International Journal of Education and Development using ICT

International Journal of Education and Development using ICT > Vol. 18, No. 1 (2022)

Student perceptions influencing MOOC enrolment in Higher Education Institutions: An IQA perspective

Rahul R Lexman, Doctoral Research Scholar, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of
Rupashree Baral, Associate Professor, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Techn

Abstract
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been viewed as a game changer in the evolving ecosystem of the online learning environment. Despite MOOCs being heralded as an educational paradigm in the higher education landscape, scarcity of academic research capturing the mental map of student perceptions to identify the drivers and outcomes influencing MOOC enrolment has not been extensively studied. To address this gap in the literature, the current study adopted Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA) to extract a composite mental model of student perceptions influencing MOOC enrolment. Following the IQA protocol, our study conducted focus group discussions (FGD) to identify affinities and their relationships, and semi-structured interviews to methodically code their experiences while exploring the affinities, using student samples from a Business school in India. Findings of our study indicated that, while students perceived ‘Self Interest’ and ‘Institutional requirement’ as the primary drivers for enrolling in MOOCs, ‘Employability’ and ‘Result Demonstrability’ emerged as the primary outcomes. Understanding learner perspectives could encourage both academics and course designers to make necessary pedagogical affordances to MOOCs to support learner engagement and retention in the future.

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