Collaborative Intentions in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)

Modern management education draws on a participant-centered learning pedagogy to promote active learning and student interaction through group work and collaboration as a crucial part of the learning process. Given the rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), it is important to understand how collaboration and student interaction can be fostered in such environments. Drawing on a synthesis of theories, the article proposes a model of collaborative intentions. It combines individual behavioral theories with collective interaction theories to outline both individual factors and individual beliefs of collective attributes that influence collaborative intentions. It is tested with data collected from 2517 MOOC participants. Results demonstrate that attitudes towards collaboration are predicted by collaborative outcome expectancy and support expectancy, which again are predicted by collaborative process efficacy and perceived communal influence. The model, furthermore, tests the effect of prior negative collaborative experience and collaborative technology experience as mediators for the before mentioned relationships. Finally, the effect of gender differences on collaborative intentions is tested in a post-hoc analysis.