Community of inquiry, self-regulated learning, and learners' satisfaction in entrepreneurship massive open online courses (MOOCS)

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as a new learning platform are rapidly growing, providing learners with positive learning outcomes. Although past studies have highlighted the experiences in MOOCs from the perspectives of learners, the insights to the satisfaction in learning within the MOOC context is still marginal. Based on the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model and Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) theory, this study has examined the relationships between teaching presence, social presence, cognitive presence, self-regulated learning, and learners’ satisfaction in Malaysia MOOCs. A sequential explanatory mixed-method approach has been employed. Data has been collected from 398 MOOCs learners through a web-based survey, with 11 learners subsequently being interviewed to provide depth to the data. The hypothesised relationships have been tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) via AMOS version 23, while ATLAS.ti version 8 have been employed to assist the thematic analysis of the interview data. The findings of SEM indicated that teaching presence, cognitive presence, and SRL strategies significantly explained learners’ satisfaction in MOOCs. Besides, there were significant indirect effects through SRL from social presence, and cognitive presence to satisfaction. However, SRL did not mediate the relationship between teaching presence and learners’ satisfaction. Further, through the thematic analysis of learners’ interview data, four themes were deductively developed from the findings of quantitative phase and one more theme (MOOC acceptance) was inductively emerged in explaining satisfaction in MOOCs. The study contributes to this area of research interest by highlighting learner-level variables that influence learners’ satisfaction through the theoretical perspectives of CoI and SRL. The findings have also provided practical implications for MOOC developers and instructors in designing MOOCs that focus on strengthening the teaching, social and cognitive presences, encouraging learners’ ability by implementing SRL strategies and inculcating MOOC acceptance to enhance online learning satisfaction