Learning strategies as a mediator for motivation and a sense of achievement among students who study in MOOCs

The goal of the research was to examine the contribution of learning strategies as a mediator for motivation and a sense of achievement in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), among students who participate in a unique program in Israel, called “Academy Online – MOOCs in the Israeli Education System”. The goal of the program was to integrate an innovative distant teaching-learning strategy in science and technology into the education system. 163 students participated in the study, of whom 70 were students in an astronomy-related sciences program, and 93 were students in mechatronics-robotics course. At the end of the course, the students answered a Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), and a Sense of Achievement in a MOOC questionnaire, which was based on the principles of the pedagogical model of the program. The findings of the SEM path analysis show that the variable ‘Learning Strategies’ is a significant mediator for motivation and a sense of academic achievement in a MOOC for both groups, and a stronger mediator for the astronomy-related sciences students. It may be concluded that using a variety of learning strategies in a curriculum which integrates a MOOC affects the sense of academic achievement. It is clear that social learning strategies and self-regulated learning, which were a unique layer in the pedagogical layout of the program, have assisted in promoting the learning in MOOCs.