Evaluation of Instructional and User Interface Design for MOOC: Short and Free FutureLearn Courses

Abstract

MOOC is an online learning course that can be attended by students in large numbers and has spread throughout the world. This study is focused on one MOOC platform, FutureLearn. FutureLearn claims that several effective learning principles have already been applied to its courses. There is now a need to evaluate how effective the courses offered by FutureLearn are in terms of instructional design, user interface, and usability. So far, the study of FutureLearn that focuses on instructional design, user interface, and usability is still limited. In this study, 310 respondents living in Indonesia participated in an online survey. 30 respondents who were FutureLearn users evaluated the usability of FutureLearn using the E-Learning Usability Scale (EUS). Furthermore, 10 participants were selected to take part in usability testing sessions. The study shows that there were instructional design and user interface principles in FutureLearn which not applied. in FutureLearn. Furthermore, there are several pages or components recommended to be improved: the flow of joining course after improvement, course search by the category page, and the course info page. Based on the usability evaluation, the participants found every feature in the recommendations based on alternative design improvement are helpful.