MOOCs: What Motivates the Producers and Participants?

Abstract

Abstract. Within the current educational landscape, Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have stimulated extensive interest and hype in a short time. It has been asserted that these open courses are no more than a prelude to the disruption that traditional Higher Education Institutions will experience from the growth of on-line education. Meanwhile, institutions are making increasingly significant investments to produce MOOCs, and learners are enthusiastically enrolling in large numbers, often in tens of thousands. The analysis presented identifies a spectrum of motivating factors for universities, and suggests likely areas for future attention and developments. It further identifies a range of motivations for learner participation, which may not be identical across cultures and which MOOC providers might wish to take into account.

Why Study on a MOOC? The Motives of Students and Professionals

“…Similarly, none of the professionals made reference to other formal or semi-formal learning or training that they were undertaking; in this study, MOOCs appear to be the primary mechanism these individuals are using to fulfil their development needs. The range of motivations identified matches well with those identified by previous studies (Zheng et al, 2015;White et al, 2015) with only Zheng et al's (2015) connecting with other people category being absent from the motivations collected here. The content-focused categories here (general interest in the topic, the opportunity to learn about the topic, the relevance of the course topic to current role challenges, and its relevance to future career intention) allows us to differentiate different levels of engagement that directly relate to how the learners expected to utilize their new knowledge they expected to acquire.…”

“…Their findings suggest that completion is just one outcome of MOOC participation, with key motivations to study being intrinsic in nature, related primarily to personal improvement. In a larger, survey-based study, exploring motivations of MOOC learners based in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Syria, seven different types of motivation were identified (White, Davis, Dickens, Leon, & Sanchez-Vera, 2015), mirroring the categories identified by the Zheng et al (2015) ' (1992) Achievement Goal Theory. The de Barba study explored a range of intrinsic motivations, including individual and situational interest (overarching interest, and the transient motivation that comes from a stimulating environment or task), achievement goals (whether individuals adopted a mastery or performance goal driven approach), and value beliefs (why learners believe a task is valuable to them).…”

Developing a Strategic Approach to MOOCs

“…Taking a long-term view, MOOC strategy should influence the development of lasting collaborations and the enablement of impact (White, Davis, Dickens, León Urrutia, & Sánchez-Vera, 2015 (Onah, Sinclair, & Boyatt, 2014).…”

“…From the perspective of universities, it is important to keep in mind how MOOCs can be used to enhance the reputation of academics, academic departments and the university as a whole (White et al, 2015). MOOCs can also be used as a way of building learner communities that maintain engagement with the university over time, reducing the gap between students and alumni, and enabling people who have studied together to continue their conversations (Ferguson, Sharples, & Beale, 2015).…”

First Day Stands Out as Most Popular Among MOOC Leavers

“…Partnerships among leading universities have setup platforms like Coursera, Edx, and Future Learn [1] that continue to benefit tens of thousands of students around the globe. Putting courses online and open for participation by all basically means anyone in the world who has internet access can logon to the platform and join the course.…”