Connecting Learner Motivation to Learner Progress and Completion in Massive Open Online Courses

We examined how massive open online courses (MOOC) learners' motivational factors, self-efficacy, and task-value related to their course progress and achievement, as informed by learners' initial course completion intention. In three individual MOOCs, learners completed a pre-course survey...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCanadian journal of learning and technology Vol. 44; no. 2
Main Authors Najafi, Hedieh, Rolheiser, Carol, Harrison, Laurie, Heikoop, Will
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Canadian Network for Innovation in Education 01.06.2018
Subjects
Academic Achievement
Correlation
Goal Orientation
Intention
Online Courses
Self Efficacy
Student Motivation
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ISSN1499-6677
DOI10.21432/cjlt27559

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Summary:We examined how massive open online courses (MOOC) learners' motivational factors, self-efficacy, and task-value related to their course progress and achievement, as informed by learners' initial course completion intention. In three individual MOOCs, learners completed a pre-course survey to report their levels of task-value and self-efficacy and to indicate their intention to complete each course topic. Using clustering techniques, we identified two distinct groups of learners in the three MOOCs based on self-efficacy and task-value variables: higher-motivation group and lower-motivation group. The higher-motivation group achieved significantly higher grades in two of the MOOCs, and also adhered to their initial completion intention significantly more so than the lower-motivation group. We posit that MOOC completion research should consider learners' topic-level interest as one success criterion. Further research can clarify perceived task-value in relation to learners' existing knowledge, their learning goals, and learning outcomes related to the MOOC participation.
ISSN:1499-6677
DOI:10.21432/cjlt27559