The effectiveness of MOOCs through users\' experience.

Abstract

MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) is an emergent technology in education, a natural evolution of e-learning and it shows a disruptive way to learn. Although, many studies have focused on e-learning evolution, they ignore particularities of massive courses, which include the connectivity, evaluation process, virtual communities, economic and cultural impacts and other characteristics. This study sought to investigate the determinants of satisfaction and continuance of use in MOOC courses from the perspective of students. Through an online survey, 890 users of the most popular MOOC platforms made a self-evaluation of the performance and adherence to tools available in the courses. To generate a theoretical model, it is used a bibliometric and systematic review with meta-analysis, as well as methods of measurement scales, including Item Response Theory, random forest, common method variance and factorial analysis. The model was validated through the structural equation modeling. Among the main results, it is highlighted that the quality, usability and value impact on the performance of the users in the courses. In addition to performance, using interactivity and collaborative learning resources generates greater adherence of users to the teaching format of MOOCs. Both performance and adherence to MOOCs generate more satisfaction and a consequent desire to continue completing the courses on the teaching platforms. In addition, user engagement is crucial to generating satisfaction. The study contributes to the advancement and maturation of research on the theme, mainly at the empirical level and converging to the movement of MOOCs as a business model headed by universities. In the methodological field, the study contributes with the literature of quantitative methods for exploring emerging methods at measurement scales and complementing traditional methods. The originality of the study is based on the application of the particularities of the MOOCs in a context of continuance intention, in the exploitation of the studies on e-learning, in the evaluation of variables as payment and in the moderating effect of the engagement.