The effects of learner factors on MOOC learning outcomes and their pathways

ABSTRACT

Despite rapid growth in the popularity of massive open online courses (MOOCs), few studies have investigated learning outcomes among participating university learners. We first examined student growth in terms of knowledge, attitudes, skills, and aspirations (KASA). We then explored the relationships between learning outcomes and three learner factors: time management pattern, task persistence, and language match. A survey of 94 MOOC learners at five Japanese universities revealed growth in knowledge, attitudes, aspirations, and skills, in that order. Task persistence was most strongly associated with knowledge growth, with knowledge affecting aspirations indirectly via attitudes and skills. Learning frequency, time allocation, and participation in discussions had little impact on KASA growth. Compared with learners studying in a foreign language, those studying in their native language reported greater growth across all learning outcomes. We discuss theoretical and practical implications and offer recommendations for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• MOOC (massive open online course)
• KASA (knowledge
• attitudes
• skills
• aspirations)
• learning outcomes
• task persistence
• time management

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Professors Teruyoshi Sasaki, Masayuki Kudo and Katsusuke Shigeta for their help in collecting data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the 2016–2018 Grant-in Aid for Scientific Research (Kakenhi) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Society, the basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) by the Ministry of Science and ICT (NRF-2017R1C1B2010469) and Dental Research Institute of Seoul National University.

Notes on contributors

Insung Jung

Insung Jung is a professor with department of education, media and society at the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, Japan. She received her Master Degree with Educational Technology from Seoul National University and her Ph.D. from Indiana Univeristy. Her research and professional interests are in IDT in distance and blended learning contexts, quality assurance of elearning, IDT and student learning, learner and instructor competencies, and educational policy.

Jihyun Lee

Jihyun Lee is an assistant professor with the school of dentistry at the Seoul National University. She received her Master Degree with Technology in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and her Ph.D. in Educational Technology from Seoul National University. Her research interests include dental/medical education, model development methodology, MOOC/OER, flipped learning, and technology integration for higher-order thinking.