The Effect of Self-Regulation in a MOOC Environment on the Completion and Performance of Learners

Abstract

MOOCs were created to change the way universities provide education. If to some extent they have succeeded, since they enable many people to attend them without prerequisites and conditions, it is observed that a very small percentage of those who participate finally manage to complete them. In the present study, which is part of the first researcher’s doctoral research, we examine the extent to which helping learners apply the Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions (MCII) self-regulatory strategy in conjunction with a number of other self-regulatory processes in Zimmerman’s model, contributed to the increase of self-regulation, performance and completion rates of those who participated in the first MOOC program of the University of the Aegean (Greece) on “Violence and bullying in schools”. 1309 people started the program and completed it, 1050. The two research groups into which they were divided, showed statistically significant differences in their self-regulation, but not in the completion rates of the program (control group: 80.1%, experimental group: 80.3%) and their performance (90% - 100% scale: control group: 62.5%, experimental group: 66.5%). Nevertheless, a very high percentage managed to complete it (80.2%), achieving at the same time very high performance. This result shows that self-regulation is not the only factor that contributes to the successful completion of programs and high performance. The instructional design of the program, its organization, and the quality of the instructional material play also an important role. These results can be useful in the design of future MOOCs programs.