Perceptions of Faculty and Instructional Designers on Multicultural Learners' Needs in Massive Open Online Courses

• In Event: 41.068 - Massive Open Online Courses, Flipped Classrooms, and Learner Support

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe how faculty and instructional designers responded to multicultural learners’ needs during the design and delivery of MOOC courses. Participants were fifteen instructors and instructional designers in American higher educational institutions who were involved in designing and delivering MOOC courses on the Coursera platform. Instructional strategies used to address multicultural learners' needs varied and were categorized into three themes: language, content and engagement. The study also investigated the pedagogical challenges and concerns that the faculty and instructional designers faced when designing and delivering the MOOCs. Recommendations for further research include replicating the study on different MOOC platform(s) besides Coursera and diversifying the data collection methodology beyond interviews.

Authors

• Trang Phan, California State University, Fresno

• Sara G. Mcneil, University of Houston

• Bernard R. Robin, University of Houston