Learner's perspective on video-viewing features offered by MOOC providers: Coursera and edX

Although the foundation for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) was laid down around 2008, it is in the recent years that there has been observed the stupendous rise of MOOCs. Currently there has been much debate regarding its pros and cons. While access to high speed internet connection, computer systems and possessing a decent knowledge of the language that the course is instructed in (usually English) may prove to be barriers in some countries, this digital education offering has undoubtedly provided a learning edge to students and others, who can overcome these hurdles, irrespective of their geographical location, financial condition and time constraints. The two MOOC providers: Coursera and edX, have emerged as the major MOOC services over the years due to their tie-ups with numerous prestigious universities, free courses, user-friendly interface, and strong business model. The learning is primarily through videos and the MOOCs learners spend significant time in viewing course videos. This paper is the first survey-based study of its kind, to the best of our knowledge, conducted to explore the learner's perspective on video-viewing features offered by these two MOOC providers The survey assesses video-viewing related features on Coursera and edX namely, subtitle captions/transcripts, in-video quizzes, video duration, quality and video speed varying feature as experienced by the student participants, who have participated in both edX-offered courses and Coursera-offered courses.