Ask the instructors: Motivations and challenges of teaching massive open online courses

Saijing Zheng, Pamela Wisniewski, Mary Beth Rosson, John M. Carroll

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

52 Scopus citations

Abstract

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have experienced rapid growth and attracted significant attention within academia. However, despite widespread acceptance of MOOCs as a unique opportunity to transform educational practices, many questions remain regarding their sustainability, given the high dropout rates and challenges related to collaborative learning support [12]. Recent research has attempted to address these concerns by analyzing students' MOOC experiences and how MOOCs may fall short in meeting students' learning needs [41]. However, very little research has approached the problem from an instructor perspective. We report an interview study of 14 MOOC instructors in which we used grounded theory to uncover the complex processes, motivations, and challenges associated with teaching a MOOC. A key finding is that we should provide support through the whole instruction process. By enhancing support for instructors and their MOOC collaborators, we may improve outcomes for all MOOC stakeholders, including students.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW 2016
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages206-221
Number of pages16
ISBN (Electronic)9781450335928
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 27 2016
Event19th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW 2016 - San Francisco, United States
Duration: Feb 27 2016Mar 2 2016

Publication series

NameProceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW
Volume27

Other

Other19th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Francisco
Period2/27/163/2/16

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Software
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Networks and Communications

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