Factors influencing the pursuit of personal learning goals in MOOCs

Maartje Henderikx,Karel Kreijns,Jonatan Castaño Muñoz,Marco Kalz

doi:10.1080/01587919.2019.1600364

Maartje Henderikx, Karel Kreijns + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2019.1600364

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Abstract

ABSTRACTMOOCs are promising opportunities for lifelong learning, but as promising as these learning opportunities seem, many learners do not succeed in pursuing their personal learning goals. Barriers to learning are the main reason for not finishing the intended (parts of the) MOOCs. This study addressed the question whether the factors age, gender, educational level, and online learning experience affect barriers faced while learning in MOOCs. The results show that it is challenging to combine work and family life with lifelong (online) learning activities, especially for learners in their early adulthood and mid-life. However, more experience with online learning positively affects individuals’ ability to cope with these challenges. Also, learners with a lower educational level may experience a lack of knowledge or difficulties with the course content. These findings may serve as input to inform potentially vulnerable learners about these issues and support them in successfully achieving their personal learning goals.

Highlights

The possibility of learning online adds flexibility to opportunities for lifelong learning
As no prior research can be found that investigates possible determinants that predict barriers when learning in Massive open online courses (MOOCs) or, more generally, barriers to online learning, the aim of this study was to further untangle the online learning process by exploring whether certain variables do affect the experience of barriers while learning in MOOCs
The average number of MOOCs taken in the past, which represented the prior online learning experience, was 3.00

Summary

Introduction

The possibility of learning online adds flexibility to opportunities for lifelong learning. As promising as these learning opportunities seem, many learners do not succeed in pursuing their personal learning goals (Henderikx, Kreijns, & Kalz, 2017a) and do not finish the sections of a MOOC they indented to complete These learners are considered unsuccessful learners or dropouts and generally determine the overall assessment success. We introduce variables extracted from the literature as potential determinants, such as age, gender, educational level, and prior online learning experience in combination with academic achievement. This is followed by an overview of the methodology and the results. We focused on the number of barriers learners faced while learning in MOOCs in general, as well as on several specific barriers

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