A new study explores the motivations of learners participating in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and how these motivations relate to their professional development.
The paper titled “Self-directed learning in massive open online courses and its application at the workplace: Does employer support matter?” by Hamori, M. (2023) found that the majority of motivations were centered around the learning potential offered by the courses. Some participants were interested in the course content but did not articulate a need to learn, indicating that they viewed learning as a pastime. Others were motivated by the learning opportunities provided by the MOOC but did not relate their learning to any wider goal.
A significant portion of participants made an explicit link between the course content and their current role, using MOOCs as a mechanism to improve their current work practice. Another group of participants saw the courses as helping to prepare for a future career move.
The study also found that the distribution of motivations differed between courses, with relevance to their current role being most important for those studying certain courses and learning opportunities provided by the course perceived as most important for most participants of other courses.
When comparing students and professionals, the study found that students were more likely to cite benefits to future careers as their primary motivation, while professionals were primarily motivated by the relevance to their current role.
The study concludes that MOOCs represent a popular mechanism for addressing both current and anticipated learning needs for professionals and those about to embark on their careers. However, it also suggests that further research is needed to determine what other professional development opportunities were available to these learners, why they chose to fulfill their learning needs with MOOCs, and whether MOOC study was effective in fulfilling their needs.
You can access the full paper here.
