MOOCs: An Enquiry of Variables and Effect Sizes

Abstract

The proliferation of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is widespread. Debates gyrating the issue have been rather polarizing, with one spectrum presaging it as the forefront of the 21st century education, and another one brushing it off as another hype of a contemporary marketing fad. Nonetheless, the extent of prospect exists in myriad of aspects and pathways, considering the large number of end users and institutions employing MOOCs as an alternative to the existing pedagogic modes. Scalability and open designs in MOOCs create tremendous potential for experimentation with online approach, enabling the expansion and access of higher education to all. Thus, this paper examines the most prevalent dependent variables measured in MOOCs, and the correlation of powerful combined effect sizes with the commissioning of the ascertained MOOCs. Eight samples were included based on their significance and established priori to probe on the in-depth of the treatment effect, in which the magnitude of effect size (ES) for the selected samples were tabulated according to the Cohen's d formula and benchmark (1988; 1992). Majority of the samples tested on the Performance variable (n = 27) as the highest frequency, followed by the Attitude (n = 11), Interaction (n=3) and lastly Satisfaction (n =1), predominantly measured with small effect size. By and large, the combined effect sizes for the eight samples suggest wide-ranging positive repercussions; however, limited to mediating and confounding variables. Thus, further inquiries are requisite to understand the overall functionality.