Research articles

Do tutors make a difference in online learning? A comparative study in two Open Online Courses

Authors:

Abstract

Two free fully online courses were offered by Peoples-uni on its Open Online Courses site, both as self-paced courses available any time and as courses run over four weeks with tutor-led discussions. We tested the hypothesis that there are no measurable differences in outcomes between the two delivery methods. Similar numbers attended both versions of each course; students came from multiple countries and backgrounds. Numbers of discussion forum posts were greater in tutor-led than self-paced courses. Measured outcomes of certificates of completion, quiz completion and marks gained were very similar and not statistically significantly different between the tutor-led and the self-paced versions of either course. In light of little discernible difference in outcome between self-paced learning compared with courses including tutor-led discussions, the utility of the time cost to tutors is in question. The findings may be relevant to others designing online courses, including MOOCs.

Keywords:

Open Online Coursestutorsoutcomesstudent engagementmotivationself-paced learning
  • Year: 2019
  • Volume: 11 Issue: 3
  • Page/Article: 229-241
  • DOI: 10.5944/openpraxis.11.3.960
  • Submitted on 18 Feb 2019
  • Accepted on 30 Jul 2019
  • Published on 30 Nov 2019
  • Peer Reviewed