<p> Information technology is not new to academia. Numerous educators and research scholars studying the usefulness of digital technologies in the classroom seek to determine whether the underlying pedagogies effectively bridge the gap between quality of instruction, student engagement, and eventual acceptance of the technology tool in use. With the increase and sophistication in the delivery of online courses in colleges across the country, we now see the recent emergence of an online course structure called Massive Open Online Courses, MOOCs (Sandeen, 2014). MOOCs have intensified the interest and desire for students and universities to become engaged in educational opportunities by thinking of new and advanced systems for content delivery. The purpose of this study was (1) to explore student perceptions of the MOOC Virtual Learning Environment Scale or MVLE, characteristics including general systems, pedagogy, social presence, individual characteristics and satisfaction, (2) to examine the interrelationships between theorized MOOC virtual learning environment technology constructs, (3) to develop a conceptual model of the MVLE to create and validate a MOOC Virtual Learning scale, and (4) to understand administrator’s perceptions of the characteristics of MOOCs and their futuristic views of MOOCs. The major findings for this study are: (1) the MVLE model is an appropriate scale to measure MOOC design, implementation and evaluation, (2) the creation of a more “learner focused” approach to MOOCs that includes a definition of the MOOC learner is important to understanding MOOC course designs and their impact within a virtual learning environment, and (3) the characteristics of higher education leaders as it relates to MOOC development must be transformational with a shared vision among university stakeholders, staff, faculty, and the community that must be sustained through ongoing support both academically and financially.</p><p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10617545 |
| Date | 05 May 2018 |
| Creators | Bryant, Martha Guidry |
| Publisher | University of Louisiana at Lafayette |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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