Abstract:

The current generation of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) attracts different participants from all over the world. MOOC are on track to become mainstream by 2025 [1]. These courses track and record a huge amount of data, opening up significant opportunities for educational research [2, 3].

One of the main issue in MOOC field is the need to understand how motivation to attend this kind of courses can change in relation to participants’ geographical origin and background [4]. Previous researches went deeper in the analysis of the variables affecting MOOCs attendance, including motivation. However, literature shows few understandings on how culture, study background and motivation can be combined [4].

Based on these premises, the aim of this paper is to highlight the relevance of considering both participants’ educational background and culture when studying motivation. Within our research, we adopt a definition of culture that doesn’t only refer to the learner’ country but include also languages and educational traditions [5].

Our contribution represents the first step of a wider research. The research started from the study of variables related to the ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction) model applied to MOOCs attendance. We used an adapted version of the IMMS (Instructional Materials Motivation Survey) to ponder motivation in attending Bocconi MOOCs [6]. Results of the survey show that most participants’ motivators medians were positive.

Then, the collected data permitted us to reflect on the importance of depicting cultural-based factors to be considered when studying motivation. In such regard, useful insights are given.

Next steps of the research will consist in a more complex analysis on if and how culture influences motivation to provide guidelines for MOOCs designers when trying to accommodate different population needs. The final aim of this process could be represented to the proposition of a set of different MOOC formats aligned with participant cultural dimensions.

References:
[1] R. Rhoads, “MOOCs, high technology, and higher learning,” Education Review, vol.23 2015
[2] L. Breslow, L., D.E. Pritchard, J.DeBoer, G.S. Stump, A.D. Ho, D.T. Seaton, “Studying learning in the worldwide classroom: Research into edX’s first MOOC,”Research & Practice in Assessment vol 8, pp. 13-25 2013.
[3] B.K. Pursel, L. Zhang, K.W. Jablokow, G.W. Choi, D. Velegol, “Understanding MOOC students: Motivations and behaviours indicative of MOOC completion,” Journal of Computer Assisted Learning vol. 32, no 3, pp. 202-2017 2016.
[4] Z. Liu, et al., MOOC Learner Behaviors by Country and Culture; an Exploratory Analysis 2016.
[5] P.Guo, P. J., Reinecke, K. “Demographic differences in how students navigate through MOOCs”. In Proceedings of the first ACM conference on Learning@ scale conference (pp. 21-30). ACM 2014.
[6] J.M. Keller, “Motivational Design for Learning and Performance: The ARCS model approach”. New York: Springer 2010.

Keywords:

Motivation, ARCS model, Instructional Materials Motivation Survey, culture.