The Open SUNY Center for Online Teaching Excellence April 29, 2015 • Volume 3 • Issue 3

I would like to share what I know about beliefs, motivation, intent, and achievement in a MOOCStudents in a traditional academic setting may be motivated by a desire to achieve a certain GPA to get a job or enter university or the fact they are paying for a course. What happens when the course is free and the outcome is not connected to earning a degree? The CornellX research project aims to help us better understand what motivates a student to enroll in a MOOC, what learner intentions are in a MOOC, what the connections are between motivation, intent and course design in a MOOC, and how we define motivation and success in a MOOC. Our research questions include:

• What makes a highly motivated MOOC student?

• How does the course design, content and community impact student motivation?

• Is a successful MOOC student already self-motivated or do the content and design of the course enable the student to be self-motivated?

• Where is this motivation coming from?

• How do the intentions of the student interact with motivation?

• Are students intrinsically motivated based on years of experience in a traditional academic setting that places importance on a grade over simply learning content?

• How might the experience of our students been different had there been no certificate, or graded homework questions?

• Is there a relationship between a student’s epistemological beliefs, motivation, intent and achievement of goals in the MOOC?

• Is there an “underground” community where students boast of how many certificates they’ve earned?

• Is achieving a certificate from an Ivy or top ranked university akin to earning a degree from one of those schools?

• What will the impact of posting certificates on LinkedIn have on motivation?

What is itCornellX has launched seven MOOCs on the edX platform and will begin design and development of four more Spring 2014. The project focused on several questions:

• How do different aspects of a student’s motivation for enrolling in a MOOC correlate with their learning?

• What can we know about the impact of course design on a student’s intent upon enrolling in the course?

• Can course design motivate a student to do more than they intend to do?

• Can course design result in a student doing less than they intend to do?

• What types of interventions can we develop to motivate women to enroll in STEM MOOCs?

COTE NOTE

What I know about Learner Participation in MOOCs

Patrice Torcivia PruskoPatrice Torcivia Prusko is currently an Instructional Designer at Cornell University where she partners with faculty to

create activities and content that build community and engagement in online courses, namely SPOCs and MOOCs. She also conducts research to inform effective practices that lead to meaningful international experiences, and research on the STEM MOOC gender gap. Patrice was co-PI for the SUNY Innovative Instructional Technology grant projects: Virtual Study Abroad: Using Meeting and Mobile Tools to Promote Student Engagement & International Interaction and Cross-Cultural Experiential Learning Toolkit. She’s frequently invited to speak about her experiences teaching in blended learning environments in Latin America, designing and producing MOOCs, and using MOOCs to engage women in STEM.

Patrice holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering, a MBA from Union College and a Ph.D. from University at Albany in Educational Theory. Prior to coming to Cornell, Patrice was an instructor in the SUNY Empire State College International Programs. She taught online and blended courses in Panama, Santo Domingo, Lebanon, Prague and Turkey.

The Center for Online Teaching Excellence

“We need to examine how we define success and why we

create MOOCs.”

The Open SUNY Center for Online Teaching Excellence

COTE NOTE

Staff The COTE Community Team: Alexandra M. Pickett, Associate Director, Open SUNY; Martie Dixon, Assistant Academic Dean, Distance Learning & Alternate Programs, Erie Community College; Patricia Aceves, Director of the Faculty Center in Teaching, Learning & Technology, Stony Brook University; Lisa Dubuc, Coordinator of Electronic Learning, Niagara County Community College; Christine Kroll, Assistant Dean for Online Education, Graduate School of Education, University at Buffalo; Deborah Spiro, Assistant Vice President for Distance Education, Nassau Community College; Vicky Sloan, Distance Learning Coordinator, Clinton Community College; Erin Maney, Senior Instructional Designer, Open SUNY; Lisa Raposo, Assistant Director, SUNY Center for Professional Development

This publication is produced by the Open SUNY Center for Online Teaching Excellence under the SUNY Office of the Provost.

Contact/Questions State University PlazaAlbany, New York 12246

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April 29, 2015 • Volume 3 • Issue 3

How it worksAs a result of the MOOCs launched through CornellX, data has been collected related to demographics, completion and interaction with content. Major questions focus on what motivates a learner who intends on learning some portion of the course content and/or completing the course to enroll, what may cause this learner not to attain their learning goals and whether course design makes a difference.

The different types of learners, such as grazers, strivers, lurkers, completers, potentially have different motivations for enrolling in a MOOC. We need to examine how we define success and why we create MOOCs. Further efforts will focus on learning more about who our learners are, what impact course design has on their learning experience and what motivates different learners to enroll in different courses.

What I didUsing the data collected, we’ve focused on ways to make the content engaging and interactive as well as how to use social media to create community. Some example activities include:

• “Easter” egg hunt in video and social media in American Capitalism.

• Circuit design tool in The Computing Technology Inside Your Smartphone.

• Call to action to in Civic Ecology and use of Facebook.

• Storify as tools for reflection on experience creating “green” spaces.

How I did itWhile our research is currently still in process, our preliminary results have been able to inform course design, the types of MOOCs we create, and ways to increase supports and overcome barriers to the use of MOOCs as a tool to increase accessibility to education.

Why I did itThere is a significant amount of time, money and effort being spent on MOOCs. A large part of the research and discussion has been based upon “traditional” definitions of success, such as completion and persistence. We need to gain a better understanding of why learners enroll in MOOCs, what their interest and goals are, and in what ways MOOCs can be used to increase global access to education. We need to identify the needed supports and barriers, especially for women with respect to enrolling in MOOCs and using them to attain educational and career goals.

What happened when I did itWe are beginning to understand more about why learners enroll in MOOCs and what motivates them. Since our courses are currently in process, detailed results will be forthcoming.

What I learnedWe have learned several things from this project so far:

• MOOCs are an idea, not a thing.

• We need to articulate our goals for why we are creating MOOCs.

• Learners who enroll and are active in MOOCs are self-motivated.

The Open SUNY Center for Online Teaching Excellence

COTE NOTE

April 29, 2015 • Volume 3 • Issue 3

• Learners are looking for others with similar interests and to be able to network.

• Learners are enrolling in MOOCs for academic and career reasons.

• STEM MOOCs continue to be about 20-25% female and 25% from US/25% from India.

• Humanities MOOCs and other non-STEM tend to have higher numbers of female students.

A MOOC lacks some of the traditional forms of extrinsic motivation:

• Earning a degree to get a job or go on to graduate school.

• A financial investment in the cost of tuition.

• Having a withdrawal or bad grade appear on your transcript.

A MOOC does provide:

• A social learning experience.

• A cross-cultural experience.

• The opportunity to form a personal learning network.

We were surprised with the importance students placed on grades and earning a certificate. The students consistently spoke of the importance of their grade and the rigor of the course as something that was important to them. A challenge we faced was designing a course to meet the needs of students with a wide range of intentions: certificate seekers, auditors, and those who are justcurious.

How others can use itOur project can help inform data analysis, processes, design and research for others hoping to design effective MOOCs to motivate learners.