In recent years there has been considerable interest in how many learners complete MOOCs, and what factors during usage can predict completion. Others, however, have argued that many learners never intend to complete MOOCs, and take MOOCs for other reasons. There has been qualitative research into why learners take MOOCs, but the link between…

Research has shown the importance of goal orientation in predicting academic performance for children, adolescents, and college students in traditional educational settings. Studies on this relationship within adult distance education, however, are lacking. To fill this gap, the present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between…

Open Educational Resources (OER) are gaining acceptance as legitimate and effective teaching materials in higher education, particularly in 2-year institutions. Despite the steady growth in the availability and use of OER, there have been relatively few studies on the efficacy of OER and student achievement. This study analyzed the effect…

The purpose of this study was to verify a Chinese version of Community of Inquiry (CoI) instrument with learning presence and explore the causal relationships of the factors in the instrument. This study first examined the reliability and validity of the instrument. All four presences had acceptable levels of reliability (all Cronbach's a >…

Transactional distance (TD), the perception of psychological distance between the student and his peers, his instructor/teacher, and the learning content, has long been a prominent construct in research on distance education. Today, distance education primarily takes place over the internet, with technology mediating engagement and communication.…

Few practice-oriented courses are currently integrated into online learning platforms, such as OpenCourseWare, Khan Academy, and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). It is worthwhile to explore how learners respond to information technology and new teaching methods when practice-oriented course are placed online. Therefore, this study probes…

The paper is a study about the MOOC experience at the Spanish National University of Distance Education (UNED), where we have collected initial and final information about learners' profiles and opinions, as well as enrolment, completion and certification rates. It is a survey-based study covering 17 MOOCs offered in UNED's own platform, and…

There is a substantial increase in the use of learning management systems (LMSs) to support teaching and learning activities in higher education institutions. Despite their benefits, student's use them to a limited extend due to a number of factors influencing behaviors. This study executed a three-tier use model to examine the predictors of…