UNDERSTANDING CULTURAL DETERMINANTS OF MOOCs OFFERING: A CROSS-COUNTRY STUDY

Abstract

Massive Open Online Courses, also known as MOOCs, figure as the main trend in the international educational market in recent years, characterized by the offer of free, open access and global courses. Although many current studies address issues like design, quality and acceptance of these courses, little attention has been given regarding cultural aspects that could influence this global open learning movement. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate cultural determinants of MOOCs offering, through a crosscountry analysis. To this end, four cultural factors proposed by Hofstede were considered. Through the multivariate regression analysis, we evaluated the relation between these factors and the number of MOOCs offered in each country. The results show that Individualism presents a significant and positive effect on MOOCs offering. Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance and Masculinity dimensions of culture do not present significant effect on MOOCs offering. This means that although individuals from countries with higher rates of Masculinity and lower levels of Uncertainty Avoidance and Power Distance are more likely to attend online courses, universities in these countries are not necessarily the ones offering more MOOCs. The results of the study may be useful to support the implementation of strategies for the diffusion and internationalization of MOOCs.

Service quality assessment in a Greek teacher training program: a cultural perspective

“…Finally, regarding the dimension of orientation toward Feminine/Masculine values, Tsiligiris et al (2021), following the findings of Kueh and Ho Voon (2007), did not include it in their research, stating that it is not statistically significantly related to students' expectations for the quality of educational services. On the contrary, Malaquias and Da Silva (2020) included in their research the dimension of Masculinity as a determining factor for the participation of students in online educational programs without, however, reaching a statistically significant correlation.…”