Abstract
Massive open online courses (MOOCs) can potentially affect the lives of millions of people, but there is little research on how a programming MOOC could affect participants’ lives after participation. In Estonia, we have organised several programming MOOCs over the years, attended by over 14,000 people. This inspired us to develop and validate a scale for measuring the impact of programming MOOC on participants’ lives. We analysed data from 1261 MOOC participants who had completed at least one of our programming MOOCs. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to validate the developed scale. The final model fitted quite well to the data. We found that the factors that influence learners’ lives after a MOOC include acquired learning skills, interest in continuing computer science related studies, learning experience gained from the MOOC, the MOOC’s impact on work and personal life, and new contacts that are established with other participants and organisers. We also compared the means of the factors. The highest-rated factor was related to the learning experience from the MOOC and the lowest-rated was related to finding new contacts through the MOOC.
Highlights
Over the years Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have attracted millions of learners worldwide to help them learn something new or complement their existing knowledge
This study focuses on three different programming MOOCs that are organised at our university
This study sought to fill a significant gap in previous studies by developing a scale for measuring the post-impact of MOOCs, especially programming MOOCs, on their completers
Summary
Over the years MOOCs have attracted millions of learners worldwide to help them learn something new or complement their existing knowledge. Estonian universities have offered a progressively growing range of different courses, including programming MOOCs. Notably, there is a great shortage of labour in the IT sector in Estonia as well as elsewhere in Europe [1] and universities can help to increase interest in IT through MOOCs, as the need for IT skills increases in other fields. There is a great shortage of labour in the IT sector in Estonia as well as elsewhere in Europe [1] and universities can help to increase interest in IT through MOOCs, as the need for IT skills increases in other fields For this very purpose, our university has been offering programming MOOCs since 2014. The increasing need for IT skills can affect the Estonian labour market and have an impact on the lives of the people who participated. This motivated us to conduct a study that would provide an overview of the impact of programming MOOCs on participants’ lives, which requires first an instrument to help to achieve this goal
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
