Study Of The Effect Of MOOC Discussion Forum Participation On Course Satisfaction

The development of information technology has greatly changed the way people learn and access information,and MOOC,as an online education course based on advanced communication technology,has attracted much attention since its birth because of its convenience,low cost and high quality.At present,MOOC has become one of the most popular online courses for learners at home and abroad.However,the high dropout rate of MOOC has been controversial compared to the traditional education model.The high dropout rate reflects the problem of low learner satisfaction with MOOCs.Analyzing the relationship between learners’ forum participation and course satisfaction and exploring the impact of forum participation characteristics on course satisfaction,and the impact of different participation dimensions on learners’ needs satisfaction can provide theoretical guidance for MOOC platforms and course developers when improving the construction of discussion forum to improve learners’ satisfaction.Most of the existing literature examining forum participation has focused on other measures of course success,such as dropout rates and grades,and few have examined the relationship between forum participation and course satisfaction.To address this lack of research,this paper asks the following two questions:(1)whether the characteristics of MOOC discussion forum engagement affects learners’ course satisfaction;and(2)how does MOOC discussion forum engagement affects learners’ satisfaction.In this paper,two separate studies will be conducted to explore the above two questions.Study 1 crawled the data of discussion forums using free courses on Coursera platform as the research object to investigate the effects of the number,intensity and quality of learner participation on course satisfaction,and the moderating effect of instructor response on the relationship between learner participation and course satisfaction.The results of the regression analysis found that the number of learners posting in the discussion forum,the number of learners who respond to others,the intensity of response,and the quality of response all had a positive effect on course satisfaction,and the moderating effect of instructor response was not significant.Study 2 explores the impact of different dimensions of learners’ participation in discussion forums(behavioral and emotional participation)on their needs satisfaction and the motivations affecting learners’ participation.Based on self-determination theory,an empirical analysis was conducted by constructing structural equation models and designing questionnaires,and the results showed that perceived knowledge value can positively influence both learners’ behavioral and emotional engagement,and learners’ behavioral and emotional engagement have a positive impact on both their relatedness satisfaction and their competence satisfaction,with emotional engagement being more important.This paper introduces learners’ participation characteristics into the study of discussion forum participation,extends the theoretical study of the factors influencing course satisfaction,and explores the influence of learners’ different participation dimensions on the satisfaction of their two needs,as well as the motivations affecting learners’ discussion forum participation,which has certain theoretical significance.The practical value of this paper is that it provides theoretical support for MOOC platform managers and course developers to improve the construction of discussion forums,and can help course providers to develop functions and products that promote learner satisfaction.