Call for Research Projects
Since 2013 Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) offers online courses for a global population of lifelong learners. TU Delft’s online portfolio includes massive open online courses (MOOCs), professional education courses (ProfEds), and Master / Bachelor courses (MSc). This year we reached 900K student enrollments.
Online education generates a large amount of data on student behavior. By analyzing this data our understanding and knowledge of learning and learning processes can be increased. For this reason, TU Delft is looking for researchers who are interested in using TU Delft’s open and online education data to create joint research projects.
The goal of TU Delft would be to create win-win research projects, where research results can be used by TU Delft to improve our courses, and at the same time help researchers in their own academic pursuits.
What type of project are we looking for?
TU Delft’s focus is on short-cyclical research projects. Such projects provide researchers with ample opportunity for exploration and analysis of a particular research topic, whilst also aiming for output within a relatively short time-span (i.e. six months).
Potential researchers can be international or domestic, and can have expertise ranging from social science to engineering science. Delft University of Technology offers opportunities for both ‘short-stay arrangements’ and for researchers to work from their native country and visit TU Delft at set moments.
What research topic should the project have?
Researchers will have the freedom to define their own research project, research questions, and approach within agreed upon constraints (i.e. topic, time, budget). Preferred research themes are: didactics of online learning; learning content; teacher roles and styles; online group dynamics; and / or learner support.
How to create a project?
Interested researchers are invited to contact our project manager research (contact information can be found below). After the initial contact, the interested researcher writes a concise project proposal (max. 4 pages).
A project proposal should consist of the research question that will be answered, the methodology that will be used for this, the type of data that needs to be studied, an overview of resources the TU Delft should provide, and any associated costs / remuneration. Project deliverables are a research report and scientific papers.
What do we offer?
TU Delft offers the opportunity to work on pioneering science and education, the opportunity to work with a salient data set, the opportunity to write unique papers with good exposure potential, and a chance to cooperate closely with instructors in creating and facilitating courses to make them better for students. Use of university resources and remuneration are an option.
Available data includes:
- Online education student data based on 900K enrollments.
- Pre-survey, mid-survey, and post-survey data on 40+ MOOCs, ProfEd, and MSc courses (100K+ responses).
- EdX course and activity data on 40+ MOOCs, ProfEd, and MSc courses.
Contact information
For more information contact our project manager research: dr.ir. J.P. (Jan-Paul) van Staalduinen, email: j.p.vanstaalduinen@tudelft.nl, phone: +31 (0)15 278 2438.
