Audience, user, producer: MOOCs as activity systems

While some studies have looked at the suitability of MOOCs as an emerging mode of delivery, many seem to miss the mark on the question of usability in the MOOC context. Without a clear understanding of user roles in MOOCs, it will be challenging for course providers to evaluate the effectiveness of their designed systems and thus may negatively impact MOOC participants' experience with the course platform. With an eye toward a user-centered technological design philosophy, this chapter situates MOOCs as socio-rhetorical systems within a large complex ecology of learning. Through the lens of Activity Theory, I investigate the intricate roles of audience, user, and producer that MOOC participants play interchangeably while scrutinizing the relationships between these roles in an online social learning environment.