Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a relatively recent online learning phenomenon that has developed in the last five years. The opportunity that MOOCs offer to developing countries has generated significant interest from higher education as it has opened doors to step into territories that were never available before this era. This paper reports on the research findings of the impact of MOOCs in developing countries. The key challenges and opportunities identified by the researchers in using the MOOC concept within the Sri Lankan higher education context is discussed. It also highlights how developing countries can transform education, and provide lifelong learning opportunities which will give access to learning resources, innovative learning technologies, higher engagement and collaborative learning opportunities with international experts.

1. MOOC: A higher education game
changer in developing countries
Dr. Kulari Lokuge Dona, Amali Warusavitarana, Harshani Piyathilake,
Dilani Epitawela & Madhawi Edirisinghe

2. Introduction
∗ Map of Sri Lanka and its education nature would be
good?
06/21/15

3. ∗ Analyse the impact of MOOCs on developing
countries
∗ Challenges
∗ Opportunities
∗ The use of MOOCs specifically within Sri Lankan
Higher Education Institutions
Objectives

4. ∗ Online ethnography design - studying the MOOC
culture and communities
∗ Participated and observed different MOOCs
Coursera, Udacity, and CourseSites
∗ Participated in the Carpe Diem MOOC (Swinburne,
2014; CourseSites, 2014)
Research Methodology

5. 06/21/15
Research Methodology
Interviews
Themes
Questionnaire
Key researcher’s autoethnographic insights
Secondary researchers’ insights
Literature

6. 06/21/15
Data collection
∗ Online questionnaire
∗ Paper based questionnaire
∗ Semi-structured interviews
∗ Autoethnographic insights – Personal Learning
Journals

7. 06/21/15
Data Collection
∗ The sample
∗ Consisted of 75 educators
∗ 40 educators - online questionnaire
∗ 35 educators - paper based questionaire

8. 06/21/15
Data Analysis
∗ Quantitative data was analysed through the
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version
16
∗ Pearsons correlation was used to determine the
relationship between the identified variables
∗ Responses to the open-ended questions in the
questionnaire were analysed qualitatively along with
the interview data

9. ∗ A team of 10 SLIATE academics took part in the Carpe
Diem MOOC
∗ SLIATE participants found:
∗ Change of course Design
∗ Change of course Delivery
∗ Comparison to the established lecturing style
∗ New landscape for SLIATE staff
Opportunities for the Sri Lankan
higher education sector

10. 06/21/15
Opportunities for the Sri Lankan
higher education sector
∗ 86% - of the research participants indicated
“MOOCs were a great innovation as they enabled
learning without time zone and locality restrictions”
∗ 83% - higher education professionals
“MOOCs to be a great opportunity to access the
latest learning resources and the most up-to-date
developments in the subject area”

11. 06/21/15
Research Findings
Applied MOOC knowledge;
Developing and studying the courses 25%
Learning and delivery in their respective institutes 12%
Out of the research participants
teaching practices 56%
professional development- 86%
wish to apply MOOC in a new teaching approach 87%
suitable for higher education 83%
practical when applying to study in the higher education 87%
MOOCs useful 86%

12. Identified Challenges
06/21/15

13. ∗ Provide better technical facilities to the participants to
reap benefits of the free open online courses
∗ Provide technical and professional support to up-skill
staff
∗ Gather detail information about different aspects of
staff needs
∗ Utilize MOOCs to up-skill staff
Recommendations

14. Contact details: Dr. Kulari Lokuge Dona
klokugedona@swin.edu.au
Thank you!

15. 06/21/15
Research Methodology
∗ 55% of the educators filled the online questionnaire during the
expected time frame.
∗ 90% returned the paper basedquestionnaires, having answered
all the questions.
∗ After collecting the responses
∗ themes were identified for interviews.
∗ Interviews were carried out with 20% of the respondents.
∗ 42% of the respondents had experience of participating in MOOCs.

16. Identified Challenges