The Potentiality of Dynamic Assessment in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): The Case of Listening Comprehension MOOCs

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as a new shaking educational development provide the scene for achieving social inclusion and dissemination of knowledge. Anyhow, facilitating network learning experiences through creating an adaptive learning environment can pave the way for this open and energetic way to learning. The present study aimed to explore the possible role of Dynamic Assessment (DA) as an evaluation tool for providing an adaptive learning to the diversity of online platforms. 453 Second Language (L2) learners participated in the course. Similar to the typical MOOCs, learners watched lecture videos, answered quizzes, posted responses to forums, and communicated with others. Dissimilar to the typical MOOCs, the quizzes were prepared and assessed based on DA tenets and the learners were required to take a listening comprehension test at the end of each module. Quantitative analyses were made to find out each individual's Zone of Actual Development (ZAD), Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), and Learning Potential Score (LPS). The findings of the study revealed that DA was promising for giving insight into the development of the learner’s listening comprehension and the assessment of listening ability in MOOC. The results of the study pinpointed that scores on what a learner could do alone and without assistance, ZAD scores, could not provide a clear picture of the learner’s listening ability, while mediation helped to reveal his/her potential abilities (ZPD) and diagnose his/her difficulties. It was also shown that DA brought to light the areas the learner needed more support and instruction, and consequently provided a profound feedback and evaluation on the learner’s learning and performance, the elements missed in MOOC.