This report sets out to help decision makers in higher education institutions gain a better understanding of the phenomenon of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) and trends towards greater openness in higher education and to think about the implications for their institutions. The phenomena of MOOCs are described, placing them in the wider context of open education, online learning and the changes that are currently taking place in higher education at a time of globalisation of education and constrained budgets. The report is written from a UK higher education perspective, but is largely informed by the developments in MOOCs from the USA and Canada. A literature review was undertaken focussing on the extensive reporting of MOOCs through scholarly blogs, press releases as well as openly available reports and research papers. This identified current debates about new course provision, the impact of changes in funding and the implications for greater openness in higher education. The theory of disruptive innovation is used to help form the questions of policy and strategy that higher education institutions need to address

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MOOCs and open education: Implications for higher education

The past two years have seen rapid development of massive open online courses (MOOCs) with the rise of a number of MOOC platforms The scale of enrolment and participation in the earliest mainstream MOOC courses has garnered a good deal of media attention However, data about how the enrolment and completion figures have changed since the early courses is not consistently released This paper seeks to draw together the data that has found its way into the public domain in order to explore factors affecting enrolment and completion The average MOOC course is found to enroll around 43,000 students, 65% of whom complete the course Enrolment numbers are decreasing over time and are positively correlated with course length Completion rates are consistent across time, university rank, and total enrolment, but negatively correlated with course length This study provides a more detailed view of trends in enrolment and completion than was available previously, and a more accurate view of how the MOOC field is developing

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Initial trends in enrolment and completion of massive open online courses

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are classes delivered in an online environment with several features that are different from previous approaches to online education The effectiveness of MOOCs is an open question as completion rates are substantially less than traditional online education courses The objective of this study is to identify factors that enhance an individual' intention to continue using MOOCs, which a limited amount of research has previously explored A research model based on the information systems continuance expectation-confirmation model is proposed and tested with data collected in a large-scale study The research model explained a substantial percentage of the variance for the intention to continue using MOOCs, which is significantly influenced by perceived reputation, perceived openness, perceived usefulness, perceived, and user satisfaction Perceived reputation and perceived openness were the strongest predictors and have not previously been examined in the context of MOOCs This study explores what influences an individual's intention to continue using MOOCsThis study examines the role of openness and reputation in the context of MOOCsReputation and openness are the strongest predictors of continuance to use MOOCs

Understanding the MOOCs continuance

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have received wide publicity and many institutions have invested considerable effort in developing, promoting and delivering such courses. However, there are still many unresolved questions relating to MOOCs and their effectiveness. One of the major recurring issues raised in both academic literature and the popular press is the consistently high dropout rate of MOOC learners. Although many thousands of participants enrolled on these courses, the completion rate for most courses is below 13%. This paper investigates MOOC attrition from several different perspectives. Firstly, we review existing literature relating to MOOC dropout rates, bringing together existing findings on completion rates and analyses of specific courses which identify factors that correlate to likelihood of dropout. We provide a meta-analysis of the basic figures on overall dropout rates previously collected to identify relationships between course factors and dropout rates. In addition, the literature is reviewed from a qualitative perspective drawing together perspectives on reasons for dropout and methods suggested for resolving or reducing the dropout rate. Secondly, using themes emerging from the initial investigation, we provide a preliminary analysis of data gathered from a Computing MOOC run by the University of Warwick, UK and presented using a Moodle platform. Different aspects of students’ demographic data are examined to see if relationships to persistence exist. An important feature of this course is that it has been run in two different parallel modes (“traditional” MOOC mode with peer support, and “supported” mode with real time, tutored programming labs). This allows direct comparison between the dropout figures for the two different modes. Qualitative information from student evaluations is also considered. Finally, we discuss our findings relating MOOC dropout rates, considering what factors are within the control of a MOOC provider and suggesting the most promising avenues for improvement. Our results indicate that many participants who may be classed as dropouts (for example, because they do not complete the necessary components to gain a certificate) are still participating in the course in their own preferred way (either at a slower pace or with selective engagement). This suggests that the structure of “a course” may not be helpful to all participants and supporting different patterns of engagement and presentation of material may be beneficial.

Dropout rates of massive open online courses : behavioural patterns

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have recently experienced rapid development and garnered significant attention from various populations. Despite the wide recognition of MOOCs as an important opportunity within educational practices, there are still many questions as to how we might satisfy students' needs, as evidenced by very high dropout rates. Researchers lack a solid understanding of what student needs are being addressed by MOOCs, and how well MOOCs now address (or fail to address) these needs. To help in building such an understanding, we conducted in-depth interviews probing student motivations, learning perceptions and experiences towards MOOCs, paying special attention to the MOOC affordances and experiences that might lead to high drop rates. Our study identified learning motivations, learning patterns, and a number of factors that appear to influence student retention. We proposed that the issue of retention should be addressed from two perspectives: retention as a problem but also retention as an opportunity.

Understanding Student Motivation, Behaviors and Perceptions in MOOCs

This briefing paper provides the background to the current development of and future trends around OER aimed at adding to our understanding, stimulating ongoing debate among the JISC community and developing a research agenda. The briefing is structured in three sections: discussion on the conceptual and contextual issues of Open Educational Resources; a review of current OER initiatives; their scale, approaches, main issues and challenges; discussion on trends emerging in Open Educational Resources, with respect to future research and activities.

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Open Educational Resources - opportunities and challenges for higher education

Beyond MOOCs: Sustainable Online Learning in Institutions

Globalisation and increased competition nationally and internationally for students points towards the need for increasingly flexible learning routes, but these must also be sustainable and cost effective for institutions to deliver. Established models of higher education can be much more costly compared to those presented by open online courses. This paper discusses possible entrepreneurial initiatives in the context of open education and online learning that focus on three key areas emerging from MOOC experiments: openness; revenue models; and disaggregation of HE provision. A case study will be presented to demonstrate the development of new models around openness, collaboration, and innovation through international partnerships in an open learning ecosystem. The potential for entrepreneurship in developing open online courses and the challenges faced in a higher education context are discussed.

Partnership Model for Entrepreneurial Innovation in Open Online Learning

This article aims to show how Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can recognise and best respond to a disruptive innovation A disruptive innovation creates a new business model using a new process and usually a new technology to offer a product or service with new features and/or lower cost and initially addresses a group of people who are either unserved or overserved by existing offerings By contrast, a sustaining innovation may use the same technology, but enhance an existing business model To illustrate this, we set out two case studies that each implement the same innovative model of work-focussed learning differently: one in an autonomous sub-unit of an HEI, while the other sought to embed the same model in existing faculty activities in another HEI The theory of disruptive innovation (Bower and Christensen 1995) is set out and used to understand types of innovation, from sustaining to disruptive, and to identify the model of work-focussed learning as a disruptive innovation We then used this to analyse the subsequent trajectories and different outcomes of the two case studies Our aims then were (1) to show how disruptive innovation theory can be used to recognise different types of innovation and (2) to suggest the appropriate way to organisationally structure disruptive educational innovations as semi-autonomous enterprises We also note potential constraints that government policy may place on HEIs attempting to respond to disruptive innovations Keywords:  disruptive innovation; business model; online distance education; organisational change; higher education (Published: 24 July 2015) Citation:  Research in Learning Technology 2015,  23 : 22494 -  http://dxdoiorg/103402/rltv2322494

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Li Yuan

Papers

MOOCs and open education: Implications for higher education

Open Educational Resources - opportunities and challenges for higher education

Beyond MOOCs: Sustainable Online Learning in Institutions

Partnership Model for Entrepreneurial Innovation in Open Online Learning

Handling disruptive innovations in HE: lessons from two contrasting case studies