Exploring Factors Affecting Learners' Acceptance of MOOCs Based on Kirkpatrick's Model

Abstract

Since Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are evolving rapidly, many researches have been conducted to explore the structure, effectiveness and issues arise in MOOCs. The free accessibility of MOOCs is believed will soon replace the traditional teaching and learning method. This will create a great social impact to the education industry. The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that affect learner's acceptance of MOOCs based on Kirkpatrick's four level evaluation of learning model. A set of survey questions were adapted based on Kirkpatrick's evaluation model. This paper identified factors that affect the acceptance of learners in using MOOCs. The results suggested that self-directed learning environment, user friendly design of course contents, and participation as well as interaction and guidance from the instructors and finally internet speed are factors that affect learner's acceptance of MOOCs. This study sheds light on the social impact of MOOCs to teaching and learning. Institutions are provided with better insights into managing their MOOCs when they want to implement it. However, as the respondents for the research were mainly from MOOCs implemented in one institution, therefore a further study can be carried out to investigate MOOCs implementation in other institutions. The value of this study may provide some insight for institutions who plan to implement MOOCs in future.