Assessing Students' Learning Experience and Achievements in a Medium-Sized Massively Open Online Course

A medium-sized Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) was hosted by Peking University in 2013. Altogether 192 Chinese students came to Peking University and learned face-to-face, another 311 Chinese students participated online. This study targeted one research question: Were there any significant differences between the learning experiences and outcomes of onsite and online students? Although onsite students had lower attrition and higher completion rates than their online peers, no significant difference was detected between the average assignment scores of the onsite and online participants who had completed all the assignments. Learners also responded to a survey asking for their learning experiences. There were no significant differences between the online and onsite students' ratings of technology quality and usability of course management system, instructional content, and the design of learning assessment. Findings from this first empirical study on a Chinese MOOC will inform researchers and practitioners interested in introducing MOOCs to Chinese students.