Adaptive MOOC Supports the Elicitation of Learners’ Preferences

Abstract

Given higher education in Morocco suffers from the increasing number of students in institutions with open access policy, the issue of language and communication, the heterogeneous academic level of students, the inability to adapt schedules for students, the evolution of new technologies, etc., innovative pedagogy has become a necessity to address these challenges. Additionally, new modes of adaptive learning need to be designed to develop innovative training programs. Many authors agree that “innovation in pedagogy concerns everything that is not part of formal education” (Lison et al. 2014). In 2016, the Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research in collaboration with GIP FUN MOOC, and the French Embassy signed an agreement to establish a platform MUN “Morocco Digital University”. The purpose of the agreement is to encourage Moroccan Universities to develop Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs), and other forms of online courses and to reinforce partnership with French Universities in e-learning. MOOCs were developed in 2008, and after four years of operation, the New York Times considered 2012 “The year of the MOOC”. Since then, new features of MOOCs have motivated decision makers in higher education from across the world to create a number of online courses in their institutions. However, the weakness of MOOCs as a pedagogical innovation is the high dropout rate. Despite being massive courses, of thousands of enrollees, 50% quit after one week, 10% finish the course after completing all the modules, and only 4% obtain a certificate (Perna et al, Life Cycle of a Million MOOC Users. MOOC Research Initiative. Arlington, Texas, 2013). Given MOOCs are large-scale learning platforms that have failed to meet learners’ individual needs, considering this innovative pedagogy effective enough is conditional on adapting instruction to enhance student learning, learner’s characteristics, for example, knowledge or personal interests. In fact, why not implement adaptive learning techniques to further customize MOOCs? The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it aims to uncover the feasibility of adaptive learning on MOOCs in higher education in Morocco. Second, this investigation seeks to address the effects of adaptive learning on student learning outcomes, student engagement, and drop-out rates.