Online learning platforms and their roles in influencing pass rate in rural communities of South Africa: Massive Open Online Courses(MOOCs)

Abstract

Online learning is largely becoming an integral part of the modern teaching methods and it continues to gain its popularity due to the availability of free and open-source resources that make learning and teaching much more interactive than ever before. This paper presents findings obtained when conducting the effects of the use of MOOCs in fostering learning and teaching strategies in rural communities of South Africa. The survey research design of descriptive nature was adopted to evaluate the awareness and usage of Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs) in Alice community, Eastern Cape, South Africa. This study also employed a quantitative approach by using a self-structured questionnaire to evoke information from the respondents. We used the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to analyze the data collected. The study revealed, amongst others, the efficacy of MOOCs in fostering teaching and learning in marginalized rural areas. This study concludes that MOOCs is a veritable medium for busy or less privileged individual to acquire a degree or certification. Therefore, the study recommends MOOCs platform to be fully embraced by people in marginalized rural areas, awareness programs about its usefulness should be propagated across the municipalities nationwide.