MOOCs in Higher Education - A Study on the Learning Effectiveness, Quality and Usability of a SPOC on Introduction to Programming.

In most Universities today, the sheer size of students in a single class and the limited time for on-campus lessons or activities limit the learning experience for both students and professors. Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs), which are Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) used locally to support certain groups of learners, can be a practical solution to this problem. Previous studies included only self-reported data to measure students' satisfaction and learning experience on SPOCs. There is also little longitudinal research on how SPOC-supported blended learning affects students' academic performance. This paper presents a SPOC on Introduction to Programming and explores its learning effectiveness, perceived course quality, perceived educational experience, and platform usability for on-campus Computer Science students. A total of 454 students were involved in a between-subjects study comparing a traditional lectured-based class to a SPOC-supported blended class. Results showed that students in the SPOC-supported class achieved significantly higher grades in the final exams and provided significantly higher course quality assessments. In addition, they rated their perceived educational experience as very satisfactory and the perceived usability of the SPOC platform as good-to-excellent.