Experiences in MOOCs: The Perspective of Students

Abstract

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.Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are generating much hype in mass and social media. Although there is a lot of research generated from student feedback surveys, little is known about student perceptions of online learning, and MOOCs in particular, using blogging platforms as the source of information. The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of students who have participated in MOOCs as reflected in public blogs. Thus, this study asked the following:Research Question 1: Is the student experience portrayed in the blogs a positive one?Research Question 2: What are the common issues and discussion themes bloggers post about? Insights gained from investigating these two research questions are likely to be of interest to those interested in participating in, developing, and teaching MOOCs generally and online courses more broadly. BACKGROUND

Integrating MOOC and Flipped Classroom Practice in a Traditional Undergraduate Course: Students’ Experience and Perceptions

“…Such measures provide a paradigm for exploring participation in MOOCs as part of a community at the institutional level. Nevertheless, research using more open-ended measures was noticeably lacking [19].…”

A Far Cry from School History: Massive Online Open Courses as a Generative Source for Historical Research

“…However, qualitative analysis can bring about a more detailed and nuanced understanding of learners that can be absent with a purely quantitative analysis. Previous qualitative studies which have employed thematic analysis within MOOCs have moved away from learner comments and have used learner blogs (Zutshi et al, 2013), MOOC videos (Hui, Yinjuan, Yingshan, & Zenong, 2014), online surveys (Baxter & Haycock, 2014), instructor observations (Grunewald et al, 2013), and twitter comments (Xia, 2014) to gain perspectives on MOOC learner behaviour and attitudes.…”

“…They generate large amounts of learner data in the form of participant activity and interactions (Huang, Dasgupta, Ghosh, Manning, & Sanders, 2014;Seaton, Bergner, Chuang, Mitros, & Pritchard, 2014), learner survey results (Fini, 2009), external social media comments (Koutropoulos et al, 2014), interviews (Mackness, Waite, Roberts, & Lovegrove, 2013), focus groups (Firmin et al, 2014), observations (Grunewald et al, 2013), blog entries (Zutshi, O'Hare, & Rodafinos, 2013), and forum comments (Tucker, Pursel, & Divinsky, 2014). These data sources have been analyzed using a wide variety of different qualitative and quantitative methodologies and methods (Gallagher & Savage, 2016;Raffaghelli & Persico, 2014) to understand learner behaviour and frame course design, and determine MOOC success or failure.…”

Learners in Advanced Nanotechnology MOOCs: Understanding their Intention and Motivation

“…1 In addition, patterns of learners' usage of course material (i.e., clickstream data) have begun to be explored. 4 Still, little is known about the specific motivations and intentions of those who enroll in MOOCs and, particularly, the intentions of those who enroll in MOOCs involving highly technical engineering-related content.…”

“…The term, MOOC, has been defined as "any online educational course that is available at no or minimal cost, is open to a very large number of students, and for which the educational materials and resources are freely available online" (p. 218). 1 In general, MOOCs are free of the typical educational barriers of prerequisites, fees, and hard requirements for participation in the course, creating an investment-free option to access learning materials. 2 Indeed, those who enroll in MOOCs are free to enter and leave the course with little or no commitment to course activities.…”