Guidelines for the Design of Culturally Flexible MOOC Platforms: A Comparison of Korean and non-Korean Learner Preferences

Abstract

Distance learning has gone through continuous evolutions, offering learners new and refined contents to enhance their learning experiences. In this perspective, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) can be seen as one of the newest and logical evolutions in distance learning. MOOC platforms mainly provide barrier-free access and equal opportunities of participation in learning. In addition, they can synchronously reach a wider range of learners in global terms. In addition, global online learning resources such as MOOCs can deliver a common feeling of learning experience to users as they can synchronously deliver identical learning contents to more learners. Learning experiences in this sense have become similar in many perspectives, but not quite identical. This is because the way people perceive a certain situation or experience and react to it are still expected to vary according to their way of thinking. This can also be related to the issue of cultural flexibility, an issue in learning even before the emergence of MOOCs or online learning.

The main objective of this study was to identify strengths and weaknesses of MOOC platforms from a cultural perspective, primarily by observing how MOOC platforms satisfy a wider spectrum of learners with different cultural cognitive systems and preferences in learning. Cultural flexibility was the central topic of the research, as the ultimate objective of the study is to identify how global learning resources can enhance their flexibility and provide optimal learner experience to users with different needs that come from their cultural contexts. To this aim, the study was conducted as a case study, which aimed to observe how learners from different cultural groups would respond to a given learning environment. This was observed in two facets - the interface of the MOOC platform and the instructional content of the selected course.

The study was conducted according to the following process: first, an integrated literature review was conducted in order to understand the foundational theories of MOOC-based learning. Then, a usability test on a specific MOOC platform was conducted among Korean users. The users were engaged in the actual learning activities. The usability tests were formative in nature, allowing users to freely express their evaluation on the platform. Afterwards, the interviews were thematically analysed, organised into five main topics which served as the central theme of the design guideline. Based on the thematic analysis, the following themes have been drawn out: first, Korean users felt that the observed MOOC platform was visually simple to comprehend even without prior understanding, but the way the platform classified and presented information about courses was rather confusing. Second, users felt that they did not receive enough information about the course, and felt that more detailed information was needed. Third, users commonly felt that establishing a sense of connected and presence of the instructor was important in order for them to be emerged in learning. Fourth, users still felt the primary objective of online learning was to gain new information and incorporate them in their body of knowledge, which meant they saw the interaction in MOOC platforms as less important.

This study holds significance as it raises the issue and importance of cultural flexibility within the newly developing learning environment where cultural diversity may lead to different needs of learners. From the perspective of the instructional designer, a more flexible approach is needed which can better match a wider range of needs. Although the findings of this study cannot be generalised as this study was conducted in the form of a case study, the findings raise the need to conduct learners’ need analysis from a culturally-cognitive perspective.