The University of Warwick’s FutureLearn MOOC Literature and Mental Health: Reading for Wellbeing, which began its first presentation February 2016, was identified as an opportunity to conduct some research into the course subject area, ‘reading for wellbeing’ or ‘bibliotherapy’. Since 2013, a substantial body of literature has emerged in the field of MOOC-related research, with the MOOC becoming both the subject of and vehicle for research. The research approach adopted in Literature and Mental Health was influenced by other, recent research studies conducted within MOOCs, and particularly by the first presentation of Monash University’s Mindfulness for Wellbeing and Peak Performance FutureLearn MOOC, which distributed a stress survey to its learners in the first and final weeks of the course, to assess the efficacy of the course’s mindfulness practices. A number of reasons for trialling the use of this MOOC as a research tool were identified at the project’s outset. MOOCs give researchers access to large numbers of possible research participants, making MOOC research an attractive prospect, while the opportunity to gather valuable, potentially publishable data from free online courses may help to justify the time and resources expended during the production of new MOOCs. Several additional benefits of in-MOOC research were discovered during the process, including the potential for research activities to enrich the learner experience. However, a number of challenges and limitations were also encountered during the development of the study; the inevitable self-selection bias among MOOC learners, and the difficulty of establishing a control group within the MOOC activities, posed impediments to the gathering of useful, publishable data. Although we were aware of other MOOCs which had been used as vehicles for research, the process of adapting Literature and Mental Health for this research study was nonetheless an illuminating and instructive experience. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on that experience, and to consider the lessons learned during the process which may be useful in informing future research studies conducted via Massive Open Online Courses.

中文翻译：

---

使MOOC适应研究：从第一次文学与心理健康演讲中汲取的教训：为健康而读书

华威大学的FutureLearn MOOC文学与心理健康：阅读有益于健康，于2016年2月开始首次演示，被认为是对课程主题领域进行研究的机会，即``阅读有益健康''或``参考疗法''。自2013年以来，MOOC相关研究领域出现了大量文献，MOOC成为研究的主题和工具。在文学和心理健康方面采用的研究方法受到MOOC内进行的其他近期研究的影响，尤其是受到莫纳什大学关于正念与健康和最佳表现FutureLearn MOOC的首次展示的影响，该研究在第一时间向学习者分发了压力调查课程的最后几周，评估课程正念练习的效果。在项目一开始就确定了试用该MOOC作为研究工具的多种原因。MOOC使研究人员可以接触到大量可能的研究参与者，这使MOOC研究具有诱人的前景，同时有机会从免费的在线课程中收集有价值的，可能会发布的数据，这可能有助于证明在生产新的MOOC上花费的时间和资源是合理的。在此过程中，还发现了MOOC内部研究的其他好处，包括开展研究活动以丰富学习者体验的潜力。然而，在研究的发展过程中也遇到了许多挑战和局限性。MOOC学习者不可避免的自我选择偏见，以及在MOOC活动中建立控制小组的困难，阻碍了收集有用的，可发布的数据。尽管我们知道其他MOOC已被用作研究的载体，但将文学和心理健康应用于该研究的过程仍然是一个启发性和启发性的经验。本文的目的是反思这一经验，并考虑在此过程中吸取的经验教训，这些经验教训可能有助于通过大规模在线公开课程进行未来的研究研究。尽管如此，将文学和心理健康应用于这项研究的过程仍然是具有启发性和启发性的经验。本文的目的是反思这一经验，并考虑在此过程中吸取的经验教训，这些经验教训可能有助于通过大规模在线公开课程进行未来的研究研究。尽管如此，将文学和心理健康应用于这项研究的过程仍然是具有启发性和启发性的经验。本文的目的是反思这一经验，并考虑在此过程中吸取的经验教训，这些经验教训可能有助于通过大规模在线公开课程进行未来的研究研究。