An Evaluation of the Udacity MOOC based on Instructional and Interface Design Principles

Abstract

Since the first appearance of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), the problem of low completion rates in MOOC has often been an object of research in terms of the instructional design and interface design. However, in-depth studies that examine the implementation of instructional and interface design principles in learning on the MOOC platform are still limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to find out the extent of Udacity in applying those principles from the Indonesian perspective. This study also aims to evaluate the usability of the MOOC platform. There are 228 participants in this study from various regions in Indonesia. The study findings indicate that Udacity has been successful in implementing content, interactivity, and course design, but there is still room for improvement in terms of instructor presence. Some usability problems were also found, and most of them are related to the online discussion forum. This study also offers an alternative design and recommendations to tackle the problems.