This presentation summarizes Janesh Sanzgiri's PhD research comparing Indian learners on global and local MOOC platforms. The research included a survey of over 2,600 learners and interviews with 30 learners. Survey findings showed NPTEL learners were more motivated by professional goals while FutureLearn learners took courses for leisure. NPTEL learners also faced more technical challenges. Interviews suggested local content was preferred when available. The research highlighted differences in Indian learners' experiences on global versus domestic MOOC platforms.

1. JANESH SANZGIRI (THE OPEN UNIVERSITY, UK) @JANESHSANZGIRI
SUPERVISORS: PROF. MARTIN WELLER, DR. LEIGH-ANNE PERRYMAN, DR. ROBERT
FARROW
A Comparative Study Of Indian Learners In
Massive Open Online Courses(MOOCS)

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
• MOOCs as Open Education
• The Indian Context – MOOCs in India
• Research Questions
• Research Design
• Survey Findings
• Emerging themes from Interviews
• The PhD process so far

3. MOOCS AS OPEN EDUCATION
• The original conception of MOOCs vs Commercial MOOC providers
• The original promises of Commercial MOOC providers
• The constant moves away from Openness
• Research into MOOCs - Openness forgotten?

4. THE INDIAN CONTEXT – MOOCS IN INDIA
• Significant enrolments from Indians on the three major US MOOC platforms
(Coursera, edX, Udacity)
• Between 10-15% of all total enrolments (Bhattacharyya 2013)
• Largest cohort of learners outside of the US

5. THE NEED FOR RESEARCH
• Research into non-Western MOOC users currently lacking
• According to Veletsianos and Sheperdson (2016), only 8% of empirical MOOC
research came out of Asia – 5.4% from China, and less than 1% from India.
• There is an increasing use of learning analytics and log-data to try and make sense of
learning in MOOCs
• There is a need for more studies into the learner experience, and the learner voice,
to try and make sense of some of the findings from the quantitative study.
• Most importantly, there is a need to explore the ways in which MOOCs are currently
being used my learners in the developing world.

6. RESEARCH QUESTION
• What are the demographics, motivations and experiences of Indian learners in
Massive Open Online Courses?
• What, if any, are the differences in the demographics, motivations and experiences of
Indian learners between global and local MOOC platforms?

7. NPTEL
 National Programme
on Technology
Enhanced Learning –
Started as an OER
repository along the
lines of MIT-OCW
 922 Courses, mostly
in Engineering and
Technology – All
under Open License
 NPTEL MOOCs - 225
Courses
 20% of degree
credits can be taken
through MOOCs

8. FUTURELEARN
 UK-based MOOC platform with 99
international university and
institutional partners
 Focus on social learning
 Fewer enrolments compared to
Coursera, edX – Greater engagement
 Indian Learners average 3% of total
cohort

9. RESEARCH DESIGN
• THREE STAGE STUDY
• Stage 1: Pilot interviews with eight participants
• Stage 2: Survey on learner demographics, motivations, and experiences (n=2649)
• Stage 3: Semi-structured interviews with Indian learners on global MOOC platform
(FutureLearn) and Indian MOOC platform (NPTEL) (n=30)

10. SURVEY FINDINGS - RESPONSES
Site Number of Responses
NPTEL 2009
FutureLearn 364
Other 276
Total 2649

11. DEMOGRAPHICS - GENDER
0 20 40 60 80 100
Male
Female
NPTEL (in %)
NPTEL (in %)
0 20 40 60 80 100
Male
Female
FutureLearn (in %)
FutureLearn (in %)

12. DEMOGRAPHICS - AGE
0 20 40 60 80 100
>65
56-65
46-55
36-45
26-35
18-25
<18
NPTEL (% Responses)
% Responses
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
>65
56-65
46-55
36-45
26-35
18-25
<18
FutureLearn (% Responses)
FutureLearn (% Responses)

13. DEMOGRAPHICS – EDUCATION LEVEL
0 10 20 30 40 50
PhD
Post-Graduate Degree
Under-Graduate Degree
College/Vocational Diploma
High School Certificate
Secondary School Certificate
None
NPTEL(% Responses)
NPTEL(% Responses)
0 10 20 30 40 50
PhD
Post-Graduate Degree
Under-Graduate Degree
College/Vocational Diploma
High School Certificate
Secondary School Certificate
None
FutureLearn(% Responses)
FutureLearn(% Responses)

14. DEMOGRAPHICS – EMPLOYMENT LEVELS
0 20 40 60 80
Retired
Self-Employed
Full-Time Employed
Part-Time Employed
Student
Unemployed
Chart Title
NPTEL(% Responses)
0 10 20 30 40
Retired
Self-Employed
Full-Time Employed
Part-Time Employed
Student
Unemployed
FutureLearn(% Responses)
FutureLearn(% Responses)

15. MOTIVATION
• PCA Generated Two Scales of Extrinsic Motivation and Leisure
• The non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-Test was used to compare the means of the
two scales.
• NPTEL users statistically significantly more likely to take MOOCs for Extrinsic
Motivators (Professional Development, Improving Job/Education Prospects
etc.) (U=246496.5, p=0.05) while FutureLearn users were statistically
significantly more likely to take MOOCs for leisure purposes (U=207139.5,
p=0.05).

16. CHALLENGES
• PCA Generated two Scales of Challenges, broadly defined as “Technical Challenges”
and “Course Difficulty related Challenges”.
• Mann-Whitney U-Test was used to compare the non-parametric means of the scales
generated.
• NPTEL participants were statistically significantly more likely to face Technical
challenges (U=193748.500, p=0.05) and find the courses tougher (U=197454,
p=0.05) than FutureLearn participants.

17. EXPERIENCES
• PCA Generated 3 Scales from 16 Likert-items on learners’ experiences with MOOCs
• Scales are broadly defined by items related to “Openness”, “Lack of Interest in
Interaction” and “Usability”
• Interestingly, the Mann-Whitney U Tests on the three Experience scales found NO
statistically significant difference in the responses of NPTEL and FutureLearn
participants. Why could this be?

18. EMERGING THEMES FROM INTERVIEWS
• Low quality of local instruction – MOOCs as a ‘quality’ supplement to poor
educational standards.
• Re-evaluate how learners engage with MOOCs – Technical challenges in India –
Downloading course content – Implications for Research?
• FutureLearn participants more likely to be life-long learners – similar to existing
accounts from MOOC learner literature
• Learners using FutureLearn courses to overcome societal norms.
• When given a choice, learners prefer local to global MOOC content.

19. THE PHD PROCESS SO FAR
• The Challenge of Access to Data – Especially in MOOC Research
• The importance of presenting at every opportunity, and making connections
• The Conundrum of Methodology – Research Questions – and Data

20. THANK YOU!
A Comparative of Indian Learners in Massive Open Online Courses
Janesh Sanzgiri
Supervisors: Professor Martin Weller, Dr. Robert Farrow, Dr. Leigh-Anne Perryman
Contact: janesh.sanzgiri@open.ac.uk
Twitter: @janeshsanzgiri