Search papers, labs, and topics across Lattice.
This design-based research study investigated the impact of a collaborative AI-in-the-loop workflow on social and cognitive presence in cMOOC discussion facilitation. They designed and deployed a system combining network-structure-driven target selection, discourse-adaptive response roles, and mandatory human review in a five-week cMOOC (N = 606). Results showed AI participation selectively enhanced social presence, and direct learner-agent interaction was associated with significantly higher social presence and higher-order cognitive indicators.
Simply injecting GenAI into online learning discussions doesn't cut it; reciprocal exchange and human oversight are key to boosting social presence and higher-order cognition.
Connectivist MOOCs (cMOOCs) rely on learner-driven interaction, yet their intentionally light facilitation makes it difficult to design generative AI participation that is both scalable and educationally productive. This design-based research study examined how human-AI interaction can be designed for discussion facilitation through a collaborative AI-in-the-loop workflow. Across two iterations in a five-week cMOOC (N = 606), we designed, deployed, and evaluated a facilitation system that combined network-structure-driven target selection, discourse-adaptive response roles, and mandatory human review before AI participation became visible in the community. Iteration 1 (Weeks 1-2) focused on refining the interaction design, showing that the most sustainable facilitation patterns were Guide (70.4%) and Amplifier (28.5%) responses and yielding explicit moderation standards for publishable AI participation. Iteration 2 (Weeks 3-5) examined how different forms of AI-mediated interaction related to social and cognitive presence. AI participation selectively enhanced Open Communication (r = 0.188, p = 0.006), Networked Cohesion (r = 0.274, p<0.001), and overall social presence (r = 0.162, p = 0.015), while cognitive presence showed no overall improvement. More importantly, direct learner-agent interaction was associated with significantly higher social presence (r = 0.186, p = 0.004) and higher-order cognitive indicators-Integration (r = 0.206, p = 0.001) and Resolution/Creation (r = 0.350, p<0.001)-than mere co-presence in AI-involved threads. The findings suggest that effective GenAI-supported discussion depends less on AI presence alone than on interaction design: reciprocal exchange, discourse-adaptive facilitation roles, and collaborative human review appear to be key conditions for productive AI participation in online learning communities.
