Students’ Perception Towards Learning Massive Open Online Courses on Coursera Platform: Benefits and Barriers

Abstract

The advent of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has opened up new possibilities for students to access high-quality educational content worldwide faster and easier. Among these online learning platforms, Coursera is the most popular MOOC provider, with over a thousand courses in various fields of study. This study investigated the perception of students towards learning MOOCs on the Coursera platform, examining the benefits and barriers that influence their engagement in this mode of learning. The data were collected from a private university in Vietnam via online surveys with 200 MOOCS participants using a 7-point Likert scale questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with 30 participants. The findings indicated positive opinions of university students on the Coursera platform, including access to diverse topics, high-quality learning materials, a high level of academic support, flexible learning, and the ability to learn at their own pace. The findings revealed a number of benefits of learning Coursera MOOCs, such as earning high-quality certifications, improving knowledge and skills, enhancing personal development, and having chances for higher education and career advancement. In addition, the study identified some barriers to their learning, for example, a lack of interaction with instructors, an overload of information, a lack of motivation and concentration, and difficulties with study language and time management.