Examining the Perceived Consequences and Usage of MOOCs on Learning Effectiveness

Abstract

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have recently received a great deal of attention from the academic communities. However, these courses face low completion rates and there are very limited research pertaining to this problem. Therefore, this study uses Triandis theory to better understand variables that are indicative of MOOC completion. Furthermore, this study scrutinizes the quantitative relationship between MOOC usage and learning effectiveness. Two hundred and thirty-four users from selected Coursera participated in this study to evaluate the proposed model. The partial least squares (PLS) were used to analyze the collected data and test the research hypotheses. The results indicated that perceived consequences (including knowledge growth, social interaction, and compatibility) and affect have a significant impact on intention to use MOOC. In contrast, social factors delineated the insignificant effects on intention to use MOOC. The findings indicated that facilitative conditions and intentions to use MOOC have a strong and positive impact on the actual use of MOOC. Hypotheses regarding the influence of perceived consequences and the actual usage of MOOC on learning effectiveness were upheld.