Faculty Experiences in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

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2021

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Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), as an emerging educational innovation in the field of online education, successfully garnered attention from the academic community since 2012. Studies in MOOCs primarily focused on learner experiences and insights, context and impact as well as design. Little attention was placed on MOOC instructors. This convergent parallel mixed methods study employed a web-based survey and semi-structured interviews to explore the experience of higher education faculty members who had taught a MOOC or were currently teaching a MOOC from 2013 to 2017 through edX and Coursera (two primary MOOC platforms in the United States providing thousands of online courses in a wide range of subjects). The samples (i.e., eighty-nine survey respondents and twelve interviewees) were drawn from the target population with a criterion sampling strategy. Findings included: 1) The majority of MOOC instructors were white males with an average age of 54 years old. Over 75% held a doctorate degree in a given field. More than half ranked at least assistant professor. Teaching an online or hybrid course was new to about half of them before teaching a MOOC; 2) MOOC instructors were motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors to teach a MOOC, but mostly driven by intrinsic motivators; 3) MOOC instructors perceived their MOOC teaching experience personally rewarding and professionally beneficial; 4) The intention of teaching a MOOC included but not limited to reaching out to a wide range of global learners, sharpening skills & expanding knowledge, and increasing personal and institutional visibility nationally and globally; 5) Based on the four roles identified in Berge’s Instructor’s Roles Model for online education, the role of a MOOC instructor was largely pedagogical-oriented, especially at the planning, designing, and delivering stages through multiple activities. The social role was identified only within a small number of MOOCs. The managerial and technical roles were taken over by specialists or assistants; 6) Benefits and challenges of teaching a MOOC were identified and addressed. Implications for practice, recommendations, and limitations were discussed to identify and prioritize future research.

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Educational technology, Extrinsic Motivation, Higher Education Faculty, Intrinsic Motivation, MOOC Instructors, MOOCs

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249 pages

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