Experiences In Massive Open Online Courses Research Articles

Toward a comprehensive understanding of massive open online course adoption among college students

AbstractThis paper investigated the factors affecting the behavioral intention (BI) and usage behavior (UB) of 548 Chinese college students in massive open online courses (MOOCs). We extended the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model by incorporating self‐regulated learning (SRL) management, perceived pleasure (PP), and perceived cost constructs. This study also analyzed the moderating role of individual differences in gender, grade, major, and experience in MOOCs. Data were collected through both offline surveys across 10 universities and an online survey platform. Results from structural equation modeling and multi‐linear regression analyses revealed that students' BI was significantly and positively influenced by six factors: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions (FC), social influence, SRL management (SM), and PP. Furthermore, we found that UB was predicted by BI, FC, and SM. Moreover, BI played a mediating role in the relationship between the two determining variables (i.e., FC and SM) and UB. Differences in MOOC experience level had a moderation effect. The study provided implications for various stakeholders regarding designing MOOC platforms, structures, and teaching activities.

Variation of HE academics’ experiences of designing MOOCs

There has been abundant research studying academics’ conceptions of and approaches to teaching, learning and other academic related activities in higher education (HE). However, most of the research in this area is in the traditional classroom HE context and there is very limited research in online teaching and learning contexts. Furthermore, research tends to mainly focus on academics’ experiences in teaching and learning in general, and there is very little research studying academics’ course designs, in particular. MOOCs (massive open online courses) originally emerged as a new online teaching form linked to connectivism and large networks of learners, which attracted a lot of interest from HE providers and researchers. Although there is plenty of research literature studying learners’ MOOC experiences, there is a lack of research on academics’ experiences of MOOCs. With more and more HE institutions partnering with MOOC platforms, HE academics involved in designing MOOCs are asked to follow certain procedures and prescribed formats in the designing process. There is hardly any published research on academics’ experience of designing MOOCs to understand the possible variations in their understanding of and approaches to designing MOOCs and the possible links between their perceptions and networked learning theory. This research aims to fill this research gap through a phenomenographic study of the UK HE academics’ experience of designing MOOCs to gain understanding of the possible variation in their perceptions and discusses links with different dimensions of networked learning. The research results could inform course designers and MOOC development stakeholders as well as provide insights to researchers in this area. I (first author) interviewed 22 academics from different UK HE institutions who have experience of designing MOOCs. The initial data analysis based on 14 transcripts revealed 5 categories of HE academics’ perceptions of designing MOOCs. This short paper presents the preliminary analysis of the first stage and discusses the results through the lens of networked learning. The next step is to continue data analysis through consulting the remaining transcripts to refine and modify the emerged categories and constitute the structural relationship between the categories to form the final outcome space.

Comparative Study on Barriers of Supply Chain Management MOOCs in China: Online Review Analysis with a Novel TOPSIS-CoCoSo Approach

To enhance the effectiveness of supply chain talent education, higher education institutions and other organisations have started to develop and use Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in their training programs. However, the problem is that the design and delivery of supply chain management MOOCs can be inappropriately presented and, thus, ineffective, especially for educational teams with fewer teaching experiences of MOOCs. This eventually makes it hard for the students’ learning outcomes to meet the industrial requirements of supply chain experts. Motivated by such a problem, this paper aims to improve the design and delivery of supply chain management MOOCs to enhance student learning outcomes. To achieve this goal, the research method adopted in this paper is to analyse online reviews in a widely-used Chinese MOOC platform with a novel TOPSIS-CoCoSo approach, aiming to identify the barriers to supply chain management MOOCs and their potential solutions. The results of this study show that 16 barriers to MOOCs are identified from the online reviews and then ranked based on their severity of reducing learning outcomes. The perceptions of the severity of the barriers to students and lecturers are compared, and the solutions to the barriers are then discussed. In addition, our comparison indicates that although students and lecturers have similar perceptions of severity for the majority of the barriers, they have significant disagreements on certain barriers. The significance of this study is that it can inform lecturers in supply chain management or relevant disciplines to better design and deliver their MOOC content, as well as contribute to the existing literature by providing new methodological tools for educational analysis. Also, this study highlights the necessity of comparative study in the MOOC online review analysis.

Using Phenomenological Methodology with Thematic Analysis to Examine and Reflect on Commonalities of Instructors’ Experiences in MOOCs

Instructors’ experiences in MOOCs assist their curriculum development and teaching skills as well as professional growth, which is seldom explored. The study examined and reflected on the commonalities of instructors’ experiences in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) based on phenomenological methodology with thematic analysis. By summarizing the commonalities in phenomenology from the implicit experiences of the instructors who were interviewed, commonalities of MOOC instructors’ experiences were found to be the following: (1) affinity—knowing how to provide MOOC material that is approachable; (2) ability to tell a story—knowing how to write and direct a video that contains a story or scenarios for classes as innovative teaching; (3) macro attitude—broadening a learner’s horizon is more important than lecturing on knowledge; (4) altruism—concerning the welfare of students rather than personal fame and fortune; and (5) learning by doing—having a passion for innovative teaching and bravely implementing it. Finally, several suggestions and inspirations were given based upon the reflections on the commonalities of MOOC instructors’ experiences.

Stepping back and stepping in: Facilitating learner-centered experiences in MOOCs

While the hype around Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has subsided in the past few years, such environments provide a rich opportunity to explore ongoing questions at the intersection of teaching, learning, and technology. This paper explores how a set of facilitation teams described enacting their learner-centered pedagogical aspirations through MOOC platforms. Drawing on in-depth interviews, we present a set of six facilitator actions: “giving up control,” “distributing facilitation,” “being live,” “amplifying,” “modeling,” and “being explicit.” We discuss these actions as emerging from the negotiation between existing pedagogical aspirations and the realities of a new medium, highlighting how they involve facilitators both stepping back (making space for and foregrounding learner expertise and perspectives) and stepping in (intervening and directing as a facilitator). This research contributes to the ongoing work of articulating the substance and specificity of teaching in learner-centered pedagogy and the persistent challenges of enacting that pedagogy in massive, online spaces.

Starting MOOCs in African University: The Experience of Cadi Ayyad University, Process, Review, Recommendations, and Prospects

The increasing number of enlistees claiming their right to enroll in the programs of African Universities and the limited number of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) were the prime reasons of students overcrowding in classes. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) showed a potential to help limiting the challenges of massification in open access HEIs. As the literature review of the MOOC situation in Africa is still nascent, we will qualitatively share the experience of Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech, Morocco (UCA) in launching a MOOC for its learners as a case study. Created in 2013, this MOOC was entitled UC@MOOC and appeared to respond to the challenges of massification in open access HEIs and the language difficulties faced by students. We will also present an overview of this project, its achievements and the quantity of knowledge delivery it accomplished. This MOOC experience attracted learners from other countries. And we have found that a shortage of MOOCs in Africa drove learners from other African francophone countries to learn from UC@MOOC. Yet a low-cost MOOC with certain limitations such as the weak ICT infrastructure available to the African public will thrive if operated using a MOOC platform and boosted its financial means.

Evaluating Instructional Design Quality of Iranian MOOCs Based on Merrill’s Principles of Instruction and Margaryan’s Principles

A great deal of attention has been paid to the experiences of learners and stakeholders in assessing the quality of massive open online courses (MOOCs), while participants' experiences in MOOCs and stakeholders are highly important factors in this process. Therefore, this study aims at evaluating instructional design quality of MOOCs based on Merrill’s first instructional principles and Margaryan principles. For this study, a method of evaluation research was used based on the expert standpoints. Statistical population consisted of 20 internally-developed platforms of MOOCs, which 40 courses (2 courses from each platform) were selected by using simple random sampling method. This study was carried out from February to July 2018. To do so, a check list of 28 questions was designed by researchers based on the prescriptive strategies of Merrill's first instructional principles (problem-oriented, activation, presentation, application, integration) and Margaryan’s principles (collective knowledge, collaboration, distinction, authentic sources and feedback). Accordingly, instructional quality evaluation of MOOCs courses was carried out by the educational technology specialists. Descriptive and inferential findings revealed that instructional design quality of MOOCs based on the points of specialists is under-evaluated and does not address Merrill’s first instructional principles as well as the ones of Margaryan. It is suggested that in addition to paying attention to the elements of the MOOCs platform and its facilities, the Merrill's and Margaryan’s principles should be used in designing the MOOCs content.

Confessions of A MOOCER: An Autoethnographic Inquiry on Online Distance Education

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are dramatically restructuring, reshaping, and redefining the vast landscape of teaching and learning across the globe. With MOOCs’ ubiquity, openness, and accessibility, they have become a new platform for teacher professional development. Utilizing a co-constructed narrative inquiry, this paper aimed to examine aspects of our memories, perspectives, and experiences in successfully completing Teach English Now! a 150-hour online Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Certificate Course from Arizona State University, United States of America via Coursera (www.coursera.org) as the MOOC platform. Acting as reflective practitioners and as teachers-as-researchers, we unpacked how we traversed the massive information superhighway in our quest for teacher professional development, what it was like to be an online learner, how we saw our role, why we believe what we believe about MOOCs’ potential, and how we think all of these affect our decisions and practices in our classrooms and contexts. Data from our individual journals, individual reflections, and peer discussion revealed how MOOCs’ features such as ‘openness’ and ‘flexibility’ as afforded by ubiquitous technology, sound course design, and strong learning community support have influenced us personally, socially, and professionally, making it a practical platform for teacher professional advancement particularly in developing countries such as the Philippines. Andragogical and pedagogical implications are provided in the light of our MOOC experience.

Teachers’ roles in light of massive open online courses (MOOCs): Evolution and challenges in higher distance education

This article analyses the challenges teachers face when entering a digital and open online environment in higher education. Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have become a popular phenomenon, making online learning more visible in the educational agenda; therefore, it is appropriate to analyse their expansion and diversification to help inform the next generation of courses. In this article, MOOCs are contextualised in a historical and wider approach to online education, building upon lessons learned from open and distance education, and exploring the introduction of technologies in providing higher education to massive populations over the past 45 years. In particular, the research study presented in this article used the open scholarship approach to analyse many of the changes that can occur in teaching when an open context applies, as in the case of MOOCs. Taking into account that a collaborative online learning experience is influenced by the simultaneous presence and overlap of cognitive, social and teaching elements, the study also used the community of inquiry model as a theoretical framework. In the study, 24 teachers (from the Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia [UNED] in Madrid, Spain) were surveyed about their experiences of MOOCs in terms of their current tasks, and the main changes they have observed compared to teaching in a more traditional electronic learning (e-learning) environment (at both graduate and postgraduate levels). These changes in roles, as well as teachers’ views about the impact of “massiveness” and “openness” on their understanding and teaching practice, are presented and analysed. Finally, the article also discusses how the evolution towards adapted learning, collaborative learning and assessment supported by technical tools, for example, was already in progress at UNED before MOOCs were initiated.

Students’ Perception and Experience of Massive Open Online Courses in Mongolia

E-learning can be a potential solution to educational inequality problem in developing countries, like Mongolia, with vast land and sparse population. With the introduction of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), some impressive cases bring the attention of the public towards it. But there is no specific evidence that shows Mongolian students’ experiences related to these online courses yet. Purpose of this study was to examine Mongolian students’ MOOC perception and experience, especially influence of access, skills, and preferences in their practice. We used a 15-item questionnaire and results were based on 6846 students’ responses. The study population consists of undergraduate students of the National University of Mongolia and high school students from 8 schools in Ulaanbaatar city. There was a significant difference between university and high school students in the awareness and enrollment rates. 47% of the students have heard of MOOCs and 2518 respondents (37%) had an experience of taking MOOCs. Our results show that students have a doubt about MOOC’s academical quality and consider it as an additional source of learning materials. The results of this study can be used to compare students’ perception from other developing countries.

Learner motivation for MOOC registration and the role of MOOCs as a university ‘taster’

Despite the widespread adoption of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), no business model has emerged to make them sustainable from an institution standpoint. Using MOOCs as a marketing platform shows promise; but for this to succeed, it is necessary to understand the motivations of those who undertake them and to demonstrate how these same motivations can be better satisfied through enrolment in a fee-paying university course. We discuss the motivations for students as they progress through a MOOC and the factors that might lead to subsequent university enrolment. Our arguments are informed by MOOC statistics, the AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) marketing model, and the literature on adult education, technology adoption, goal seeking and consumer value. We argue that most students are led to MOOC enrolment through close alignment of the course topic and subject matter with their personal goals and through the establishment of an attractive value proposition. Progress in the MOOC depends on whether this goal alignment is maintained, and whether the value assumptions of students are met or exceeded. We predict that subsequent university enrolment will most likely occur when the MOOC experience is both satisfying and representative of the university experience, and where the increased time and financial commitment demanded by formal study is offset by the greater likelihood of attaining the focal goal. For this strategy to succeed, it will be necessary for the host institution to actively work with MOOC students to create an awareness of appropriate fee-paying courses and to promote the benefits of university study. This has implications for the way institutions market their courses to MOOC students.

Digging deeper into learners' experiences in MOOCs: Participation in social networks outside of MOOCs, notetaking and contexts surrounding content consumption

AbstractResearchers describe with increasing confidence what they observe participants doing in massive open online courses (MOOCs). However, our understanding of learner activities in open courses is limited by researchers' extensive dependence on log file analyses and clickstream data to make inferences about learner behaviors. Further, the field lacks an empirical understanding of how people experience MOOCs and why they engage in particular activities in the ways that they do. In this paper, we report three findings derived by interviewing 13 individuals about their experiences in MOOCs. We report on learner interactions in social networks outside of MOOC platforms, notetaking, and the contexts that surround content consumption. The examination and analysis of these practices contribute to a greater understanding of the MOOC phenomenon and to the limitations of clickstream‐based research methods. Based on these findings, we conclude by making pragmatic suggestions for pedagogical and technological refinements to enhance open teaching and learning.

Undergraduates’ Novel Experiences with Massive Open Online Courses

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have revolutionized e-learning contexts through improvising new technology on its pedagogical features. Recently, much debate has been directed to the application of MOOCs in relation to higher education. However, research regarding students’ experiences of MOOCs is scant. Therefore, the present study aims to fill in the gap by examining undergraduates experiences with MOOCs. Data were collected from 29 undergraduates attending various degree programs at a public university in Malaysia. Undergraduates’ logbook notes were used for collecting data for this study. Results showed that most of the participants expressed positive attitudes towards learning in the MOOC. They valued the MOOC instructional features and tools and showed strong satisfaction in learning in the MOOCs environment. The empirical findings of the study have contributed to a better understanding of the nature of learning and participation in a MOOC environment from the perspective of undergraduate students. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have succeeded to create massive attention among educators, researchers, students, media, and stakeholders as elite universities from developed countries formed consortia to offer free courses on various disciplines. MOOC started with the promises to offer free education for all (Kop, Fournier, & Mak, 2011). A few number of commercial start-ups such as Udacity, Edx, Futurelearn and Coursera have been launched in collaboration with leading universities to deliver free courses online for massive participation. Many academic institutions, especially those in North America such as Duke University, Harvard University, MIT, and Stanford University have been offering courses in cooperation with MOOC providers. Big commercial institutions such as Google and Pearson are also planning to contribute to higher education by adopting MOOC instructional format (Yuan, Powell, & CETIS, 2013). While MOOCs are mushrooming in higher education, empirical research in the area is still very limited. Therefore, the present study aims to contribute some effort to this gap by scanning a small group of tertiary level students’ novel experiences with MOOC instructional features. The following part of the study deals with the background of the development of MOOC and its theoretical underpinnings.

Participants' perceptions of a MOOC

There is currently limited information available on participants’ perceptions of massive open online courses (MOOCs). This article presents the findings of a study at the University of Edinburgh examining the perceptions of a group of participants registered on a MOOC in equine nutrition, which ran for a period of five weeks and attracted 24,000 students to register. A self-completion survey was designed with a series of Likert scale questions, organized to gather students’ perceptions of participating in the MOOC. Participants on this course rated the learning materials and overall MOOC experience very highly; however, further work is required to elucidate why a much lower percentage of participants held the interactions in less regard.

MOOC experience

In this article the author reflects on the experiences of three Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): Edfuture (CHFE), Learning Design for 21st Century Curriculum (OLDS-MOOC), and Open Education (H817). Discussion draws on the perceived differences between OERs and MOOCs and questions the definitions of 'success', 'engagement', 'completion', and 'drop out' in a MOOC. Some lessons learnt as a participant are also discussed.

Experiences in MOOCs: The Perspective of Students

The aim of this article was to examine the experiences of students who have participated in massive open online courses (MOOCs). The results of an initial Google blog search were narrowed down to a sample of twenty-one blog posts, each of which was written by a MOOC participant. Content analysis was applied to identify and classify blog comments into emergent themes (e.g., the relevance of type and length of course, student demographics, instruction/instructor interactive styles, and factors that impacted on the learning process) to develop a picture of their experiences. Overall, mixed feelings were expressed. Results provided a glimpse of the student experiences, including why students take such courses, what elements of their experience are positive, and what can be improved from the student point of view.

Connectivism and dimensions of individual experience

<p>Connectivism has been offered as a new learning theory for a digital age, with four key principles for learning: autonomy, connectedness, diversity, and openness. The testing ground for this theory has been massive open online courses (MOOCs). As the number of MOOC offerings increases, interest in how people interact and develop as individual learners in these complex, diverse, and distributed environments is growing. In their work in these environments the authors have observed a growing tension between the elements of connectivity believed to be necessary for effective learning and the variety of individual perspectives both revealed and concealed during interactions with these elements. In this paper we draw on personality and self-determination theories to gain insight into the dimensions of individual experience in connective environments and to further explore the meaning of autonomy, connectedness, diversity, and openness. The authors suggest that definitions of all four principles can be expanded to recognize individual and psychological diversity within connective environments. They also suggest that such expanded definitions have implications for learners’ experiences of MOOCs, recognizing that learners may vary greatly in their desire for and interpretation of connectivity, autonomy, openness, and diversity.</p>