The Design of MOOCs: An Instructionalist and Constructivist Approach

The completion rate for massive open online courses (MOOCs) is approximately 15%, mainly because students typically need five to eight weeks to complete one, including assessment tasks. Having completed ten MOOCs, the authors explore the design features of the variety of learning and assessment tasks from three platforms: edX, Coursera and FutureLearn. Although recorded videos are commonly found in these courses, MOOC educators in universities in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia adopt different instructional strategies to engage diverse learners. With reference to an instructionalist and constructivist approach to pedagogy, the learning activities and variations in assessment activities in these MOOCs are examined.