Participants’ perceptions of a MOOC

Abstract

There is currently limited information available on participants’ perceptions of massive open online courses (MOOCs). This article presents the findings of a study at the University of Edinburgh examining the perceptions of a group of participants registered on a MOOC in equine nutrition, which ran for a period of five weeks and attracted 24,000 students to register. A self-completion survey was designed with a series of Likert scale questions, organized to gather students’ perceptions of participating in the MOOC. Participants on this course rated the learning materials and overall MOOC experience very highly; however, further work is required to elucidate why a much lower percentage of participants held the interactions in less regard.