Characterising the motivations of learners in a massive open online course on astronomy

This research project focused on learners in the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) titled Astronomy: Exploring Time and Space on Coursera. This class was designed as an introductory survey course for a public audience. The goal of this project is to understand the learning identities and motivations of MOOC participants to take a science course designed for learners who are pursuing a personal interest rather than a degree or career advancement. Two survey instruments were used in this study. The first examined learning identities, and the second measured science learning motivations. Using these instruments together allowed us to understand what drives students to learn science by taking this course. The learners we surveyed were found to fall into two main categories: individuals who have a general interest in the subject material (Explorer identity) and knowledgeable individuals who want to dive in more deeply into the specific topic of the course (Hobbyist identity). Participants had high levels of intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and self-determination to learn science, and reported lower grade-related and job-related motivations. These results suggest that this course is reaching the intended audience and that, for these MOOCS, identity can be a useful lens for understanding learner motivations.