Exploring MOOC Learners’ Behavioural Patterns Considering Age, Gender and Number of Course Enrolments: Insights for Improving Educational Opportunities

Nergiz Ercil Cagiltay; Sacip Toker; Kursat Cagiltay

doi:10.55982/openpraxis.16.1.543

Exploring MOOC Learners’ Behavioural Patterns Considering Age, Gender and Number of Course Enrolments: Insights for Improving Educational Opportunities

Open Praxis

Volume 16 (2024): Issue 1

By: Nergiz Ercil Cagiltay , Sacip Toker and Kursat Cagiltay

Open Access

|Feb 2024

Figures & Tables

Table 1

The descriptive statistics for the density of courses enrolled.

CATEGORIES	n	%	MEAN	SD	MIN	MAX
High	40233	1.8	16.79	10.15	10	160
Medium	182215	8.0	5.37	1.51	4	9
Low	2066111	90.3	1.31	.59	1	3
Total	2288559	100.0	1.91	2.74	1	160

Table 2

The descriptive statistics of course activities by the density of courses enrolled.

# OF COURSES ENROLLED	VIEWED		EXPLORED		COMPLETED		CERTIFIED
# OF COURSES ENROLLED	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD
Low	1.21	.48	1.10	.34	1.08	.31	1.07	.29
Medium	3.48	1.71	1.68	1.01	1.45	.84	1.42	.79
High	10.22	7.44	3.34	3.40	2.28	2.11	2.20	1.95

Table 3

The descriptive statistics of course activities by gender.

GENDER	VIEWED		EXPLORED		COMPLETED		CERTIFIED
GENDER	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD
Male	1.74	2.16	1.46	1.33	1.31	.94	1.30	.88
Female	1.46	1.44	1.26	.84	1.17	.59	1.16	.56

Table 4

The descriptive statistics of course activities by age.

AGE	VIEWED		EXPLORED		COMPLETED		CERTIFIED
AGE	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD
16<	1.58	1.95	1.36	1.18	1.26	.88	1.24	.81
16–30	1.65	1.93	1.36	1.10	1.23	.77	1.22	.72
31–45	1.69	2.13	1.45	1.34	1.32	.93	1.31	.89
45>	1.76	2.37	1.55	1.54	1.40	1.12	1.37	1.04

Table 5

Pairwise comparison of course activities by ages.

COURSE ACTIVITIES		AGE GROUP PAIRS
COURSE ACTIVITIES		16< VS 16–30	16< VS 31–45	16< VS 45>	16–30 VS 31–45	16–30 VS 45>	31–45 VS 45>
Viewed	H	–22,260,224	–26,220,692	–30,961,087	–3,960,468	–8,700,863	–4,740,395
	SE	2,156,264	2,196,699	2,281,074	611,553	867,068	963,234
	Z	–10,324**	–11,936**	–13,573**	–6,476**	–10,035**	–4,921**
Explored	H	–1,007,328	–4,972,560	–8,771,905	–3,965,232	–7,764,577	–3,799,345
	SE	999,133	1,010,030	1,027,736	243,672	308,963	342,567
	Z	–1,008	–4,923**	–8,535**	–16,273**	–25,131**	–11,091**
Completed	H	87,380	–2,004,254	–3,359,579	–1,916,874	–3,272,199	–1,355,326
	SE	608,938	135,547	173,072	613,800	623,162	189,468
	Z	,143	–14,786**	–19,411**	–3,123*	–5,251**	–7,153**
Certified	H	240,220	–1,919,198	–2,995,078	–1,678,978	–2,754,859	–1,075,880
	SE	596,742	132,072	168,918	601,495	610,644	185,007
	Z	,403	–14,531**	–17,731**	–2,791*	–4,511**	–5,815**

[i] *p < .05, **p < .01.

Table 6

The descriptive statistics of course activities by level of education.

LEVELS OF EDUCATION	VIEWED		EXPLORED		COMPLETED		CERTIFIED
LEVELS OF EDUCATION	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD
Elementary (El)	1.54	1.65	1.37	1.04	1.20	.57	1.18	.53
Junior high school (Jhs)	1.69	2.15	1.35	1.49	1.27	1.48	1.26	1.21
High school (Hs)	1.68	1.99	1.36	1.10	1.22	.75	1.21	.72
Associate degree (A)	1.50	1.68	1.33	.98	1.21	.63	1.20	.62
Bachelor’s degree (B)	1.64	1.97	1.40	1.21	1.27	.83	1.26	.80
Master’s degree (M)	1.71	2.02	1.44	1.23	1.31	.86	1.29	.81
Ph.D. (P)	1.72	2.09	1.51	1.51	1.38	1.14	1.34	1.02

Table 7

Pairwise comparison of viewed and explored course activities by levels of education.

EDUCATION LEVEL PAIRS		VIEWED			EXPLORED
EDUCATION LEVEL PAIRS		H	SE	Z	H	SE	Z
El	Jhs	–29477.962	4110.139	–7.172**	–1718.284	1875.912	–.916
	Hs	–32435.452	3861.320	–8.400**	–3788.884	658.447	–5.754**
	A	985.247	4055.524	.243	–113.951	914.626	–.125
	B	27744.222	3849.608	7.207**	–1544.498	676.822	–2.282
	M	–43243.064	3858.256	–11.208**	–8114.637	789.092	–10.284**
	P	–43197.276	4052.938	–10.658**	–6334.838	660.006	–9.598**
Jhs	Hs	2957.491	1587.624	1.863	2070.600	1774.398	1.167
	A	30463.209	2014.456	15.122**	–1832.235	1884.536	–.972
	B	1733.740	1558.923	1.112	–173.785	1781.298	–.098
	M	–13765.102	1580.159	–8.711**	–6396.353	1826.910	–3.501**
	P	–13719.314	2009.245	–6.828**	–4616.554	1774.977	–2.601
Hs	A	33420.700	1440.340	23.203**	–3902.835	682.628	–5.717**
	B	4691.230	668.421	7.018**	–2244.385	295.852	–7.586**
	M	–10807.612	716.553	–15.083**	–4325.753	502.103	–8.615**
	P	–10761.824	1433.043	–7.510**	–2545.954	255.046	–9.982**
A	B	–28729.469	1408.641	–20.395**	1658.450	700.368	2.368
	M	–44228.311	1432.107	–30.883**	–8228.588	809.379	–10.167**
	P	–44182.523	1895.018	–23.315**	–6448.789	684.132	–9.426**
B	M	–15498.842	650.490	–23.826**	–6570.138	525.968	–12.492**
B	P	–15453.054	1401.178	–11.029**	–4790.340	299.305	–16.005**
M	P	–45.788	1424.767	–.032	1779.799	504.145	3.530**

[i] Note: El: Elementary, Jhs: Junior high school, Hs: High school, A: Associate degree.

B: Bachelor’s degree, M: Master’s degree, P: Ph.D.

* p < .05, ** p < .01.

Table 8

Pairwise comparison of completed and certified course activities by levels of education.

EDUCATION LEVEL PAIRS		COMPLETED			CERTIFIED
EDUCATION LEVEL PAIRS		H	SE	Z	H	SE	Z
El	Jhs	–252.993	573.408	–.441	–357.930	561.103	–.638
	Hs	–1189.808	442.004	–2.692	–1058.827	433.907	–2.440**
	A	–39.317	451.810	–.087	–4.107	443.187	–.009
	B	–117.250	1149.712	–.102	–115.856	1119.453	–.103
	M	–2951.618	506.916	–5.823**	–2323.201	497.176	–4.673**
	P	–2279.822	441.486	–5.164**	–2032.771	433.432	–4.690**
Jhs	Hs	936.816	392.229	2.388	700.897	381.935	1.835
	A	292.309	403.247	.725	362.037	392.445	.923
	B	135.743	1131.509	.120	242.074	1100.352	.220
	M	–2698.626	464.156	–5.814**	–1965.271	452.530	–4.343**
	P	–2026.829	391.646	–5.175**	–1674.841	381.395	–4.391**
Hs	A	–1229.125	170.820	–7.195**	–1062.933	165.689	–6.415**
	B	–1072.559	1070.927	–1.002	–942.971	1041.256	–.906
	M	–1761.810	286.377	–6.152**	–1264.374	279.683	–4.521**
	P	–1090.014	141.271	–7.716**	–973.944	137.482	–7.084**
A	B	156.567	1075.011	.146	119.962	1045.157	.115
	M	–2990.935	301.291	–9.927**	–2327.307	293.873	–7.919**
	P	–2319.139	169.476	–13.684**	–2036.877	164.439	–12.387**
B	M	–2834.369	1099.309	–2.578	–2207.345	1069.169	–2.065
B	P	–2162.572	1070.713	–2.020	–1916.915	1041.058	–1.841
M	P	671.797	285.577	2.352	290.430	278.944	1.041

[i] Note: El: Elementary, Jhs: Junior high school, Hs: High school, A: Associate degree,

B: Bachelor’s degree, M: Master’s degree, P: Ph.D.

*p < .05, **p < .01.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.16.1.543 | Journal eISSN: 2304-070X

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Language: English

Page range: 70 - 81

Submitted on: Jan 19, 2023

Accepted on: Sep 17, 2023

Published on: Feb 2, 2024

Published by: International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

social implications,

data science applications in education,

lifelong learning,

MOOC,

MITx

© 2024 Nergiz Ercil Cagiltay, Sacip Toker, Kursat Cagiltay, published by International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 16 (2024): Issue 1