An Empirical Study of Faculty Perceptions of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

Abstract

This paper aims to understand the views and perceptions of college teachers on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Teachers who are one of the major education stakeholders have their own set of experiences and perspectives regarding MOOCs. Their involvement in MOOCs phenomena could be two-fold; the first being a learner for individual and professional development and the second as the instructor in the MOOC programme. Hence this study seeks to understand their approach to looking at e-learning. This empirical study has surveyed the teachers about their perceptions of MOOCs. A structured web questionnaire was prepared to collect the data from the participants. Snowball sampling was used to collect feedback from the respondents. The questionnaire was circulated widely, and eighty-seven (87) teachers from the Degree colleges in Mumbai responded to it. The study finds that college teachers are aware of the MOOCs concept and opt for MOOCs for personal and professional growth. Very few of them are playing their role as instructors and recommending MOOCs to their students. However, the completion rate of the teachers is meagre. Hence institutions could take positive steps in this regard. They are spreading the word of awareness about e-learning through workshops, seminars etc. Nevertheless, they lack concrete policies in that direction. MOOCs is a recent phenomenon in education that has gained wide popularity worldwide. Despite its low awareness and high dropout rate, young learners are attracted to it. This study would help the institutional policymakers for MOOCs that can create a favourable environment for e-learning to flourish as an essential tool for learning in the 21st century.