Instructional quality of massive open online courses: a review of attitudinal change MOOCs

Abstract

This study builds on prior research regarding attitudinal learning MOOCs, and a study examining the quality of MOOCs based on adherence to the first principles of instruction. Nine MOOCs designed for attitudinal instruction were reviewed to rate the degree they incorporated first principles of instruction and first principles of attitudinal instruction. The study found that while none of the MOOCs incorporated all of the first principles, overall, they incorporated the first principles of instruction more consistently than in the prior study. The review also showed that all of the courses did incorporate the attitudinal instruction first principles to some degree. This study provides researchers an approach to evaluating the instructional design quality of attitudinal instruction in general and MOOCs designed for attitudinal learning specifically, while also guiding practitioners in understanding how others have approached the design of attitudinal learning MOOCs.