In November 2013 and March 2014 the University of Leicester launched two 6-week Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on the FutureLearn virtual learning environment: “England in the time of Richard III” and “Forensic science and criminal justice”. This is the presentation of the report on the experience of delivering and evaluating these courses. Data sources included learning analytics and pre-course and post-course surveys. Over 22,000 people enrolled in the MOOCs. While participation tended to drop as the weeks progressed, learners’ feedback was generally positive. Students described the courses as interesting, enjoyable and informative. Results also highlight an increased openness towards online education, the role of MOOCs as a lifelong learning option, the use of MOOCs as an introduction to the topic and degree programmes, and the potential of MOOCs as part of a student recruitment strategy. This paper was presented at Global Learn Berlin (April 16-17, 2015).

1. Evaluation of Massive Open Online
Courses (MOOCs): A Case Study
Brenda Cecilia Padilla Rodríguez
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
Terese Bird
University of Leicester
Gráinne Conole
University of Bath Spa
Global Learn, Berlin April 17, 2015

2. Massive Open Online Courses
The technological infrastructure has the potential to support large-scale
use (Steward, 2013).
Delivery is via the Internet.
Any person in the world with Internet access can participate free of
charge, without having to meet any strict pre-requisites of
knowledge or demographics (Anderson, 2013).
MOOCs are coherent academic interventions with a defined set of
learning outcomes (Youell, 2011), and (usually) start and end dates.
M
O
O
C

3. MOOCs by the University of Leicester
Forensic Science and
Criminal Justice
12,511
England in the time of
Richard III
10,066
Designed at
“entry level”
25 November 2013 31 March 2014

4. MOOCs by the University of Leicester
6 weeks 2 study hours
18 pages of
materials
Text, audio,
images, videos,
animations
Discussions,
quizzes
Weekly emails
Twitter:
#FLRichardIII
#FLForensicsLeic
Twitter chat
(Forensic Science)

5. MOOCs by the University of Leicester

6. Data Sources
• Learning analytics
• Surveys
o 1 pre-course – demographic profile of participants
 Richard III : 22.8% (n=2,285)
 Forensic Science: 6.5% (n=813)
o 2 post-course
 Standard FutureLearn instrument (RIII: 8.3%, n=833; FS:
9.3%, n=1159)
 Designed by the University of Leicester (RIII: n=391, FS:
n=140)

7. Participants
• Female (70%, 76%)
• Over 45 years old (77%,
54%)
• Mostly from the UK
(76%, 77%)
• University studies

8. Participation in the MOOCs
Forensic Science and Criminal JusticeEngland in the time of Richard III
Reasons to drop out:
Not enough time, losing interest or motivation and
failing to keep up as the course progressed

9. Participation in the MOOCs
Discussions occurred naturally, always!
Over 7,000 comments –
35%, 41% of them unsolicited!
8-9 comments per learner
Conversations via Twitter
Facebook groups

10. Learners’ Feedback
• Main reasons to enroll in the courses:
o to learn new things (85-88%)
o to try out FutureLearn or MOOCs in general (34-53%)
o to try out learning online (33-46%)
• Favourite aspect: learning about the topic
• Level of the course:
o Richard III: about right (69%), basic (30%)
o Forensic Science: about right (77%), basic (19%)
• Preferred activities: interacting with content (reading
articles, watching videos, following links to other
related materials and doing quizzes)

11. Learners’ Feedback
 Structure: clear (97-99%)
 Educators: engaging (90-91%)
 Amount of time required: about right (85-86%)
 Overall experience: satisfying (88-91%)
 Expectations: met (49-55%) or exceeded (37-42%)
 Optional comments: positive (69-82% of total comments)

12. Learners’ Feedback
• “…not knowing if someone had liked or commented on your
posts made it difficult to strike up a dialogue which I would
have liked.“
• “…far too many comments to make it sensible and the
comments rarely seemed to [match] ones I shared or felt
relevant to what I was wanting”

13. Highlights
• Openness towards online education
• MOOCs as lifelong learning
“I really enjoyed this course. I took this course because I
recently retired and had some spare time on my hands. I am
not trying to further my career prospects or my academic
prospects. My memory is not good at the best of times, and I
take these courses to keep the little grey cells working.”

14. Highlights
• MOOCs as an introduction to the topic and degree
programmes
o “This course was very useful as it showed I could go 'back
to school' and learn something that I was interested in”.
o “Definitely worth looking at a free (rather large) bite size
chunk of what the studies involve so that you can
determine whether or not you would like to take this
further as a study option.”
• MOOCs as part of a student recruitment strategy