The Main Problems in the Design and Management of MOOCs

Abstract

Abstract. Despite the global scale, the wide range of courses and the high number of enrollments, some challenges have been emerging for the universe of the MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), especially those related to project and management aspects. This article aims to identify the main problems faced by the managers of the MOOCs. Hence, an exploratory study was carried out through the analysis of existing publications in academic databases. The results show that after the survey it was possible to identify and analyze six problems, the main one of which was the very low completion rate of this type of course.

The Platform of Mooc (Massive Open Online Course) on Open Learning: Issues and Challenges

“…As a result, the paper that relevant to review regarding issues and challenges of MOOC has been analyse. The MOOCs, as already said, have a huge potential to provide free education on a global scale, with the opportunity of democratizing access to higher education of good quality (Bezerra & da Silva 2015). Although MOOC considered as new technology, especially in an e -learning environment, there are various challenges that MOOC community is coming across.…”

“…How can MOOCs managers declare quality learning in their courses, if students are failing to complete the same? The MOOCs should follow the same quality principles applied in traditional courses because, to a great extent, they derive from undergraduate disciplines, being produced by the same faculty, with the same material, however, adapted to the new environment (Bezerra & da Silva 2015). According to Bezerra and da Silva (2015) offering or participating in a MOOC has benefits to each party, however, concerns are arising on the real value behind MOOCs and the consequences of it.…”

“…The MOOCs should follow the same quality principles applied in traditional courses because, to a great extent, they derive from undergraduate disciplines, being produced by the same faculty, with the same material, however, adapted to the new environment (Bezerra & da Silva 2015). According to Bezerra and da Silva (2015) offering or participating in a MOOC has benefits to each party, however, concerns are arising on the real value behind MOOCs and the consequences of it. It is mainly because there are higher dropouts in MOOC, which means only 7-13% of pass rate or sometimes less than that complete the courses (Gamage et al 2015).…”

“…Same as MOOC, a fundamental aspect and a great challenge for MOOCs is to ensure that the works are original and valid. To do so, a system to prevent and detect plagiarism of the activities generated by the students is necessary (Bezerra and da Silva 2015). Still, according to the same authors, the platform coursers studies to deploy a software for detecting plagiarism, just as Udacity and Edx which formed a partnership with Pearson VUE, a test centre provider, to validate the tests in supervised form.…”

Using psychophysiological measures to assess learners’ cognitive and affective states in a theory-based gamified MOOC

“…Based on the relevant literature, MOOCs have to deal with several challenges regarding their design and management (Bezerra & da Silva, 2015). The main issues that are mentioned in the research studies concern their business model, their pedagogical model, the high dropout rates, certification and quality issues.…”