlesearchofthe“coursera”&“khanacademy”keywords,bycontrast,showsoverallhigherdemandforKhanAcademy.Aswewillseelateron,itisso, arguably,becauseCourseraisoftenfoundviaparticularcourses(e.g.‘machinelearning’), whereasKhanAcademyisrathercentralized& compacttoolcloselyassociatedwithitsfounder, SalmanKhan,&hisstancestowardseducationmediatedbyonlinepublishers. NewsheadlinesfoundbyGoogleTrends–redaboutCoursera&blueaboutKhanAcademy– alsoallowustostartshapingtheoverallpictureofCoursera’s&KhanAcademy’sonlinementions(whichwillbefurtherdevelopedlater, especiallythankstosocialmediamentions& inboundlinks). Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (source: google.com/trends) | May 2014
- 21. google search Therelated(tothepreviouskeywordsearchinterestovertime)worldsearchinterestmapscanbeseenasshowingcurrentmarketsofbotheducationaltools.WhileKhanAcademyislookedupincountrieslikeGhana,Singapore&Greece,theworldwidepopularityofCoursera(beyondUS&Canada)seemstodependonlargerUniversitycities(possiblywithbettereducatedpopulation).Oncemore(&unsurprisinglyagain)wecanseehighdemandforbothportalsinIndia.RegardingCoursera,Bangladeshmightsurpriseusbeingamongthetop.* * Numbers represent search volume relative to the highest point on the map which is always 100. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (source: google.com/trends/) | May 2014
- 22. “society”statistics profile following followers Barack Obama 650,026 43,714,421 Dalai Lama 0 9,030,143 NASA 218 6,813,595 … Khan Academy 64 301,000 … Coursera 300 182,000 profile fans engagementrate (average) Barack Obama 41,280,379 0.32% Narendra Modi 18,538,829 1.50% Mitt Romney 11,336,358 0.13% … Khan Academy 727,524 N/A … Coursera 547,273 N/A 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. tags conference, csr, education, governmental, ngo, politics, professional association, science Slowlyshiftingtosocialmedia,wecanstartwithapopularityrankfromSocialBakers’proprietarydatabase,whichgatherssocialmediadataonaregularbasis,andthereforeallowustomakesomegeneraland/orlongditudialcomparisons.Let’sstartwithfanpages.*The“society”categoryincludesthe“conference”,“csr”,“education”,“governmental”,“ngo”,“politics”,“professionalassociation”& “science”tags.ItshowsthatKhanAcademyisoverallymorepopularonbothFacebook&TwitterthanCoursera–asmeasuredbythenumberoffans/followers.Broadlyspeaking,itisalsoobviousthatpolitical&spiritualleadersaremorepopularthaneducationalleaders.TocomplementtheleftFacebooktable,wecanaddthattheTEDconferencewasamongthetop10.Onthesubjectofothereducationalinstitutions,therewas,forexample,HarvardUniversityinthetop40.Likewise,usingour“educationallens”whenlookingontherightTwittertable,the“thirdplace”ofNASA–sharingcontentwhichusuallycanbelabeledas“educational”–shouldmakeushappy. * And their analogies regarding other (not Facebook) SNSs. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: socialbakers.com) | May 2014
- 23. “society”statistics tags conference, csr, education, governmental, ngo, politics, professional association, science profile views followers Barack Obama 84,520,413 4,327,072 Jamie Oliver 31,686,664 2,389,056 NarendraModi 114,569,200 1,493,332 … Coursera 22,833,545 1,067,922 … Khan Academy 6,376,165 343,686 profile views subscribers Super SimpleSongs 1,508,583,613 1,089,874 Howcast 1,362,150,063 2,117,582 Khan Academy 114,569,200 2,078,502 … Coursera 977,490 32,128 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: socialbakers.com) | May 2014 DealingwiththeYouTubeleaderboardinthe“society”category,wecanseethateducationalcontentwins.BothSupersimple&Howcastoffereducationalcontent– yettargetingverydifferentusers.Intotal,KhanAcademyisthethirdmostviewedinitscategory*,whichdemonstratesthepopularityofSalmanKhan’svideos,whichareuploadeddirectlytoYouTube(anddisplayedonKhanAcademy’swebpageasembedvideos).SinceCoursera’scoursesvideosareuploadedtoitsown(online) learningenvironmentmadeaccessibleafterenrollingintoaparticularcourse,Courseradoesnothavethatmuchvideocontenttoshare–andthat’sperhapswhyitisnotsopopularonYouTube.Inthetop15ofthe“society”categoryofYouTubevideos,wemightfind(again)thepopularTEDconference,StanfordUniversity,TED- Ed,MITOpenCourseWare&severalothereducationalinstitutions. WhataboutGoogle+?Onthesubjectofeducationalinstitutionsinthetop50ofthe“society”category,wecanfindseveraleducationalinstitutions,mainlyconsistingofUniversityGoogle+pages(e.g.Stanford).Evenifyouhavenotyetbeenexposedtoadecentamountofsocialmediaresearch,withrespecttothefactthe“firstplace”isoccupiedbythesamepersononTwitter,Facebook&Google+,youshouldatleastsuspect,whois“the”politicianverygoodwiththem. Tosumup,wecansaythatYouTubeisthemostproperplatformforeducationwithrespecttothefourSNSsweweretalkingabout.Moreover,Facebook,Twitter& Google+usersaremorekeentofollowpoliticiansthaneducators.** * Also note Khan Academy’s disproportionate number of views to number of subscribers, as compared to Super Simple Songs & Howcast. We can argue that Khan Academy requires the most (learning) concentration of all three, since nearly all of its videos are Salman Khan’s micro lectures, typically on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) topics. **Jamie Oliver then might go beyond our categorization. My personal preference would be an “entertainment” category. However, since Jamie categorized his Facebook page as “public figure”, we might argue that there’s some educational/political/societal/cultural value instilled in recipes when discussing properties of food (nevertheless, with that logic, we might also justify the educational value of the well-know extensive collection of YouTube makeup tutorials =)).
- 24. number of fans: 529,115 number of fans: 714,626 Beforewewillgettothe(ratherqualitative)contentanalysisinthesecond&thirdpartofthisreport,let’sfocusonquantitativemetricswhichcanprovideuswithageneraloverviewofCoursera’s(orange)&KhanAcademy’s(green)reach. Asthechartshows,thenumbersofCoursera&KhanAcademyfansrosesteadilyovertheyears.*TheoverallFacebookfanbaseofKhanAcademyishigherthanthefanbaseofCoursera. * Not paying attention to the sudden jump in the number of Khan Academy fans around March 2014 which might be related to a significant event but might as well be a “bug” in Wildfire’s data and/or web reporting. competitive analysis Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: wildfireapp.com) | June 2014
- 25. number of fans: 529,115 number of fans: 714,626 fans fans competitive analysis Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: socialbakers.com) | June 2014 Lookingatdatafromanalternativethird-partysourcemakesitpossibletoverifyourpreviousconclusions.Sincewe–onceagain–canseethesuddenjumpinthenumberofKhanAcademyfansattheendofMarch2014&wepossiblywanttoexplainit,weneedto“borrow”somefindingsfromthefollowingtwopartsofthistextinordertoarguethattheMarch/April2014KA’snumberoffansincreasemightbecausedbyKA’snewpartnerships,especiallyitsco-operationwithCollegeBoard(SAT* preparation). * SAT is a widely used US college admissions standardized test.
- 26. United States 90,976 17.2 % India 69,061 13.1 % Brazil 37,235 7.0 % Egypt 18,603 3.5 % Mexico 14,394 2.7 % United Kingdom 13,580 2.6 % Spain 12,542 2.4 % Canada 11,138 2.1 % Greece 10,807 2.0 % United States 32,2341 45.1 % India 54,447 7.6 % Canada 26,592 3.7 % Bangladesh 25,471 3.6 % Pakistan 24,128 3.4 % Brazil 21,998 3.1 % United Kingdom 17,618 2.5 % Egypt 15,148 2.1 % Australia 13,587 1.9 % number of fans: 529,115 number of fans: 714,626 competitive analysis Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: wildfireapp.com) | June 2014 WithregardtoCoursera’s&KhanAcademy’sFacebookfansnationality,wecansupport–insomecasesalsocomplement(especiallytowardsthisresearch’soverallconclusions)–Googlesearchenginequerystatisticsconclusions(comparewithpage21).Furthemore,takingacloserlookattheleft(Coursera’s) table,wecanseethatCourseraseemstobepopularinLatinAmerica.
- 27. number of followers: 176,619 number of followers: 295,146 competitive analysis Coursera’s&KhanAcademy’spotentialreachofTwitterusers,incomparisonwithFacebook,createsalargergapbetweenthosetwo(again)infavorof“theolder”KhanAcademy,whichhasalmosttwicethenumberofTwitterfollowersCourserahas. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: wildfireapp.com) | June 2014
- 28. following 298 tweets 1,712 twitterage 2 years 9 months following 63 tweets 1,072 twitterage 5 years 7 months number of followers: 176,619 number of followers: 295,146 followers followers competitive analysis Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: socialbakers.com) | June 2014 Reportsfromanalternativethird-partysource(SocialBakers)tellusthesamestory.YetitshouldbestressedoncemorethatCourseraisabityounger(notonlytalkingaboutitsTwitteraccountage)andthereforehadlesstimeforfansacquisition.Justfortherecord,wemightaddthatCoursera’sTwitteraccountismoreactivethanKhanAcademy’saccount.Analysisoffollowersissubjecttothesecondpartofthisreport.
- 29. followers: 1,067,922 followers: 343,686 competitive analysis Bycontrast,asforGoogle+,Courseralooksliketheabsolutewinner–ifthe“numberoffollowers”metricisused–althoughKA’sfanbasemightbe, accordingtoWildfire’sdata,growingmuchfasteroverthelast3months(asofJune2014). Don’tbemisledbythedateWildfirehasbegunmonitoringbothpages. QueryingtheGoogle+API,wefindthatthefirsteverpostofKhanAcademyonGoogle+waspublishedinDecember2011.AsforCoursera, itwasApril2012.Knowingthere’ssuchasmall“startingtime”differencebetweenthosetwo&knowingthattheirFacebook&Google+contentstrategydoesnotdiffersignificantly*(seethefollowingsection),itillustrateshowdifferentg+userbaseis.Evenwithoutcollectingusersocio- demographicdata,wemightarguethat–incomparisonwiththeotherstudiedSNSs–theg+populationisgenerallyolderand/orhasaspecificinterestprofile. * Just to make the statement absolutely clear: Coursera’s content strategy is different from Khan Academy’s content strategy. Coursera’s Facebook & Google+ content strategy are very much alike. Khan Academy’s Facebook & Google+ content strategy are very much alike. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: wildfireapp.com) | June 2014
- 30. followers: 1,067,922 followers: 343,686 followers N/A competitive analysis Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: socialbakers.com) | June 2014 Unfortunately,Courserawasnotmonitoredbyouralternativesourceofg+followerstimeseries.Atleast,wecanconfirmthatthenumberofKhanAcademy’sGoogle+followershasbeengrowingveryfastsince2014.* * Possibly even further back in time but we don’t have enough data available to verify that.
- 31. videos 319 total views 951,021 videos 4,201 total views 406,597,063 subscribers: 31,535 subscribers: 178,1982 subscribers subscribers competitive analysis Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: socialbakers.com) | June 2014 OnthesubjectofYouTubesubscribers,wedefinitelycouldlookforitsrelationshiptothenumberofvideosuploadedand/ortotalviews.However,theonlyhighlighthereisKhanAcademy’stotalviews.Aswementionedbefore,Courserafallsshortinthisregard.WhileoneCoursera’svideois,onaverage,viewedabout3,000times,anaverageKhanAcademy’svideoreachesalmost100,000viewers.
- 32. videos 319 total views 951,021 videos 4,201 total views 406,597,063 subscribers: 31,535 subscribers: 178,1982 uploaded video views uploaded video views competitive analysis Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: socialbakers.com) | June 2014 WhileKhanAcademyisbasedonsharingYouTubevideos,andthereforewecanobservealong-termsteadyincreaseinuploadedvideoviewsreflectingits(rather)constantcontentstrategy,CourseraisyetlearningtoworkwithYouTube–andthere’sanoticeableimprovementoverthelastfewmonths.
- 33. Theverylastinterestinginsightwe’llhavebeforemovingontothe(rather)qualitativesectionofthistextbasedonourown(primary)data, isrevealingtheMOOCeducationtoolsuniverse/landscape.WecaneasilydothatthankstoapowerfulWikipediaarticlegraphexplorationinterface,Wikinsights,basedoncontent,category&links(both, inbound&outbound)similarity,andlinkscomplementarity.WhatbindsCoursera&KhanAcademytogether–basedontheaforementionedcriteria–areOpeneducationalresources,CK-12Foundation,ALISON(company),OpenCourseWare,Massiveopenonlinecourse,Udacity, MITOpenCourseWare&LearnStreet. RegardingWikipediapagesrelatedtoCourseraonly,wecanseeWikiversity,CharlesSeverance,Massiveonlineopenresearch, CreativeLive,TechChange,Udemy,BenBenderson,Edsby,Iversity, AcademicEearth,Lynda.com,Eliademy,EduKart,DanielS.Welt, Open-sourcecurriculum,edX&OpenLearning. AsforWikipediapagesrelatedtoKhanAcademyonly,thereareTechnologyintegration,InteractiveLearning,TwoCircles,OERCommons,FreeHighSchoolScienceTexts,Educationaltechnology, Opentextbook,AmericanFriendsofArtsetMéiersParisTech,Curriki, Virtualuniversity,LearnThatFoundation,MITx,PhETInteractiveSimulations,TeachingChannel,Computersintheclassroom,E- learning,INeedAPencil,SaylorFoundation,CollectSPACE,Lecturerecording,OpenSourceLearning,EastBayChildren'sBookProject. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose third-party data (source: http://wikinsights.org/) | June 2014 wikipedia insights
- 34. Coursera & Khan Academysocial web presence qualitatively facebook, twitter & google+ pages, groups, social networks, communities, posts, fans, demographics, traffic sources, keywords; personal network & interest profiles, search results, news articles, text mining, inbound links, reddit, youtube (pp. 34-95) originalsocial web data
- 35. mission Weareonamissiontochangetheworldbyofferingclassesfromtopuniversitiesandprofessorsonline,andforfree.Weenvisionpeoplethroughouttheworld,inbothdevelopedanddevelopingcountries,tolearnwithoutlimitsbyusingourplatformtoconnecttogreateducationthathassofarbeenavailableonlytoaselectfew.Wehopetoempowerpeoplewitheducationthatwillimprovetheirlives,thelivesoftheirfamilies,andthecommunitiestheylivein. founded 2012 category Education description Learnfromrenownedprofessors,watchhighqualitylecturesonline,achievemasteryviainteractiveassignments,andcollaboratewithaglobalcommunityofstudents. Pleasevisithelp.coursera.orgtogethelportodropyoursuggestions! How has Coursera changed your life? Tell us your story! http://blog.coursera.org/student/stories awards 2012 TechCrunch Crunchies-Best New Startup products Coursera Education Platform number of fans: 529,115 number of fans: 714,626 company overview StartlearningnowatKhanAcademy.Allourresourcesarecompletelyfree,forever. Toomanypeoplearoundtheglobedon‘thaveaccesstohighqualityeducationalmaterials,orareforcedtolearnthroughasystemthatdoesn'tallowthemtolearnattheirownpace. Wethinkthetechnologyexiststodaytofundamentallychangethis,andour501(c)3non-profitisworkingtobuildthetoolsandresourceseverylearnerdeserves. mission Weareanot-for-profitorganizationwiththemissionofprovidingafreeworldclasseducationforanyone,anywhere. founded 2007 category App page products We offer tutorials on everything from basic arithmetic to calculus, chemistry, physics, history, art, medicine, economics, and finance. Khan Academy also offers infinite problems for practice (currently in Math). We are translating content into the world's most spoken languages (click on the subtitles option on a video or visit the International option in the bottom right corner of www.khanacademy.org To get started using Khan Academy, check out: http://www.khanacademy.org/about/getting- started If you'd like to contribute to our efforts, please visit http://www.khanacademy.org/contribute To share your story about the impact Khan Academy has had on you (videos are much appreciated!), please visit www.khanacademy.org/stories 0.39% active (Jan-Jul2014) 0.68% active (Jan-Jul2014) about QueryingtheFacebookAPIforbothpages(theirIDs),wegetthebasic(public)informationthatbothorganizationsshareaboutthemselvesonFacebookandalsothecommoncalltoaction(here“calltoengagement”)tosharestoriesaboutimpactsofeducationonone’slife–aswe’llseethatmanytimeslater,arguablyalsooneofthecorefeaturesof“educationasabrand”.WhileCourseraputsitselfinthegeneral“education”category,KhanAcademydefinesitselfasbeingan(educational) “app(lication)”. AnotherquerygivesusalistofallCoursera’s/KA’sactivefanswhoengagedwithoneortheotherpagefromJanuarytoMay2014*.WecanseethatKhanAcademy’sFacebookcommunityis,intotal,larger&moreactive. * This period is valid for the following analyses as well, unless stated otherwise. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (data obtained via: developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/) | January-May 2014
- 36. pages Coursera liked pages KA liked profile category Working Together towards Health for All through Primary Health Care Community Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets Community INDEX: Design to Improve Life Non-profit organization The Wall Street Journal Media/news/publishing NPR Classical Arts & Entertainment Lifehacker Computers/internet website profile category KA Lite Product/service page likes Beforewe’lldiveintothecontentCoursera&KhanAcademyshareontheirsocialmediaprofiles&thetypologiesoftheirfansbuildaroundcommentnetworks,let’saskthequestionofhowCoursera&KhanAcademypositionthemselvesbasedonthepagestheylike(Facebook)orprofilestheyfollow&mention(onTwitter),andalsothe“grassroot”socialmediacommunitiesaroundbotheducationaltools. Duetothedesignofthesocialnetwork&its“culture”(commonpractice),there’snotmuchtoseeonFacebookwithregardtopagesgivinglikestootherpages. WhileCourseraexpressedsupportforsomenon-profitcommunities/organizations–oneofthemrelatedtoanarcheologycourseonCoursera,andanotherrelatedtoJohnsHopkinsUniversity,oneofCoursera’skeypartner(seelateron)–andthreepublishers(news/tech/entertainment),KhanAcademylikedonlyitsofflineversion(KhanAcademyLite). Onthenextpages,youwillfind,abitmoreinteresting,Twitter“self-positioning” profilesofCoursera&KhanAcademy. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (data obtained via: developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/) | January-May 2014
- 37. following: 63 following/friends network Twitterfollowing/friendsrelationshipfromtheperspectiveofaninstitution–whodoesitfollow,notnecessarilytheotherwayaround–canbeseenashowtheinstitutionwantstopositionitself, (therefore)whoitwantstopubliclysupport.Thisisoftentimestruefor“humanusers”aswell,however,humanusersalsomightwanttofollowanotheruser(incl.aninstitution)inorderto“subscribe”toreceivetheircontent–e.g.inordertobenefitfromit.Whilethesecondstatementcanalsobetrueforaninstitution–e.g.foritssocialmediamanagerwhosharesthird-partycontentaspartofaninstitution’scommunicationstrategy;toexitthisnestedloop,let’sassumetheactofKhanAcademyorCourserafollowinganotheruserreflects(offlinetoonlinerelationship)and/orco-creates(attemptatonlinetoofflinerelationship,incl.support)itsbrand. Dealingfirstwiththenetwork*oftweetersKhanAcademyisfollowing,themostimportantusers–asmeasuredbynumberoffollowers(sizeofanodeisproportionaltonumberoffollowers)– are:BillGates(lessactiveregardinghis1,286tweetssincehejoinedTwitterin2009)&NASA(310,042tweetssinceitjoinedTwitterin2007). OnthetopicofthemostactiveusersinKA’sfriendsnetwork–whoarguablytweetfortheirown(butpossiblyoverlappingwithKA’s) communities–rightafterNASA&BillGates,there’s“jack”& “pamelafox”,theformerbeingJackDorsey,twitterco-founder,andthelatterbeingPamelaFox,workingatKhanAcademyontheComputerSciencecurriculum.AlsonotethatbesidesthefinancialbackingofKhanAcademyfromtheBill&MelindaGatesFoundationwe’vealreadymentionedinthefirstsectionofthistext, BillGateshasalsobroughtalotofmediaattentiontoKhanAcademy.Ifyouwantamoreelaboratedproofthanjustthesearchresultsafterquerying“billgateskhanacademy”inyourfavouritesearchengine,there'sanamedentityrecognitionanalysisofonlinenewsarticlesaboutCoursera&KhanAcademyneartheendofthisextensivechapter(p.87). Ourpreviousparagraphhighlightsthefactthatevenwhenarelationshipnetworklikethatalreadyprovidesuswithalotofinformation,it’salwaysworthtocombineitwithotherdata(third- party,insiderknowledgeetc.)togainadetailedinsight.Onesourceofinformationsimplymightnotbeenough. * The primary tool for analyzing & visualizing social networks in this text was NodeXL, a free, open-source template for Microsoft Excel. I’ve also adopted several definitions of social network metrics from its build-in documentation and/or from the documentation’s links to Wikipedia articles describing them. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Twitter_Khan_IsFollowing.csv, Twitter_Khan_IsFollowing_MetaData.csv) | May 2014
- 38. following: 63 Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Twitter_Khan_IsFollowing.csv, Twitter_Khan_IsFollowing_MetaData.csv) | May 2014 Centralitymeasures–inthispicture“degree”(thenumberofconnectionsanodehas)–showthat, withrespecttotheusersKAisfollowing,ratherpeoplethaninstitutionsareinterconnected.Whyisthat?KhanAcademyismainlyfollowingthe“coreteam”ofitsemployeesand/orvolunteers(ICTdevelopmentand/orcontentcreation)&KA’sbranches(e.g.Smarthistory).Thebottomcurveisformedbyseveralinstitutions.Whilemanyofthemperfectlyfitthe“educationforanyone”partofKA’sbrand(e.g.UncommonSchools,TeachForAmericaetc.),we’llseeinlateranalysesthatthemostdistinctiveonesareNASA&CollegeBoard(“CollegeBoard”&“OfficialSAT”twitteraccounts). following/friends network
- 39. following: 300 Incomparisonwiththe“smallKhanAcademyfamily”–employees,keypartnerinstitutions&afew“supporttherightthing”expressions–Courseraclearlymakesanefforttodefineitselfbytheusersitfollows.That’swhyitsfriendsnetworkisslightlymorediverse. There’snoBillGates(yet,theBill&MelindaGatesFoundationispresent),butBillClinton; there’sObama,Oprahandotherpublicfiguresand/orfamous&influentialpeople(incl.entertainment&education/sciencepopularization,suchasVsauce).*Apartfrom“celebrities”,Courseraalsofollowsmanyonlinetech&newspublishers(&alsosomeeducation-specialized)and,aboveall,manyeducationalinstitutionsand/oreducators, usuallythosewithwhomCourseraco- operates(seethenextpage). Withregardtothemostactivetweetersinthenetwork,“theleader”isTheNewYorkTimeswithits136,887tweetssinceitjoinedTwitterinMarch2007.Eventhoughit’sabitshy, hidingbehindBarackObama**,NYTimesisalsothethirdmostinfluential(asmeasuredbynumberoffollowers)userinthenetwork(afterBarack&Oprah). * The size of nodes/users in the social network graph represents the number of their followers. ** My mistake, sorry for that layout. =) following/friends network Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Twitter_Coursera_IsFollowing.csv, Twitter_Coursera_IsFollowing_MetaData.csv) | May 2014
- 40. following: 300 Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Twitter_Coursera_IsFollowing.csv, Twitter_Coursera_IsFollowing_MetaData.csv) | May 2014 Switchingfrom“numberoffollowers”to“degree”,asitself, doesnottellusanythingmeaningfulaboutCoursera’sbrand. Let’srathertrytofindgroups–“natural”clustersofusersbasedoninterconnectednessofthevertices(thelargertheverticeis,thebiggeritsclusteringcoefficient).Thisway,wecanseethefirsttracesofageneralization–veryroughbutsufficientforourpurposes–thatthetwogeneral(& overlapping)groupsofusersCourseraisfollowingare: 1)thoseCourserawantstobeco-definedby,incl.mediapartners;2)thosefeaturingtheircoursesontheCourseraplatform–institutions,mainlyColleges/Universities,individuallecturers/Professorsand/orparticularclasses/courses. However,don’tforgetthatourpicturedoesnotshowthetypologyofCoursera’s“friends”(thosewhoCourserafollows) butthe1.5levelnetwork,i.e.includingthelinksbetweenCoursera’sfriendswhicharetheclustersbasedon,andwhichhelpedustoseethestructureofthenetworkmoreclearly(comparedtothe“blob”onthepreviouspage)&maketheaforementionedgeneralizationfurthersupportedonthefollowingpagesofthistext. Ifyoufindourfirstclustering–notourgeneralizationbuildarounditbutasitself–abitdifficulttointerpret(Ido!),sincetheredoesnotseemtobeanyobvious“deeper”(thanourgeneralization)relationshipsatourlevelofanalysis,youshouldknowthattherewillbemuchmoreclearertypologiesregardingFacebook&YouTubecommentnetworkslateron. Finallyafactespeciallyimportantforfansofsoapoperas: whileCourserafollowsKhanAcademy,KhanAcademydoesnotfollowitback.=) following/friends network
- 41. followers: 176,619 top URLs https://www.coursera.org/about/translate https://www.coursera.org/course/teachingcharacter top domains coursera.org nytimes.com youtube.com huffingtonpost.com google.com ryanseacrest.com bbc.com entrepreneur.com charlierose.com kplu.org top hashtags coursera14 edtech gamification coursera top words coursera course learn education new online courses learning top word pairs co,founder coursera,app rick,levin global,translator translator,community find,out starts,today online,courses top mentioned coursera andrewyng daphnekoller relaygse pennopencourses oprah women2 charlierose juanpagalavis top tweeters huffingtonpost businessinsider felipebhz nytimes petchary nytimesworld _nastycat slate brainpicker ws timezone Eastern Time (US & Canada) 203 Pacific Time (US & Canada) 152 Central Time (US & Canada) 59 London 34 Quito 34 Athens 30 Chennai 27 Amsterdam 25 Atlantic Time (Canada) 24 Brasilia 18 Greenland 18 Arizona 16 Hawaii 14 Mexico City 14 Tehran 14 Madrid 13 Alaska 12 Istanbul 12 Rome 11 Beijing 10 Caracas 10 recent tweets OnTwitter,Courserahas(asofJune2014)around177thousandfollowers.Sincewe’restillinrealmofhowtheinstitutionpositionitself,let’stakealookatthecontentofits200recent(June2014) tweets.ThismightgiveussomeinsightnotonlyintothecontentCoursera(orKhanAcademyonthefollowingpages)sharesbutalsointowhat&whoCourseramentions(and/orrepliesto)initstweets. Topdomainsshowuswhoseeducationalcontent(and/orcontentabouteducation&society–seethedataset,azipfilelinkenclosedonpage131)Courserashares.Besidesitsowncourses&majormediapublishers–mostofthemherealreadyconsideredbeforewithinouroverall“mediasphere”pictureofCoursera(seetheconclusions)–wecan(newly)findsomepublicfiguresfromentertainmentindustry(RyanSeacrest,CharlieRose). Tophashtagsinclude“coursera”,“coursera14”(conference),(notonlybyonlinemediapublishersused)popularhashtag“edtech”(educationtechnology)&gamification–atechniqueusedtoreinforceuser/learnerengagement,aswewillseelater,ratherassociatedwithKhanAcademy,occurringinrelationtoCourserabecauseofitsveryfirstcoursetaughtinChinese,Probability(機率)byProfessorPing-ChengYeh,NationalTaiwanUniversity,whocreated“MOOC-basedmulti-studentsocialgameplatform”forhiscoursenamedPaGamO. Topwords&thethreebottomrowsofthe“topwordpairs”tableillustratethefactthatTwitteris(unsurprisingly)usedbyCourseratoannouncenewcoursesinordertoinviteprospectivelearnerstoenroll.Inrelationtoourprevious“educationalresources”analysispointingoutthatmanyCoursera’scoursesareintroductorylevel(andalsosupportedbysomefollowinganalysesstudyingothersocialmedia),wecanconcludethatCoursera’scommunicationstrategy–inaccordancewithitsproclaimedmissionwe’veseenbefore–aimstoopenup(&facilitate)highereducationformassaudience, withinthe“everyonecanlearnanything”notion. Theotherthreetables(excludingthe“timezone”one)provideinstancesofsharededucationalcontent–e.g.CourseracoursesbyUniversityofPennsylvania(“pennopencourses”);interactingwithpublic(lyknown)figures;andpromotionofcurrenteventsaroundbothCoursera’sco-founders,DaphneKoller&AndrewNg,andCoursera’sCEO,RickLevin.Aboveall,weshouldemphasizeCoursera’srecentefforttorecruitvolunteersfortranslating(/subtitling)coursesintootherlanguages. Justoutofcuriosity,youmighttakealookatthetimezonesofover1500mostrecentCourserafollowers,whichdenoteswherethemostrecentinterestforCourserais(we’llalsotakethoseintoaccountinourfinalconclusions).Therealsothe“toptweeters”table,whichdescribesthetoptweetersinthewholenetwork,thereforecombinesmentions,recentfollowers&“friends”(“isfollowing” relationship).Sincewe’lltakelookatsome“grassroot”influencers&“brandambassadors”inthethirdsectionofthistext,andusingaslightlydifferenttechniquetocapturethem–monitoringmentionsintweetsacrosstheentireTwitterratherthanfocusingonasingle(Coursera’s/KhanAcademy’s)profile;youmightbe(again)onlyinterestedinthemajorpublishersthatCourserafollowsand/ormentions(usuallywhentheypublishanarticlediscussingCoursera). Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Twitter_Coursera_AnyRelation_Edges.csv, Twitter_Coursera_AnyRelation_Vertices.csv) | June 2014
- 42. followers: 295,146 top domains khanacademy.org tumblr.com youtube.com google.com nasa.gov edsurge.com paniit-bayarea.org techcrunch.com top hashtags hourofcode khanacademy newsat kabrainteaser edtech kamathchallenge teacherappreciationweek kacollegehero stem whsciencefair top words khanacademy khan new academy students hourofcode out more top word pairs khan,academy check,out khanacademy,hourofcode computer,science math,mondays find,out sal,khan top mentioned khanacademy lifeatka pamelafox collegeboard britcruise nasa salkhanacademy officialsat calacademy drszucker top tweeters danceeatrepeat hntweets imdrw nytimes washingtonpost wsj fastcompany techcrunch cnetnews forbes timezone Eastern Time (US & Canada) 138 Pacific Time (US & Canada) 89 Central Time (US & Canada) 73 Athens 29 Atlantic Time (Canada) 25 Arizona 22 London 21 Amsterdam 17 Chennai 15 Brasilia 11 Hawaii 11 Alaska 10 Quito 10 Bangkok 9 Greenland 9 Istanbul 9 Mumbai 8 Brisbane 7 Mountain Time (US & Canada) 7 Rome 7 Sydney 7 top URLs https://www.khanacademy.org/hour-of-code/hour-of-code-tutorial/v/welcome-hour-of-code https://www.khanacademy.org/donate http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-khan-academy-collaborate-to-bring-stem-opportunities-to-online-learners/#.U4T468biI9V https://www.khanacademy.org/sat https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/CAS-biodiversity http://www.paniit-bayarea.org/edtech/ http://cs-blog.khanacademy.org/2014/03/what-does-computing-professional-look.html https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QCen5ijdfEFiG_a_RGSGgHjBYI7Vc1lakHpcLQF4mkU/edit?usp=sharing https://www.khanacademy.org/cs/second-avatar-naming-contest/2601896243 https://www.khanacademy.org/hour-of-code/hour-of-code-tutorial recent tweets Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Twitter_Khan_AnyRelation_Edges.csv, Twitter_Khan_AnyRelation_Vertices.csv) | June 2014 AsforKhanAcademy’srecenttweets,publicizingthenewComputerSciencelecturesisevident.Themostdistinctiveisthe“HourofCode”,atrademarkofCode.org,“non-profitdedicatedtoexpandingparticipationincomputersciencebymakingitavailableinmoreschools,andincreasingparticipationbywomenandunderrepresentedstudentsofcolor”[self].DealingwiththetopURLs,wecanseetheaforementionedHourOfCode,someotherCS&educationtechnologyrelatedcontent,CScurriculumtranslationintoPortuguese,someeffortstoobtaindonations,NASA&CollegeBoardpartnerships–wewillseethosetwomanytimeslateron;andCaliforniaAcademyofSicencespartnercontentonKhanAcademy.Tophashtags&mentionsshowthatKhanAcademysharesalotofeducationalresourcesfortraditionalschooleducation(collegeboard,officialsat,newsat,stem),challenges/brainteasers(kabrainteaser,kamathchallenge),backgroundstories&newcontent/featuresdevelopment(“LifeatKA”blog,pamelafox,britcruise, salkhanacademy)andalsostoriesrelatedtoachievementsintraditionalschooleducation(educators:teacherappreciationweek,learners:kacollegehero).ComparedtoCoursera,onceagain,wecansee:muchmorecoherentuniverseoftopics–toacertainextent, givenbysmalleroverallnumberoftopicsaroundKA;(onsocialmedia)veryactive&publicized“core”smallteamofKA’scontentcreatorsand/orICTdevelopers–e.g.JohnResig(“jeresig”)&BenAlpert(“soprano”)we’vealreadyseeninKA’sfriendsTwitternetworks&we’llalsoseelateron;betterworkwithhashtags;andsuccessfulcommunicationofcorepartners.Althoughtwe’vealreadycameacrossthistopic&itwillbesupportedbyfurtherdata,let’spointoutthatwe’restartingtoseeKhanAcademyasthemore“centralized”oneofbothinstitutions,withSalmanKhaninthecentre&asolidcommunityaroundhim,together“flipping”thetraditionaleducationsystem(theflippedclassroommodel),customizingit&beingpartofitatthesametime. Again, on the right you can see the time zones of about 1100 most recent Khan Academy followers & the “top tweeters” table.
- 43. Coursera pages & people KA pages & people pages & people search Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (data obtained via: https://developers.google.com/+/api/) | May 2014 Pages&peopleAPIsearchallowsustodiscovercommunitiesaroundbotheducationaltoolsonGoogle+.Ifweomitfounders&employers/partners–wecanseesomenewfaces,e.g.KhanAcademy’sJohnResig, creatorofthejQueryJavaScriptlibrary–andsomeirrelevantresults(e.g.ShahRukhKhan&KhanacademyPesh),thesnippetsofthediscoveredpagesshowusinstances(thefirstpageofresultsonly)ofthefindingthatCoursera’sGoogle+communitiesaremainlystudygroups,whileKhanAcademy’srepresentespeciallyKA’scontenttranslationsandfans&volunteerpages/communities.Dealingwiththose,weshouldnotforgetourlimitationsby“khanacademy”or“coursera”keywordsthatalsofavourEnglishlanguage&Latinscript– e.g.possiblynotcoveringArabiclanguagesand/orcommunities&pagesrelatedtoCoursera/KAbutnotincludingourkeywords.Nevertheless,since,throughoutthistext,wecomplementthisinformation,suchlimitationsshouldnotbeanissue.Finally,wecanaddthat–asweknowfromourTwitterdata,Courseraalsocurrentlypursuesitsgoalofestablishingavolunteertranslatorcommunity. Forsimilar–thistimeratherquantitative–analysisonFacebook,seethetextboxonright. AsforCoursera,over90fanpages&public(lyvisible)groupsweredetected–thesamesearchlimitationsaswe’vementionedwithGoogle+–consistingmainlyofstudy/coursegroups.Thereforeweknowthatself-organizationofstudentsoutsidethe“official” Coursera’slearningenvironmentexists. KhanAcademyhasabout200public(lyvisible)fanpages&groups.Thesearemainlylanguagetranslationsof(the“original”,English)KhanAcademy(ratherFacebookpages) and/orserveasaprojectmanagementtoolfortranslators(ratherFacebookgroups). pages & groups search
- 44. followers: 1,067,922 +1s top 3 Next on our agenda arecontent analyses of Coursera’s & Khan Academy’s top Google+ & Facebook posts (January-May 2014) according to various kinds of post engagement: +1s & likes, replies & comments, reshares & shares (to stick with both service’s terminologies). Despite our “first half of 2014” bias and perceived suitability of long-term analysis & studying posts based on their type, content, keywords, time & other features for the purpose of developing an “archetypal post” (and/or “ideal” most engaging post) –e.g. using conjoint analysis with engagement metrics used to indicate the perceived value; we are able to draw reasonable conclusions about the content Coursera & Khan Academy posts. Above all, we are supposed to see which content Facebook/Google+ users generally associate most with Coursera’s/KA’s brand, since most engaging posts are usually also the most visible on both SNSs. Coursera Google+ page’s post most appreciated by the community –posts that received the most +1’s (descending order from left to right) –share a common attribute of story & inspiration (unlike Khan Academy’s “playfulness”). Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Gplus_Coursera_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014
- 45. +1s top 3 followers: 343,686 Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Gplus_Khan_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014 DealingwithKA’spostfromrighttoleft(reverseorder,“thirdplace”first),KhanAcademyadheresto“playfulness”–especiallyseethetoppostsbasedonothermetricsonthefollowingpages.Despitethefactthatanywishes,celebrations,holidaypostsetc.aregenerallypopularonsocialmedia,KhanAcademy’sNewYear’sresolutionisreinforcedbyabadge.WealsoseethatthecommunityendorsesKA’spartnerships–butratherinthesensethatitbringsfreeeducationalresourcestheycanuseatschoolthanregardingaparticularinstitution.*Yetthemostsuccessfulpostisa“storytelling”one,generallyCoursera’sstrongpoint.We’vealreadyseenthe“TeacherAppreciationWeek”withintheTwittertophashtagstable(KA’smostrecenttweetsanalysis). * Once again, we can see that since Khan Academy is rather aimed at K-12 education, while Coursera meets demand for higher academic/professional education, KA is more prone to “blend” with the traditional education system. Also note –for later reflection & discussion within our overall conclusions –that even though both Coursera & Khan Academy are given the “revolutionist” brand label, it is rather adjustment of current educational practices and enjoying the technological benefits (meeting higher demand, analytics, space-time freedom etc.) what happens than “fighting against” them and/or against the current education system.
- 46. followers: 1,067,922 replies top 3 There’sonenewcomerpostinCoursera’spoststhatweremostcommentedon.It’sCoursera’sAndroidAppBetatesting. Askingforfeedbackand/orforexpressinganopinionisatechniquenineoutoftensocialmediamarketersrecommend. =)“Authorization”ofusersinthiswayisamutuallybeneficialactwhichincreasesinteraction&strengthensthecommunity. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Gplus_Coursera_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014 400 replies 87 replies 72 replies
- 47. replies top 3 followers: 343,686 Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Gplus_Khan_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014 Finally,drivingsocialmediaengagementinpurelyeducationalway! ThehighpopularityofrespondingtoKA’sbrainteasers&challengesshowsinwhichwaygamificationofeducationcanbeimportant: facilitatingbeginningof&reinforcingmotivationinthelearningprocess(itcatchesmyinterest);supportinginteraction&healthycompetition(respondingtoshowtotheothersthatIknowtheanswer);andthereforealsocollaboration(respondingtoanswersoftheothers,discussion). 217 replies 191 replies 181 replies
- 48. followers: 1,067,922 reshares top 3 ResharesonCourseradon’tprovideuswithany(previously)unseenposts.ThelessonherecouldbethatCourserag+fansrathershareinspiring&storytellingcontentthaneducationalcontent(e.g.linkstonewcourses),whichisdifferentfromKhanAcademy(seeonthenextpage).Inseveralfollowinganalyses,we’llsupporttheconclusionthatCourseraexcelsinsharingstoriesaboutstudents,whileKhanAcademyratherstandsoutingamification&sharingbackgroundcontentaboutitself. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Gplus_Coursera_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014
- 49. reshares top 3 followers: 343,686 Khan Academy Google+ post reshares added a new brain teaser to our most engaging posts “hall of fame”. We can say that KA’s Google+ community shares rather educational content: content which their social network might need (College admissions resources) and/or engaging learning content (challenges & brainteasers). Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Gplus_Khan_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014
- 50. followers: 1,067,922 followers: 343,686 type of post number of posts number of +1 +1/count coefficient article 68 4,073 60 photo 25 5,321 213 video 3 295 98 type of post number of posts number of +1 +1/count coefficient article 13 1261 97 photo 33 6,138 186 video 53 2,039 38 content shared BeforemovingtoFacebook,let’ssupportthegenerallyknown&acceptedideaofvisualcontent(photo/pictures)beingthemostengagingonsocialmedia.Employingassimpleanalysisas:1)calculatingthenumbersofparticularcontenttypes–article(textonly), photo&video–Coursera/KAshared2)addingupthetotal+1sitreceived;and3) calculatingthenumberof+1saparticularcontenttypereceivedonaverage;wefindthatsharingaphoto/picturepaysofftoCoursera&KhanAcademyatleasttwotimesmorethansharinganyotherkindofcontent.*Alsowhenpopularizingeducation&makingitaccessible,weshouldkeepinmindthat“apictureisworthathousandwords”. * I know, I know… Not controlling for a third variable. Anyone who’ll find a confounding variableand/or a spurious relationship, don’t hesitate to start the discussion below this text. =) Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Gplus_Coursera_Posts.csv, Gplus_Khan_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014
- 51. number of fans: 529,115 likes top 3 ThemostlikedstoriespostedbyCourseraonFacebookaredifferentfromthoseonGoogle+–(frommysubjectivepointofview)“surprisingly” inclinedtowardseducationalcontentinformationinsteadofstorytelling–whichdenotestherearesomedifferencesbetweenbothcommunities.* Asmeasuredbythenumberoflikes,Coursera’sFacebookcommunityacknowledged:firstly,Coursera’sSpecializationsannouncement,sequenceofcoursesfinishedbyacapstoneproject&certificate;secondly,aNewYear’spostintroducingnewpartnerUniversities&(therefore)newcourses;andthirdly,a“gag”showingthatentertainmentingeneral(and/ormemesinparticular–yetourparticularpostisnotanInternetmeme,youcanlearnmoreaboutmemeshere)isstillpopularonFacebook**,evenincommunitiesaroundeducation. * Since Facebook is the “mainstream(est)” social medium, we’ll make an attempt to derive both Coursera & Khan Academyfan typology based on their Facebook co-comment networks. ** The rank of “memes & gags” content will rather decline in Facebook users’ personal news feeds, since Facebooks current goal seems to bebecoming a “personalized newspaper” (or herefor information about Paper), and because of that it attempts to promote “high quality content”. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Coursera_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014
- 52. number of fans: 714,626 likes top 3 AsforKhanAcademy,FacebookusersendorsedbytheirlikestheSATmaterials,anoutcomeofTheCollegeBoard&KhanAcademypartnership.Fromtheremainingtwopostsinthetop3,wecanseethatmanythumbsuparegenerallygiventothestoryofSalmanKhan(nurturedbyonlinepublishers*),hisideas/visions&leadershippathwaytowardstransformingeducation. * We’ve already seen some publishers publicizing Salman Khan before. There is The New York Times & Harvard Business Review at this page. Nevertheless, the main support for the “nurtured by online publishers” statement comes with the online news articles analysis later on. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Khan_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014
- 53. number of fans: 529,115 comments top 3 Being “the” social medium, Facebook is also know as a tool for establishing online (grassroot) “movements”; protest/support groups etc. Knowing that, it should not be surprising that Coursera’s Facebook community expressed their opinion (mainly disagreement) with restricted Coursera access in some countries due to US sanctions, making the “Update on Course Accessibility for Students in Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria” Coursera’s post that was most commended on. The disproportion of likes against commentscan be explained bythe fact that while expression of support on social media is generallyeasily done (there’s usually a button for it), assuming SNSs where there are no design features like downvotes, thumbs down or anything similar, the only way of how to disagree is to explain yourself using a comment. We are already familiar with the other most frequently commented posts. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Coursera_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014 137 comments 95 comments 92 comments
- 54. number of fans: 714,626 comments top 3 Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Khan_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014 As well as Khan Academy’s Google+ community, the Facebook one also likes to show off by interacting with gamified educational content using comments. Apart from the (rather relaxing) brainteasers (probability & logic) we already know, there’s also a new mathematical challenge, which belongs to the “this week’s challenge” KA’s series. 824 comments 737 comments 549 comments
- 55. number of fans: 529,115 shares top 3 Themostsuccessfulpostsaccordingtothenumberoftimestheywereshareddoesnotbringanynewcontent.Nevertheless,theshuffledordersuggeststhatmanyFacebookusersareeagertoshareentertainingcontent. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Coursera_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014
- 56. number of fans: 714,626 shares top 3 Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Khan_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014 KhanAcademy’sFacebookcommunitymainlywantedtosharetheSATmaterialswithothers–notethatonFacebook, ateenagerprobablyhasmore(active)classmatesthanonGoogle+–andalsowantedtoteasetheirfriendswiththe“twoguards&twodoors”brainteaser.
- 57. number of fans: 529,115 other popular posts Tocomplementtheoverallpicture&comparisonwiththemostpopularGoogle+posts,let’salsoaddanotherthreepostsimmediatelyfollowingthetop3Coursera’sstories(KhanAcademy’sonthenextpage)–asmeasuredbythenumberoflikestheyreceived.WhilethereareobvioussimilaritieswithGoogle+,wecanalsoseewhatwillbesupportedintheco-commentFacebooknetworkanalysis,thatonFacebook,CourserareachesmoreactivefansfromLatinAmerica.* * Also note that currently, we are monitoring active fans only (those who like, comment or share). We are not monitoring posts about Coursera (/Khan Academy) beyond its Facebook page. The supposed differences between both communities –reflected in the content they publicly acknowledge –might also be (co-)created by different recommender algorithms Facebook & Google+ employ. However, such discussion is far beyond the scope of this research. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Coursera_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014
- 58. number of fans: 714,626 other popular posts Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Khan_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014 Similarly,youmighttakealookat#3-6ofKA’sFacebookpostswiththetoplikeengagementrate.Aswe’vementionedearlier,theSATstandardizedtestcausedagreatdealofthebuzzaroundKhanAcademyonFacebook.
- 59. number of fans: 529,115 number of fans: 714,626 totalpostssince 2014 176 unique fans engaged since 2014 3,580 0.68% of total fans most active likers(surnames removedif applicable) Chris; Lars; EurusdTrader; Mahmoud; Crear una tienda online; Concursos de fotos; Ronnie; Sorteos Facebook. Aplicaciones concursos, gratis most active commenters(surnames removedif applicable) TichiLivi; Sami; Tarlei; Askia; Ramaswamy; Hassan; Sameer; Steffial totalpostssince 2014 92 unique fans engaged since 2014 2,582 0.36% of total fans most active likers(surnames removedif applicable) Syed; Janie; Mya; Tsveta; Daniel; James; Tom; Shayma; Margareth most active commenters(surnames removed if applicable) David; Ahsanul; Study Australia; Maghnia; Steve; Julie; Keith; Mark; Sue active fans WecouldobtainthedemographicprofileoftheactiveFacebookfanpopulationfromthosewhosharesuchinformationpublicly.Let’sdothatlaterasapre-screeningofourfanstypologybasedonco- commentnetwork.ThisslidesimplyshouldhighlightthefactthatonFacebook(&otherSNSsaswell),weactuallyareabletoreachdetailedinformationonasinglehumanbeing(here,lastnameswereremoved).Forexample,wecancreateanarchetypeofaveryactiveCourserafanbasedonthedemographicinformation&poststhemostactiveC’slikers&commenterspubliclyshare.The“customerpersona”ofahighlyengagedCourseraFacebookfancouldbedescribedasamaninhis20s,studyinginUS(nativeorforeignstudent)orrecentlyemployed,whowantstocomplementhisprofessionalqualification;possibly(e.g.fansfromBrazil,IndiaorSyria)suchcoursesarenotavailableathishomeUniversityand/orhemightbelimitedbyfinancialconstraints.* TalkingaboutCoursera&knowingthatsuchpracticewasnotdetectedwithinthemostactiveFacebookusersonKA’sposts,notethatusinglikes,severalcompaniesmakesanattempttodrawsomeoftheCoursera’sattentiontotheirbusiness. Anotherinformationthat’simportantisthatCourserasharesalmosttwiceasmanypostsKhanAcademydoes.KhanAcademyFacebookfansarelargerinnumberbuthaveasmalleractive“core”ofusers. Asyou’llseeonthethreefollowingpages,thisactuallyperfectlyfitsourdevelopinginterpretationofsmallerbutstrongercommunityaroundSalmanKhan,sincethoseactiveusersproduceanenormousnumberoflikes,comments&shares. * Interest profile could also be created based on the pages the users (publicly) liked. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (data obtained via: developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/) | May 2014
- 60. number of fans: 529,115total posts: 176 number of fans: 714,626total posts: 92 mean 253 standard error 22 median 159 standard deviation 290 kurtosis 19 skewness 4 range 2,280 minimum 46 maximum 2,326 sum 44,543 mean 765 standard error 79 median 502 standard deviation 755 kurtosis 9 skewness 3 range 4,616 minimum 34 maximum 4,650 sum 70,369 likes Althoughthis&thefollowingtwopagescouldaswellprecedethe“topposts” contentanalysis,nowIfeeltheneedtojustifywhywedidactuallystudy(positive) outliersratherthantheaverageposts. We’vealreadymentionedthereasonrelatedtotheprimaryobjectiveofthisresearch,discoveringCoursera’s&KhanAcademy’ssocialwebbrands,wheretheoutlyingpostsarethosethatactuallyreachthelargestpopulationandbecauseofthatarguablyimpacttheoverallimageofaninstitutionmostsignificantly. Thesecondreasonisthatwe’veseenthere’saminorityofactivefanswhichinteractswithaminorityofposts.Sincetheprimarywayofspreadingcontentonsocialmediaisengagement&interaction, werathermightwanttostudythecommonfeaturesofthemostsuccessfulcontent. Fromour“education”perspectiveideallythosethatare:1)educational;2)popular, sothattheydriveengagementtoeducation. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Coursera_Posts.csv, Facebook_Khan_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014
- 61. mean 13 standard error 1 median 9 standard deviation 18 kurtosis 19 skewness 4 range 137 minimum 0 maximum 137 sum 2,366 mean 80 standard error 15 median 27 standard deviation 144 kurtosis 13 skewness 3 range 822 minimum 2 maximum 824 sum 7,379 comments The previous slide showed comparison of descriptive statistics between the likes Coursera & Khan Academy received. Among other things, it demonstrated that Khan Academy –also thanks to its brain teasers & challenges – manages to drive likes more successfully. Here, comparing comments statistics, we can clearly see that Coursera is missing higher interaction of fans with one another that Khan Academy masters thanks to its aforementioned gamified content. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Coursera_Posts.csv, Facebook_Khan_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014 number of fans: 529,115total posts: 176 number of fans: 714,626total posts: 92
- 62. mean 41 standard error 6 median 24 standard deviation 82 kurtosis 67 skewness 7 range 871 minimum 0 maximum 871 sum 7,178 mean 212 standard error 22 median 142 standard deviation 218 kurtosis 5 skewness 2 range 1,183 minimum 0 maximum 1,183 sum 19,520 shares Similarly, in relation to shares, take a look at mean, median & sum. Coursera’s Facebook community receives almost twice as many posts & has almost twice as many active users, but its rather Khan Academy’s active core userbase that spreads educational content on social media. To be fair, ormore precisely,to point finger atthe“offender”, such state of things is related to what we’ll discover soon thanks to YouTube network analysis. While Khan Academy shares all of its educational content, by default, using publicly accessible third-party tools like YouTube, Coursera’s own “after-you-enroll-accessible-only” learning environment with all educational resources makes it more difficult to establish a solid social media content strategy based on open educational resources which, obviously, drive a lot of engagement. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Coursera_Posts.csv, Facebook_Khan_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014 number of fans: 529,115total posts: 176 number of fans: 714,626total posts: 92
- 63. total posts: 176 total posts: 92 correlation matrix Slowlyfinishingupourplayingwiththeengagementdata,herecomesacorrelationmatrixheatmapallowingustoexaminelikes,comments&sharesintheirmutualrelations.RegardingKhanAcademy,whatwaslikedwasalsoshared,whilethiswasnotalwaystrueforCoursera.Wealreadyknowthatlikesarethemostcommontypeofengagement,sincegivingathumbupisliterallyaseasyasclickingabutton.Wealsoknowthatsharesarecrucialforinformationspreading;and,aswesaw,alsomuchlessfrequent–perhapsbecauseausersharingcontentnotonlyexpressesher/hisdeeperinterestinaparticulartopic(comparedtoalike),butisadditionallyaskedto(optionally)addacommenttotheresharedcontent.Suchactrequiresalotofinvolvement,doesn’tit?=)Thisappearstobeeven“worse”incaseofcomments,whicharetherarestofall(seethe“sum”rowsonpreviouspages).Sincewetriedtojustifythestudyofoutliers,eventhoughthecorrelationbetweenshares&commentsisweakforbothCoursera&KhanAcademy,andknowingthatwe’vealreadydiscussedthemostsuccessfulposts,acomments/sharesscatterplotvisualizationshouldemphasizethereasonwhywewanttoknowaboutthecommonfeaturesofthemostsuccessfulposts.Moreover,we’llclearlyseewhatadifferenceasinglestrongelementincontentstrategycanmake. Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Coursera_Posts.csv, Facebook_Khan_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014
- 64. total posts: 176 95, 871On occasion there's a worthwhile online course Coursera doesn't host. This is one of them... [Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry] Due to U.S. export sanctions, we recently had to restrict access to students in Iran, Cuba, Sudan and, temporarily, Syria. (...) 137, 89 92, 533Today we’re excited to announce Coursera Specializations (...), a new type of program that allows students to develop mastery in a specific subject through taking a sequence of courses with a capstone project. (...) 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 shares comments shares & comments outliers Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Coursera_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014 Interactive version of the chart: http://bit.ly/1lHvtoy
- 65. total posts: 92 737, 993 Can you solve this week’s brain teaser? There are two doors, each with a guard. Behind one door is treasure. (...) 824, 652 Let’s make a deal! Can you solve this week’s brain teaser? (...) [Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three door: (...)] 138, 1183It’s time to level the playing field! We're partnering with The College Board, the creators of the SAT (...) 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 shares comments shares & comments outliers Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Khan_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014 Interactive version of the chart: http://bit.ly/1tAWsos
- 66. 58%42% pt_BR 8% fr_FR 3.6% es_ES 3.2% ... number of fans: 529,115 number of fans: 714,626 70%30% 77.9%12.9% 60.8%14.0% es_LA 1.1% pt_BR 1% sv_SE 0.9% … comment network gender & locale Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Coursera_Posts.csv, Facebook_Khan_Posts.csv) | January-May 2014 WhileourpreviousFacebookanalysesinthissectionwerecontent-oriented,nowwe’lltrytocreateusertypologiesbasedonco-commentnetworks,whichwereestablishedaroundCoursera’s&KhanAcademy’sFacebookposts. Thispageofferslocale&genderdescriptionofcommentingusers.Sameasbefore,wefindourselvesintherealmofactive(commenting)usersonly(&Facebookonly),whereweseeallpublic(only)comments– theirfinalversionifedited;wedon’tsee(theoreticallyexisting)deletedcomments.We’vealsoalreadymentionedthatourdatasetcoverslessthansixmonthsinthefirsthalfof2014,whichmightcauseabias(should/couldbecontrastedwithamorerecentdataset).Despitethat,theco-commentFacebooknetworkanalysiswillprovideuswithavaluableinsightintowhatkindofcontentengagesdifferentfansubgroups. Justfor“peaceofmymind”IneedtoemphasizetheevidentinformationthatinnowaythispageprovidesadescriptionofthegeneralpopulationofCoursera’s&KhanAcademy’susers&supportersinthegeneralpopulation.*Ifwewantedtodothat,probablycombiningdatafrommanyothersources,employingwebscrapingetc.;itwouldbesuitabletostandardizeourratioswithrespecttothetotalpopulationofparticularcountries(tosafelyidentifylargecommunitiesinsmallercountriesaswell).Thelocale**&genderherethereforegivesevidenceaboutthecommentnetworksonthefollowingpagesonly. It’sapparentthatamongtheactiveFacebookcommentersofCoursera&KhanAcademy,theirlargest“customer”demographicsegment,US,predominates,followedbyanothercountrywhosemajoritypopulationundoubtedlyenjoysopeneducationalresourcesinEnglish.Yet,wecan’tbesosure,especiallyaboutthesecondstatement,sincemanyEnglish-speakingusersfromnon-natively-English-speakingcountriesmostlikelyuseFacebookwithEnglishsetastheirlocale(similarlyotherworldlanguages).** AsforCoursera,weshouldpointouttherelativelylargeproportionofBraziliancommenters. DealingwithKhanAcademy,genderprobablytakesourattention.SinceAlexa’snetworktrafficestimatessuggestedtheexactopposite,wecan’tshiftthisdiscussionanyfurther.Yet,whilethequestionofwhethertheexisting“notafraidtospeakup”inequalitiesfromofflineworldreflectitselfintheonlineworldaswellshouldbeansweredbysomeonewith“genderstudies”qualification,weshouldmentionthatbothCoursera&KhanAcademysupport(&contributeto)thecurrenttrendofhighlightingwomenachievements&facilitatingwomen’semancipationintraditionally“malefields”,suchasICT&science. * If, however, you wanted to do an estimate of Coursera’s/KA’s world’s “coverage” (rather than particular countries “proportions” estimate), take a look at the enclosed dataset, where you can find the locales smaller in numbers as well. ** “Locale” is not “location” but simply a user’s language settings.
- 67. n=285 number of fans: 529,115 group vertices edges random 'emotional post' sympathizers 52 1326 Coursera story listeners & story tellers 37 186 Coursera news subscribers: technology& educational transformation 32 229 Coursera news subscribers: new courses 25 87 quiz solvers 23 162 Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Coursera_CommentNetwork_Edges, Facebook_Coursera_CommentNetwork_Vertices) | January-May 2014 The2.0levelsofadjacentverticesofCoursera’sFacebookcommentsnetwork,wheresizeofanoderepresentitsdegree,showus“natural” clusters–accordingtohowtheverticesareconnectedonetoanother,theClauset-Newman-Moorealgorithm–ofactivefans,fromwhichwecanderive(active)fantypologybasedonwhichkindofpostsaparticulargroupinteractedwith. Thelargestgroupwaslabeled“random'emotionalpost'sympathizers, sinceitmainlyconsistsofusersinteractingjustwiththe“Dan,anautisticstudent”post.Thesecondlargestgroupofco-commenters, “Courserastorylisteners&storytellers”consistsofuserswhocommentedonstoriesofpeoplefromoraroundCoursera,personalstoriessharedbyotherfans,and/orsharedtheirowneducationalexperience(commentonCoursera’spostaskingforastoryand/orastand-alonepostonCoursera’swall).Group#3islabeled“Courseranewssubscribers:technology&educationaltransformation”.Thoseuserskeep/keptaneyeonthewayCourserare-defineshighereducation&techn(olog)icalnews–e.g.Coursera’snewAndroidapp. Thefourthtypeofcommenters,“Courseranewssubscribers:newcourses”simplywatchoutCoursera’sFacebookpageforbeingnotifiedaboutnewcourses(&commentonthem).Thecommentersinthelastlargergroupthatis“entitled”=)tohaveitsownlabelare“Quizsolvers”.Quizsolverscommentonpostswherethereisaclearcalltoactioninthem(questions&quizzes). Thesecond,third&fourthgroupisconnectedtothefirstgroup, indicatingthatthesentimentalpostbondedthecommunitytogether. Storytellingisapowerfultechnique,indeed.QuizsolversarepartiallymixedwithbothgroupsinterestedinCourseranews.Similarly,therearesomeoverlapsof“storylisteners&tellers”and“newcoursessubscribers”into“quizsolvers”. comment network
- 68. number of fans: 529,115 group vertices edges random 'emotional post' sympathizers 52 1326 Coursera story listeners & story tellers 37 186 Coursera news subscribers: technology & educational transformation 32 229 Coursera news subscribers: new courses 25 87 quiz solvers 23 162 Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Coursera_CommentNetwork_Edges, Facebook_Coursera_CommentNetwork_Vertices) | January-May 2014 Let’snowtakealookatthemostsignificantusersinCoursera’sco-commentnetworkaccordingtosomecommonlyusedsocialnetworkanalysiscentralitymetrics.*Asperdegree–i.e.theoverallconnectednessasmeasuredbynumberofconnections–theuserTarleiisthemostsignificantone(blueprofilepictureinthemiddleofCourserastorylisteners&tellersgroup).Afterexaminingbetweenesscentrality–numberofshortestpathsfromallverticestoallothersthatpassthroughanode(i.e.towhichextentanodeactsasthe“connector” ofthenetwork);eigenvectorcentrality–importanceofanodebasedonitsconnections,wheremoreimportantnodesaregivenmoreweight(i.e.influencebasedonwhoyouareconnectedto);andPageRank,usedbyGoogleSearchtorankwebsitesintheirsearchengineresults–asimilarlinkanalysisalgorithmtoeigenvectorcentrality;onceagainwefindthatTarleiisthecentralpersonregardingcommentsonCoursera’spost.** * Again, in the picture, size of a node represent its degree. ** On the topic of other widely used social network analysis metrics, we have (intentionally) omitted, these are closeness centrality –sum of distances to all other nodes (how easy it is to reach them); & clustering coefficient –how close the vertex and its neighbors are to being a clique (a complete graph). n=285 comment network
- 69. number of fans: 529,115 group vertices edges random 'emotional post' sympathizers 52 1326 Coursera story listeners & story tellers 37 186 Coursera news subscribers: technology & educational transformation 32 229 Coursera news subscribers: new courses 25 87 quiz solvers 23 162 Jakub Ruzicka | jameslittlerose@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/littlerose original data (dataset: Facebook_Coursera_CommentNetwork_Edges, Facebook_Coursera_CommentNetwork_Vertices) | January-May 2014 Unless,ofcourse,it’snotthatsimple…TakingalookatrandomTarlei’spostslike“Igotcertificate!”,“Courseraisawesome!”or“Downloaded!”,weprobablydon’tfindtheseexpandingtheoveralldiscussiononCoursera’sFacebookpage.Ontheotherhand,thereareothercommentslike“PleaseabolishPeerAssessmentevaluation.Thismethodisnotfair.Keeponlyquizzes.Studentsarecomplainingalot!(Pleaserefertothediscussionforums.)”,or“WearewaitingforacoursepreparatorytoTOEFLexamination.”,whichactuallyspeakinfavorofawardingTarleithe“centralpersoninCoursera’scommentnetwork”badge.Isimplywantedtohavesomeinsightintothatmattersothatweavoidadoptingtoo“mechanistic” stancestowardssocialnetworkanalysiswithoutanyqualitativeverificationofourconclusions. TherearesomediscrepanciesregardingTarlei’sFacebook&LinkedInprofile,and,aboveall,weareconductinganalysesintheonlineworld, thereforewealwaysare(atleast)abit“suspicious”aboutauthenticityofnearlyanything.=)However,TarleiactsasabigfanofCoursera(&isafrequentuser/learner),whosurelyfollowshisown(oranotherinstitution’s) businessinterests,nevertheless,whetherhisintentionsarecontentmarketing,oreducatinghisfollowers&onlineneighbourhood,orboth,it’snicetoknowthatthecentralpersoninaneducationalinstitution’s(Coursera’s)Facebookcommentsisauserwhoregularlysharesopeneducationalcontent–here,onthetopicof“EnglishforLawyers”. n=285 comment network Tarlei’s network