Online learning data set for scientists on CASMOOC in 2018

In order to promote scientific and technological innovation and development, the Continuing Education Network of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASMOOC) provides online learning services where researchers choose courses independently. This study examines a time period from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018, through which 219,472 data entries were accumulated, amounting to a total learning time of 21,282.74 hours. It shows that online learning behavior arrives at its peak at 10am to 12am and 14pm to 18pm while we should not ignore that considerable learning behaviors occur at 18pm to 24pm. There is no significant correlation exists among learning duration, gender and age, and artificial intelligence and big data are on the highest demand. The data set provides a locus for analyzing the tendencies of researchers’ online learning time, content and duration across a variety of professional and technical titles, ages, genders and working years, which lays a precise foundation for online curriculum design of scientific researchers.