What do college students think about MOOCs?

Posted on September 14th, 2015

There has been much discussion about MOOCs in the media, and faculty and administrators have expressed a range of opinions and outlooks about the courses. This qualitative study is one of the first to examine university students’ perceptions and attitudes about MOOCs and compare them to the commentary surrounding this form of educational delivery. The authors surveyed current undergraduate students to determine their attitudes and perceptions about MOOCs through eight open questions. A total of 84 students replied to the survey, and some of the biggest challenges they perceived were a lack of reliability regarding information in courses with peer components, a lack of communication or feedback from instructors, and a lack of college credit for work completed. The main potential strengths they identified were convenience and low cost. The authors of the paper noted that these themes mirror current media commentary about MOOCs, but suggest the need to explore students’ perceptions of MOOCs in more detail, “as any adoption of MOOCs should ultimately be done to benefit students.”

http://jolt.merlot.org/Vol11no2/Cole_0615.pdf