ABSTRACT We analyzed the structure of the MOOC ecosystem from the perspective of two aggregators, Class Central and MOOC List, which gather information on thousands of courses. Their datasets, which range from 2012 to 2015, enabled us to underline the contrast between most important platforms such as Coursera or edX, and smaller scale platforms, notably their European counterparts. Both the number of courses produced by institution and the estimated workload for each course are higher in North America, suggesting that the strategies of institutions of higher education differed between both continents. Finally, we show that course duration decreased over the years, and suggest that it represented a strategy to tackle low completion rates.

中文翻译：

---

课程聚合器揭示的 MOOC 生态系统的结构

摘要 我们从两个聚合器 Class Central 和 MOOC List 的角度分析了 MOOC 生态系统的结构，它们收集了数千门课程的信息。他们的数据集范围从 2012 年到 2015 年，使我们能够强调最重要的平台（如 Coursera 或 edX）与较小规模的平台（尤其是欧洲同行）之间的对比。北美的机构制作的课程数量和每门课程的估计工作量都较高，这表明两大洲的高等教育机构的策略不同。最后，我们表明课程持续时间多年来一直在减少，并表明它代表了一种解决低完成率的策略。