Understanding mooc learners: insights from participation in coursera mooc

Abstract

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are the latest online teaching and learning medium through website and are seen as a key factor in future lesson delivery. One well-established and popular MOOC is Coursera which is provided by Stanford University. Online participation and interactions are complex phenomena and the answers to the questions in regard to Courserians' participation gave considerable insights into knowledge construction in discussion forums. The successful construction of knowledge requires active participation. This article is aimed to observe a Coursera community in its natural setting and to investigate the participants' experiences in Coursera discussion forum. The data was derived from over 60 online interview forums with Coursera learners. Field note data was extracted from 160 days of interaction with the participants. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed some insights about learners' feelings, challenges, ideas and recommendations.