Abstract
Having a deep comprehension of the learner population in any course environment has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the course and its design. In a MOOC environment, it has greater importance because the learner population is extremely diverse in terms of their background, knowledge, skills and experiences. Individual learning characteristics such as autonomous learning skills are important to be better understood in order to be able to create more effective designs. Most of the studies in MOOC environments focusing on autonomous learning characteristics embrace the concept of self-regulated learning. However, the concept of self-directed learning, which allows more autonomy for the learners, seems to fit the MOOC better. This study aims at understanding the readiness for self-directed learning of the learner community of an Italian language MOOC. We intended to examine how self-directed learning readiness relates to age, gender and educational background. Our preliminary results show that there is no significant correlation between gender or qualification and self-directed learning readiness; however, surprisingly, we did find a significant correlation between age and self-directed learning readiness. We concluded that the elder population tends to have higher selfdirected learning readiness. Our study means a significant contribution to the MOOC research field inasmuch it addresses the today highly debated question if learners are prepared enough to learn in a MOOC. This study is part of larger research project which final objective is to characterise language MOOC learners based on the pedagogy-andragogy-heutagogy continuum.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1-7 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | CEUR Workshop Proceedings |
Volume | 2356 |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Externally published | Yes |
Event | 2019 Work in Progress Papers of the Research, Experience and Business Tracks at EMOOCs, EMOOCs-WIP 2019 - Naples, Italy Duration: 20 May 2019 → 22 May 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2019 CEUR-WS. All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Heutagogy
- Learner Population
- Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS)