In deciding what to do for my project [as part of this team], I noticed how well MOOCs could help university students. If there was an online course offered that a student could take for credit, then students could finish their degree faster or would actually have time to take classes for pure enjoyment.

Additionally, from my own experience, students could use these online courses to aid in a class that they’re currently enrolled in, such as before a big exam. I wanted to look at whether or not the motivations for enrolling in these online courses were different between university students and nonstudents. 

We are each writing our own published research paper, so I’ve had to go through the process of getting my IRB protocol done and approved, and writing survey questions. 

I sent that survey out to [participants in] 14 Coursera courses through Duke, asking whether or not they were a student, why they took the course and how their course interacted with their current education. I received almost 10,000 responses. 

Not a lot of people come out of Duke with published papers that they’re the primary author on. I feel like that’s a really great thing that this team offered me.