Elsevier

Computers & Education

Volume 95, April 2016, Pages 340-351
Computers & Education

Can MOOCs be interesting to students? An experimental investigation from regulatory focus perspective

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.02.003Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Students with different regulatory focus evaluate MOOC differently.

  • Students have higher intention to learn from MOOC in match situations.

  • MOOCs are perceived as more helpful by students in match situations.

  • MOOCs are not be perceived as more enjoyable by students in match situations.

Abstract

This study examines how we can better encourage students to learn from a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), which is one of the most significant supplementary ways of learning (in-class learning being primary). Drawing on the regulatory focus theory, I propose that, to students with a different regulatory-focus (promotion-focus or prevention-focus), different types of advocates (promotion-oriented or prevention-oriented advocates) yield different levels of motivation in students engaged in MOOC learning. The experimental results suggest that proper matching—such that promotion-oriented advocates match with promotion-focused students, and prevention-oriented advocates match with prevention-focused students—significantly increases students' motivation to learn from an MOOC and their evaluation of the MOOC as helpful, but they typically do not yield positive evaluations from students regarding the enjoyment of MOOC learning. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Introduction

The rapid development of information technology brings new opportunities in the area of education; the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is one of the most important of these new opportunities (Deimann, 2015, Reich, 2015). A considerable number of accredited courses posted online provide richer resources for students to learn from than formerly. Many online courses are complementary to in-class courses. Accordingly, as a college teacher, I often encourage my students to learn from MOOCs. Some students in my class look to me to discuss the relevant content of these MOOCs, but my sample-selection survey suggests that large numbers of students have few incentives to learn online. Some researchers—such as Breslow et al. (2013) and Hew and Cheung (2014)—have reported findings that accord with my observations. I find that MOOCs offer students great benefits, so the question arises: How can we encourage students to learn from MOOCs? In addressing this, I try to work out how to arouse students' learning interests, and determine some specific methods to motivate students.

Informed by a recently developed theory—the regulatory focus theory—I understand that students have different types of motivations for obtaining knowledge. The theory was initially developed by Higgins, 1997, Higgins, 1998, Higgins, 2000; it suggests that students are dominated by either a promotion-learning orientation or a prevention-learning orientation, and different types of regulatory focus affect their learning. A promotion focus channels a student's accomplishments, hopes, and aspirations: the potential for a positive outcome dominates. A prevention focus channels a student's avoidance strategy, which is aimed at responsibility and safety: securing the absence of a negative outcome dominates. The regulatory focus theory is widely used and extended in various disciplines, such as consumer research (Keller, 2006, Pham and Chang, 2010), information systems (Arazy and Gellatly, 2012, Liang et al., 2013), experimental economics (Florack et al., 2013, Halamish et al., 2008), marketing (Aaker and Lee, 2006, Haws et al., 2010), and organizational science (Johnson and Yang, 2010, Peng, 2014). However, to the best of my knowledge, research into how this theory can be applied and extended in the area of education has been largely neglected.

Drawing on the regulatory focus theory, I posit that students with a promotion focus would respond positively to stimuli encouraging them to learn from MOOCs by advocating the gain of positive outcomes, while students with a prevention focus would be more likely to be persuaded by advocates who emphasize the avoidance of negative outcomes. I used experimental techniques to test these propositions. In the experiment, 153 college students ranging from freshman to senior students were included, where their average age is 21.08. The findings of this study offer the following theoretical contributions. First, a limited number of previous studies have investigated the influence of MOOC technology (Alraimi et al., 2015, Hew and Cheung, 2014, Margaryan et al., 2015). How to better encourage students to learn from MOOCs is still unknown. The present study examines this issue from a new perspective, thus extending current knowledge in this area. Second, although the regulatory focus theory is one of the most significant theories in helping researchers to comprehend people's behavior (Gamache et al., 2015, Malaviya and Brendl, 2014, Sacramento et al., 2013), few educational scholars pay attention to this theory or use it to investigate teachers' and students' behavior. This study reveals interesting findings regarding how we can better encourage students to learn from MOOCs, thus extending understanding in the educational arena. Third, the results reveal interesting findings regarding ways of encouraging students to learn from MOOCs. Based upon my own teaching experience, the findings of this study extend current knowledge regarding how to treat students differently, according to their different regulatory foci. Justin Reich has argued that “In the years since MOOCs first attracted widespread attention, new lines of research have begun, but findings from these efforts have had few implications for teaching and learning” (page 1 of Reich (2015)); now, however, the findings of this paper provide rich practical guidelines for teachers.

Section snippets

MOOCs

MOOCs are a new form of learning platform that utilize modern technology. As a new phenomenon, an MOOC is diversely defined. The European Commission1 defines an MOOC as “an online course open to anyone without restrictions (free of charge

Research methodology

In order to examine how students' regulatory foci affect their attitudes to MOOC learning, I used an experiment to test the hypotheses. There were two main parts to this experiment. The first part concentrated on examining the students' regulatory foci; the second part explored the students' responses to, and evaluations of, their MOOC learning experiences. These parts were conducted in two different time periods (Week 1 and Week 2) in order to avoid students' speculation regarding the

Discussion

This study reveals interesting findings. As hypothesized, students typically express their readiness to learn from an MOOC when its advocates match with their regulatory foci. Specifically, when a student is promotion-focused, the advocates who stress the gains of a positive outcome are more persuasive to them; when a student is prevention-focused, the prevention-oriented advocates who emphasize the avoidance of losses are more persuasive. Both the helpfulness and enjoyment of learning from an

Conclusions

Motivated by my own experience in teaching, this study focuses on exploring how we can better encourage students to learn from MOOC to realize the great value of MOOC. Drawing on the regulatory focus theory, I realize that students can be different in nature of either promotion-focus or prevention-focus, and such different focus would lead to students' different behaviors. Through the conduction of this work, the results not only provide a series of theoretical contributions, but offer some

Dr. Jie Zhang is currently an assistant professor at Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics. She has received her two PhDs from City University of Hong Kong and University of Science and Technology of China. Her research interests include student learning, electronic commerce, consumer behavior as well as supply chain management. She has published research works at Omega-International Journal of Management Sciences, Journal of Strategic Marketing, among others.

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  • Cited by (0)

    Dr. Jie Zhang is currently an assistant professor at Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics. She has received her two PhDs from City University of Hong Kong and University of Science and Technology of China. Her research interests include student learning, electronic commerce, consumer behavior as well as supply chain management. She has published research works at Omega-International Journal of Management Sciences, Journal of Strategic Marketing, among others.

    This paper was fully supported by a grant from the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Project No: 71401152). Jie Zhang is the corresponding author of this paper.

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