Comparison of Students’ Academic Performance and Resources Requirement between MOOCs and Traditional Lecture

Abstract

This study compares the academic performance and resource requirement between MOOCs and modules conducted in the traditional approach at Taylor’s University. Data such as the number of students, means and standard deviations were obtained from Examination reports of two cohorts of students undertaking the two general study modules. Each module consisted of more than 1000 students. Pooled means and pooled standard deviations were derived and computed from various classes of students from the two modules using a JAVA function. The passing rate of the two cohorts of students was calculated from the examination reports. The number of lecturers, classroom requirements and timetable for the two semesters were obtained from the university timetabling department. This provides a descriptive statistic on the resource requirement associated with both approaches of content delivery. Results from the Two-sample T-test suggested that academic achievement declined, however, the passing rate for the MOOCs students was raised slightly. Results from the analysis on the number of lecturers and classrooms requirement suggested a 50% reduction of lecturers and minimize the usage of physical resources to 1 lecture hall in the 1st week of the semester only. This provides useful evidence of cost reduction in the adoption of MOOCs. The research findings provide a positive impact for institutes of higher learning to sustain their education business with cost reduction and increase in revenue, and yet allow the students to be able to tap into the best education experience and maintain excellent academic performance with the implementation of credit-bearing MOOCs.