Progress and new directions for teaching and learning in MOOCs

Abstract

This paper presents a narrative review of the literature related to the landscape of learning and teaching in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Past reviews of the MOOC literature have primarily focused on identifying trends and categorising MOOC studies. Syntheses of recent empirical contributions on learning and teaching in MOOCs are scarce. This review evaluated 102 academic studies published between 2014 and 2016 on the learning and teaching aspects of MOOCs. These studies were analysed using Biggs’ 3P Model of Teaching and Learning as an organising framework. The analysis examines four key learning and teaching factors: learner factors, teaching context, learner engagement, and learning outcomes. Five important findings emerged from this analysis: (1) evidence-based research on non-mainstream consumers of MOOCs is scarce; (2) the role of learner factors is oversimplified in evidence-based MOOC research; (3) there is no attempt to reconcile different approaches to measuring learner engagement with MOOCs; (4) measures of learning outcomes lack sophistication and are often based on single variables; and (5) the relationships between many of the key learning and teaching factors have not been clarified. It is argued that continuing to study learning and teaching factors in isolation without considering how they interact with each other does not move the research field forward.