Stakeholder Perceptions towards the Quality of Coursera MOOCs Blended Learning in Vietnam: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Coursera MOOCs blended learning (CMBL) has been implemented at a Vietnamese Higher Education Institute (HEI) since the Fall 2019 semester. Our case study, which shows how Coursera MOOCs and the traditional classroom may work together, is unique in the context of Vietnamese higher education. In this case, students must complete the courses and earn certifications through Coursera MOOCs to qualify for the HEI’s offline final examinations. Meanwhile, students also engage in offline mentoring sessions with their classmates and lecturers (mentors). By employing the Service Quality (SERVQUAL) and 3P models, the research was conducted to explore how key factors might influence the quality of CMBL. This research conducted semi-structured interviews and employed thematic analysis with thirty interview participants, including ten administrators, eleven lecturers, three curriculum developers, and six students across four campuses of the HEI. We found that assessment, learning outcomes, learning content, Coursera staff’s responsiveness, offline mentors’ responsiveness and assurance, interaction, and student satisfaction might have considerably significant relationships with the quality of CMBL. On the other hand, Coursera instructors and offline mentors’ reliability have insignificant relationships with the quality of CMBL. This study has both theoretical and practical implications for universities and academics. Regarding the theoretical implications, this qualitative study provides critical criteria to measure the quality of the CMBL. Regarding the practical implications, it provides implications for curriculum development, teaching and learning, and assessment to improve the quality of CMBL. However, the authors could not travel across Vietnam to conduct face-to-face interviews in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, twenty-eight online interviews were conducted via Microsoft Teams and two email interviews. A downside of an online interview is that personal qualities that are critical to a study may be amended during the interview, forcing the researcher to rely on the participant’s words. Additionally, unlike a face-to-face interview, an email interview lacks simultaneous communication between the interviewer and the interviewee.
 Keywords: Higher Education Institution (HEI), blended MOOCs, Coursera MOOCs Blended Learning (CMBL), Coursera MOOCs, offline mentoring, sustainable development