MOOC awareness and utilization among students of selected Polish universities

Over the last few years, one may notice an inflow of activity, mostly by well-known state and private universities, offering courses on-line, free of charge. The paper presents an impressive growth of the number of on-line courses offered for free as well as increasing numbers of users. One decade of existence lead MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) to worldwide popularity and COVID-19 lockdowns only increased the number of users to 220 million (Shah, 2021).

Prominent academic institutions play a significant role in contributing content and offering technical support for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), while exercising caution to prevent encroachment upon their primary sphere of operation. This pertains to the provision of cost-free educational services in the context of traditional full-time programs at public universities, as well as fee-based part-time programs. It is noteworthy that for private institutions of higher education, both forms of study will necessitate tuition fees. Additionally, postgraduate studies also incur charges, irrespective of the institutional classification. Despite the widespread popularity of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) worldwide and numerous research publications in scientific journals, there remains a dearth of data regarding the popularity of such courses among Polish students. From January 1, 2020, to September 28, 2023, the Scopus database indexed 812 papers related to MOOC courses, with none specifically addressing the experiences of Polish students. However, articles related to students from Russia, China, and Latin American countries were available. Consequently, the author opted to investigate the situation in Poland and assess whether international education trends are reaching Polish students. The collected results will serve to fill an existing research gap and may prove to be of interest, particularly since they do not align with trends observed in other countries.

The main purpose of the article was to examine students’ awareness of the use of MOOCs, i.e. free courses available online. It was decided to investigate how many people are generally aware of the existence of free, certified courses prepared by the most prestigious universities in Poland and in the world, and if they already have such knowledge, whether they use the opportunities offered to them.

The article intended to check which educational platforms Polish students choose and whether they managed to complete the course, and if not, for what reason. People who completed the course were also asked to share their experiences and indicate how the course contributed to their development.

The collected data made it possible to present the situation of free courses on the Polish educational market and to answer the question of whether they actually pose a threat to the classic form of education. In addition, information on the popularity of MOOCs during COVID-19 showed whether the pandemic period was conducive to undertaking additional activities by students related to increasing their competences.

The leading business model of universities around the world usually was based on offering educational services to a limited number of customers in one specified place – usually the university site or campus. The condition for undertaking higher education was obtaining sufficiently high results in secondary school-leaving examinations or paying an appropriate, often very high, fee. There were also situations where both conditions had to be met. For example, the business model of EBS University, formerly European Business Schools, was based on a “template where substantial premiums are being extracted from tightly controlled access to business education” (Morgan-Thomas et al., 2019). It relied on a high tuition fee paid by students for a high quality of teaching.

Such a model of teaching, although it worked for many years, was certainly not an inclusive model, because it excluded people who were unable to meet the set conditions. And while it seems quite logical to verify knowledge and skills in advance, the need for a student to have a certain amount of money is simply unfair and prevents many people from developing talents and acquiring knowledge.

That business model appears in contrast with the model brought about by MOOCs, which are available online and open to anyone (Finkle & Masters, 2014). The only condition for joining the course is to have a device with Internet access, which is rather standard in the 21st century. MOOCs develop through creation of large user bases “to monetize on share of eyeballs and referrals” (Ong & Grigoryan, 2015).

The idea underlying MOOC corresponds to earlier visions of the Internet, which emphasized its social role, thanks to which new media, through the involvement of wide groups of participants, will contribute to the increase of the collective intelligence of Internet users (Kreft, 2014).

Additional help to expand influence was brought by new technology tools. Development of learning-enhancement tools connected with still growing popularity of social medias began the process which some may call a revolution in education (Cusumano, 2013). Essential change relates to offering courses for the massive audience, for free. This may change the bases of an educational industry.

The first time the term MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) was used was in 2008, by Dave Cormier of the University of Prince Edward Island in his response to a course “Connectivism and Connective Knowledge”, which was led by two Canadians – George Siemens of Athabasca University and Stephen Downes of the National Research Council. This course attracted 25 participants who paid a tuition fee, and 2200 online students, who were allowed to pay nothing (Chai & Wigmore, 2021).

This is supposed to be the main source of popularity of MOOCs – their openness, their accessibility, open discussion forums, online availability, and no-tuition status, as well (Baturay, 2015; Littenberg-Tobias et al., 2020).

The first mention about the future of education came much earlier. Almost two decades earlier, in the late 1990s, with one of the most widely publicized quotes by Cisco CEO John Chambers. Originally occurred in The New York Times in 1999: “The next big killer application for the Internet is going to be education. Education over the Internet is going to be so big it is going to make e-mail usage look like a rounding error in terms of the Internet capacity it will consume” (Friedman, 1999).

Continuing, Iin the same interview, Mr. Chambers creates the future of education when “elearning, if done right, can provide faster learning, at lower costs, with more accountability, thereby enabling both companies and schools to keep up with changes in the global economy that now occur at Net speed. Schools and countries that ignore this, he says, will suffer the same fate as big department stores that thought e-commerce was overrated” (Friedman, 1999).

With his predictions for the future, Chambers goes even further by suggesting the universities should offer a kind of a combination of online and instructor-led learning and is calling it a “proper move”. On the other hand, there is a huge threat for the universities if they do not reinvent their curriculums; they may be faced with the risk of losing students to the online schools. To support his view, the examples of Cisco, GE, IBM and AT&T, with their online academies to train employees and extend the skills of current workers, should suffice (Friedman, 1999).

MOOCs might be the perfect solution for those who are interested in developing their knowledge in specific areas but who are aware of the cost necessary to obtain such a level of knowledge. As for now, many universities, private and state-owned ones, offer a wide variety of such courses, which might gain a good response from those of their clientele who are sensitive to the cost of educational products.

It was a human challenge for ages to diminish the distance between learners, teachers, and institutions. The development of new technologies allowed to schools to abandon the first generation of distance education, which was conducted through postal correspondence. The second generation brought huge audiences through television, radio, and film. The third generation was based on web audio, text, and video. Two next generations, the fourth and the fifth, came with the widespread popularity of intelligent databases, web 2.0, and semantic web concepts (Rodriguez, 2012).

MOOC courses are offered by numerous institutions, including prestigious universities, thus serving as an augmentation to the already rich educational landscape. They afford the opportunity to expand or acquire knowledge across various domains independent of one’s academic discipline or pursuit of higher education. Hence, their utility extends not solely to enrolled students but also to individuals aiming to amass supplementary knowledge for the enrichment of existing competencies or the acquisition of entirely novel skills. A substantial portion of MOOC offerings encompasses subjects associated with soft skills or education concerning stress management, learning techniques, and work-life balance.

In globalized world where higher education above the average level of quality has an increasing value, limiting access to those who are unable to afford tuition fees, such open courses might be seen as a reasonable aid to wider knowledge and excellence. The main risk for MOOCs promoting organizations is the cannibalizing of their core educational business; they must find a way to avoid this. Offering some kind of service free of charge creates a need to reshape the main line of business. MOOCs might be posited as a useful supplement to traditional courses. It might be a partial exercise, or might offer some additional information exceeding the limited frames of paid programs.

At the moment of introducing them, the leading universities paid no attention to such programs. Offering any service for free is something far beyond any participant in the educational industry. When such services began to be popularized, mainly due to increasing numbers of social networkers, those universities joined the movement as not to be separated from the changing environment.

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are higher education courses with massive enrollments that promise education and the chance to get a certification after the whole course and tests are passed. The entire process is free and open to everyone who is interested in joining the program. The main aim is to gain an unlimited audience who can access the course anywhere and anytime (Ong & Grigoryan, 2015). It’s not rare that MOOCs have enrollments counted in tens or even hundreds of thousands of participants (Coughlan, 2015). Each course is provided with online-accessible materials like lectures and/or reading material, as well as tutorials (Anderson, 2013).

Despite their reputation as free services, certain platforms (e.g., Coursera) necessitate an additional fee if the course participant aims to acquire a certificate affirming their completion. MOOC certificates do not confer the privilege of exemption from specific course requirements, nor do they ensure any advantages beyond the accrued knowledge itself, such as supplementary ECTS points or academic scholarships. Nevertheless, they can constitute a significant attestation of acquired supplementary skills for prospective employers. They also validate commitment and a disposition for personal development, further bolstering the concept of lifelong learning. Furthermore, they might prove advantageous in subsequent professional endeavors, such as career transitions or entrepreneurial pursuits.

What is unique is that the MOOC content is delivered for free and online, and is supported by multimedia materials and empowered by social engagement tools such as discussion forums (Liyanagunawardena et al., 2013a). Comments and remarks that arise during user discussions are particularly useful not only for evaluating or tracking the degree of involvement in the learning process, but also for expanding the scope of the course itself by gaining knowledge about the participants’ experiences (Gallagher & Wallace, 2016). Thus, a synergistic exchange of knowledge between the course provider and its participants is created.

As Laura Pappano wrote in her article “The Year of The MOOC” in the New York Times (Pappano, 2012), traditional online courses charge tuition, carry credit, and limit enrollment to a few dozen to ensure interaction with instructors. “The MOOC (…) is usually free, credit-less and (…) massive. The courses are constructed in [such a] way that they do not need faculty to be responsive to an individual student”.

At this juncture, it is crucial to bear in mind that few services on the Internet truly remain cost-free; and even if they initially appear so, sooner or later they necessitate payment in varied forms – often in ways users might not fully realize. Naturally, the concern here is not primarily about monetary transactions, but rather about data, which in recent years has emerged as the novel currency for ostensibly “free” online services. The business model built upon the foundation of gratuitous utilization of internet platforms is widespread, and even if users believe themselves exempt, it merely signifies their lack of awareness. Merely possessing a Google account or being registered on Facebook is sufficient. Both platforms gather data concerning users’ behaviors and interests, subsequently trading these to advertisers and constructing personalized advertisements that capture users’ attention (Tóth, 2023). It is also worth inquiring what benefits providers of MOOC courses could derive from such data. The most probable scenario appears to involve amassing information regarding demand for specific courses, professions, or skills. Subsequently, this data could be employed to formulate new academic programs or paid professional courses that yield tangible financial benefits.

The first MOOCs were initiated in Canada by S. Downes and G. Siemens, but gained much of their popularity in the U.S. The initial point was the introduction of an online and free course on artificial intelligence by Professor Sebastian Thrun in 2011 (Nana-Sinkam, 2022). From that moment, MOOCs became popular also worldwide.

But the history of electronic education begun much earlier. It was in 1983 when The Electronic University Network was founded by entrepreneur Ron Gordon, former Atari CEO, offering its first online courses merely two years later. Increasing popularity of online provided courses met with growing interest of universities such as Cornell University, American University in Washington, D.C., Boston University, Virginia Tech, and many others (Etherington, 2018).

The total number of participating institutions topped 1700, exceeding 15 thousand students enrolled in distant courses, many of them fully recognized by higher education institutions which allowed them to earn credits (Darling, 1985).

The prosperous time came in the 1990s, when the University of Phoenix began to offer online courses that made it the largest private university in the U.S., with almost a quarter-million students enrolled for online courses in 2014 (today, 170,144 students) (University of Phoenix, n.d.). The popularity of an “online model” of higher education is best presented by more than 1 million alumni, according to the University of Phoenix Alumni Association (U.S. News, n.d.).

The Google search engine brings 107 million results on the acronym “MOOC”. To present the strong increase in popularity, it is worth mentioning that as of June 8, 2017 the same engine search brought only 12.4 million results for the identical question, an almost ninefold rise. Also, according to research results of Pew Research Center from 2016, a large majority of Americans seek additional learning activities. There are 74% of Americans who might be called “lifelong learners”, as they used at least one of the learning activities in the past 12 months (Leone, 2015). A list of leading MOOC providers and institutions are presented in Table 1.

As of today, there are about 220 million registered MOOC users worldwide, who signed up for at least one course. Programs in the number of 19.4 thousand are offered online, for free, by about 950 universities. The data given above exclude China. To give an impression of the tremendous development of the industry, in 2012 there were about 300 thousand learners taking part in 3 first courses then provided by Stanford University. In the year 2016 there were 58 million students signed up for at least one out of the 6850 courses then offered by 700 universities worldwide. The pandemic year, 2020, brought 60 million users, and the successive year, 2021, another 40 million additional users (Shah, 2021).

Some may also say that MOOC is nothing more than content. It offers us the same access to information as a book on the shelf. For a vast majority of users, these courses will be skimmed or briefly scanned in search of a particular piece of information, or simply to satisfy their curiosity. As they are attractive only for selective number of users, it would be an exaggeration to predict that MOOCs might be a real competition to formal higher education (Pope, 2014).

MOOCs provide a new way of spreading learning and teaching resources for many universities. Due to lack of physical contact with a lecturer, a proper evaluation of quality is required, as well as ways to measure the user’s engagement. An equal balance between interactive materials, experience presenting medias, and crucially, social interactions must be kept (de Freitas et al., 2015).

Some authors say that MOOCs “are merely another resource for learning, albeit significantly more interactive” (Hew & Cheung, 2014; Krause, 2013).

As a quite new phenomenon, the MOOCs raise many uncertainties. For some, mostly for the users, the hype; whereas for others, perhaps those bound to a more traditional higher education industry, the underestimation. Both feelings are based on assumptions and beliefs, rather than on scientifically proven facts (Fischer, 2014).

Due to research results, students believed that MOOCs could be helpful in achieving higher academic performance, and that through use of MOOCs they might consider course participation as easy and convenient (Alamri, 2022). This “ease of use” and positive impact on the evaluation of MOOCs is also indicated by the works of other authors (Al-Adwan, 2020).

Over time, different types of MOOCs have emerged as part of courses. For example, the MOOC in its original form was termed “a connectivist MOOC” or “cMOOC”, describing a MOOC that was designed as a network; it relied on student-centered learning, and had a decentralized structure. Another type, xMOOC, “an eXtension MOOC”, stood for a program based on a central course that will be followed by all students. That type relied on content and activities spread from the leading person for the course (Bates, 2014; Crosslin, 2018)

There are other different kinds of MOOCs. One of them, sMOOC (where “s” stands for “social”) is established by the creation of knowledge content that is shared among the members of the community. It also means “seamless”, as they are constantly accessible. The combination of both social and seamless factors lead to higher level of interaction and social participation (Osuna-Acedo et al., 2018).

The introduction of Web 2.0 with further technological developments made for a platform allowing much higher levels of interaction and collaboration, which led to interactive learning (Yueh et al., 2015).

Social media play crucial role in maintaining that connection (Cruz-Benito et al., 2015; Veletsianos et al., 2015). The learning content is constructed in cooperative connection with other participants in the particular course or training. It is called “the culture of participation” (Aparici et al., 2013; Jenkins, 2006). The main distinguishing feature of sMOOCs is intercreativity, the term used by T. Berners-Lee in 1996 as a description of combination of interactivity and creativity. In other words, all those who participate in a program are contributing to its development by creation of original and productive content when connected online (Acedo & Cano, 2016; Osuna-Acedo et al., 2017).

Another type of “tMOOC” (or Transfer Massive Open Online Courses), is a description of a model of trainings that are created with influence on professional practice with social empowerment. Participants are taught on case studies based on authentic tasks and are focused on goals like collaborative teamwork, open temporality, transmediality, and so on (Osuna-Acedo et al., 2018).

The popularity of MOOCs is, obviously, bound to internet connection. As per 2022, the internet penetration rate in the United States stood at 92.0 percent, which equals to 307.2 million Internet users (Kemp, 2022). The share of European Union households with internet access had risen to 92% in 2021 (Digital Economy and Society Statistics: Households and Individuals, 2021). Slightly higher numbers are found in Poland, where internet access in 2021 had 92.4% of households (Spoleczenstwo Informacyjne w Polsce w 2021 Roku, 2021).

The data given above only confirm that the vast majority of people in the US, EU, and Poland have easy access to the internet. It also means that in the US and EU, there are (almost) no barriers that might prevent the potential user of a MOOC from taking part in one or more courses offered online.

In examining the language barrier, as the majority of courses are offered online in English, it is worth knowing that, according to Statista, there were around 1.5 billion people worldwide who spoke English either natively or as a second language (The Most Spoken Languages Worldwide in 2022, 2022). In the European Union, it is estimated that there are over 370 million English speakers out of 445 million EU residents (Top English Speaking Countries in Europe, 2020). Also, in Poland English is fairly widely spoken: about 37% of Poles are able to speak English to some degree. It equates to about 14 million people out of the total population of 38 million in the whole country.

Naturally, MOOC courses also have inherent access limitations that cannot be entirely eliminated. While these limitations may be less obtrusive in Europe and the United States, they can be more pronounced in other regions of the world. Regrettably, a majority of research focused on MOOCs concentrates on highly developed nations, leaving a substantial gap in the understanding of their impact in Asian and African countries (Littlejohn & Hood, 2018; Liyanagunawardena et al., 2013b; Veletsianos & Shepherdson, 2016). These studies concluded that MOOCs are designed for those who possess the ability to engage in learning, primarily catering to young individuals residing in European and American countries. Individuals from less developed nations often lack adequate digital competencies and access to technological infrastructure. The issue is further exacerbated by a lack of English language proficiency, although attempts can be made to address this through machine translation (Hu et al., 2020).

It seems imperative to identify and dismantle the barriers of MOOC courses in order to genuinely democratize access to them. This endeavor is not straightforward and certainly cannot be accomplished within a few months, as it necessitates not only significant financial resources but also intellectual investments. Nonetheless, efforts should be directed towards adapting MOOC courses to individuals from less developed nations, not only linguistically but also thematically and culturally (Kennedy & Laurillard, 2019; Ma & Lee, 2020).

Only such endeavors will be capable of rendering education accessible to all who are willing (or at very least, to a substantial majority), thereby reducing the digital divide between highly and less developed countries.

At the outset, it is worth dedicating a moment to contemplate the title of this subsection, as the term “educational industry” may appear somewhat contentious. It is by no means erroneous. The dimensions of the educational sector are vast, primarily due to the pivotal role it plays in modern society. While the phrase “educational industry” might seem excessively technical for describing a process of knowledge transmission that is profoundly significant both at the individual and societal levels, it is essential to recognize that the organization of the educational process often adopts numerous paradigms from the corporate sector. This includes aspects such as management, structural frameworks, information systems that facilitate management and operation, market orientation, brand establishment and management, marketing and even sales techniques, evaluation, assessment systems, ranking lists (benchmarks), and more. Thus, the term “educational industry” encompasses all institutions, irrespective of their legal ownership, of foundational structures that engage in the dissemination of knowledge. Among these, higher education institutions hold a particularly notable position, culminating in the educational process while simultaneously contributing to the creation of new knowledge through research.

Furthermore, Drucker had already highlighted that universities should exhibit innovation and entrepreneurship akin to businesses (Drucker, 2004). Likewise, Kotler and Fox, as early as 1995, emphasized the necessity for applying management tools commonly recognized in the business realm within public educational institutions (Kotler & Fox, 1995).

Consequently, evolving universities should adeptly amalgamate the traditional attributes of a university with the challenges of the future. This can be achieved through the flexibility of organizational structures and the adoption of numerous positive practices from the corporate sector (Leja, 2006).

Some years ago, with an introduction of the first MOOCs, there were predictions that this model of easily-accessible and free source of knowledge will bring a top-tier quality of education on a massive scale, not only limited to the capacity of the Ivyleague universities’ auditoriums (Gaebel, 2013; Pope, 2014).

A founder of one of the MOOCs, Udacity, Sebastian Thrun, predicted in 2012 that in fifty years, due to a much higher efficiency in delivering content, ten institutions would be responsible for delivering higher education, and Udacity, of course, would be one of them. His predictions were made after the huge success of enrollment in the CS221 course, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, provided by him and Peter Norvig (Steven, 2012).

As of today, in India, the MOOCs are seen as an “important part of the modern management education system”, mostly due to the system’s openness and easy access for everyone. That factor seems to be crucial for societies in the developing countries.

Another benefit MOOCs bring is an access to education for those living in remote areas (Smriti & Kumar, 2021).

Worth mentioning is that the programs themselves can play a significant role in the higher education industry. The MOOC courses are attractive not only to students and other representatives of the audience, but also for teachers. MIT presented the results of a study on 11 MOOCs offered by MIT: nearly 28 percent of enrollees were former or active teachers (Pope, 2014). This signifies that MOOC courses can be valuable at various stages of individuals’ lives, regardless of whether they are students or educators. Even the latter group should continue to expand their knowledge gained during their studies, enhance their existing skills, and acquire new ones. Interestingly, there are also MOOC courses specifically tailored for educators, typically addressing educational trends, effective knowledge transmission techniques, and efficient communication with students. Furthermore, the participation of educators in MOOC courses can positively contribute to their proliferation among students. The rising number of courses available online for free should act as a kind of a limiter for those educational institutions that predict rising costs of education. The widespread availability of courses of this kind may help to keep tuition fees from increase.

On the other hand, the development of new products and channels of distribution of academic knowledge may also lead to some kind of threat for the industry. Any educational product, when offered for free, may, in the long run, reduce variety and opportunities for learning. An example would be the case of the shrinking or even disappearing market for Encyclopedia Britannica, and the expanding number of users, but not content editors, of Wikipedia (Cusumano, 2013).

The impact of MOOCs can be seen in the example of Harvard University’s course “Introduction to Computer Science” by David Malan. The traditionally taught program attracted around 800 students, paying 58,607 US dollars, where the online version or, more precisely, MOOC version has about 350 thousand registrants from around the world. It is worth mentioning that both programs represent the same high standards of academic and scientific quality and value.

Despite its numerous indisputable advantages, online education proposed by MOOC courses does have several drawbacks, primarily including the absence of personal interaction with instructors or fellow participants, excessive workload, and a significant demand for self-directed learning. Additionally, technical issues arising from hardware and the necessity to spend prolonged hours in front of a computer can be taxing (Mazurek, 2022). For many students, the higher education experience entails not only learning itself but also social interaction. Being confined to one’s home and experiencing social isolation can adversely impact individuals’ mental well-being. This was prominently highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, when students were compelled to engage solely in remote learning (Drelich-Zbroja et al., 2021).

The wide offering of courses may also negatively affect those players in the educational industry who are of an average scientific and market position. With their lower chances to stabilize their foundations, their existence might be in threat. So the impact of MOOCs on society, understood as a whole system of higher education, might be devastating in the worst scenario. Some authors predicted that almost one-quarter of colleges are at risk of failure (Selingo, 2013). The popularity of online courses, even sophisticated programs such as MBAs offered online, might lead to closure of half the institutions operating in this industry (Clark, 2014).

The enormous popularity and accessibility of MOOCs gives rise to other problems. Such an easy enrollment shrinks the number of those who finish the whole course. The data from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education has shown that only about 50% of the registered users ever downloaded course materials. The decrease in the number of users was observed during the first 1–2 weeks of the program. As the survey data showed, only about half of those who registered viewed at least one lecture within the selected course (Stein, 2013).

The completion rate for MOOCs stays on a dramatically low level in comparison to the millions of those who enroll. Fewer than 10% of registrants finish their courses with a passing grade (Ho et al., 2015; Jordan, 2014). It is more drastic that only 4% complete the course (Stein, 2013).

The reasons for the low percentage of course graduates are to be sought in the confluence of many phenomena, including participants’ goals and motivators (de Barba et al., 2016; Evans et al., 2016), knowledge and level of preparation of participants (Hansen & Reich, 2015; Kizilcec & Halawa, 2015) and participants’ academic and social experiences (Cottom, n.d.).

There are also opinions that the higher education industry should not worry about the threat from MOOCs. Problems like the ability to measure the effectiveness of MOOCs, the low completion rate, and many others raise the question of general effectiveness of free online courses (Finkle & Masters, 2014).

It all may mean that the threat of MOOCs to higher education institutions may be less significant than initially appeared. Full recognition and acceptance would be necessary to place MOOCs in the position of a mainstream educational provider (Ong & Grigoryan, 2015). Still, universities will remain a leading gateway for the majority of those whose aim is to get an accredited diploma. But it does not cross out MOOCs from becoming a strong competitor and creator of a new stream of spreading knowledge to thousands if not millions of users.

However, for this to happen, course authors and distributors must consider that the community of people taking MOOC courses is extremely diverse, in terms of education, work experience, and diversity of countries of origin. This diversity is influenced by the very specificity of MOOCs, but also by globalization as well as modern technologies and social media. The greatest difficulty is designing a personalized training program that can account for the differences in attitudes, behavior, and motivation of individual groups (Li, 2019). As other researchers suggest, MOOC providers and scholars should consider a shift of assessment approach from “assessment of learning” to “assessment for learning” (Jung et al., 2019).

Many researchers indicate a clear impact of prior preparation of course participants on the percentage of those who complete the course, as well as on the achieved learning outcomes. Experience in programming, precomputational thinking skills, or even gender may determine the degree of involvement in the training process. This important tip for creators is at its beginning and decreases over time. This means that special emphasis should be placed on eliminating obstacles that weaken motivation, preferably at the very beginning of the course (Chen et al., 2020). Other variables that have a significant impact on achieving a certain level of knowledge during the course include fluency in English, education, academic abilities, opinions of other participants, interests focused around the subject of the training, and (a bit surprising), support from the environment (Aldowah et al., 2020a; Engle et al., 2015; Mackness et al., 2013; Wen et al., 2014).

A questionnaire for the survey was created after analysis of the literature and observation of the main problems of the topic. The questionnaire used the Google form and was introduced to the students of Bachelor and Master Programs from Gdansk, Warsaw, and Cracow in Poland in October 2022. The questionnaire consisted of 7 closed-ended questions and two open- ended ones. The results were converted to Excel form and then analyzed. The charts and graphs were created to present the results obtained. Limitations and prospect directions for further studies were also formulated.

The study was conducted in October/November 2022 in the form of an online survey created via forms administration software that is part of the free Google Docs Editor package. The generated link to the survey was sent by e-mail to students of the Jagiellonian University, the College of Engineering and Health in Warsaw, and the Gdansk College of Health, with a request to complete. A total of 270 responses were obtained; however, due to improperly completed surveys, 30 results were excluded. Consequently, a research cohort comprising 240 students was ultimately established.

The primary objective of the survey was to assess the awareness of Polish students regarding MOOC courses. There was no intention to conduct subgroup analysis or explore correlations between demographic characteristics and the examined issues. Consequently, respondents were not queried about their gender, age, place of residence, or field of study.

The survey consisted of 12 questions, of which 10 were single-choice closed questions, and two were open-ended questions that required the respondents to provide their own answers. The survey was designed to begin by ascertaining whether Polish students had ever heard of MOOC courses, and if so, whether they had participated in them and what their motivations and experiences were. Subsequent questions gradually narrowed the scope of inquiry to obtain responses concerning the usefulness of the courses, their advantages, as well as the impact of the pandemic on students’ interest in remote supplementary education. The content of the questions was motivated by prior research that suggested not only the widespread popularity of MOOC courses worldwide but also a low completion rate and, ultimately, low quality of such forms of education. By constructing the survey in this manner, the author sought to juxtapose Polish data with findings from other countries to examine whether global trends align with those observed among Polish students.

The primary objective of the survey was to examine the awareness of students studying in Poland regarding the potential utilization of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), along with the popularity and perceived utility of such educational offerings. To achieve these objectives, the following research questions were formulated and subsequently evaluated using a chi-squared test of independence with a predetermined confidence level of 95%:

Do Polish students possess knowledge about the existence of MOOCs?

The data obtained from the survey were initially processed using Microsoft Excel and subsequently imported into the free statistical software Gnu PSPP version 2.0.0 for further statistical analysis.

The obtained data indicate that only 61 out of 240 surveyed students have ever heard of MOOCs, while the remaining 179 respondents are entirely unfamiliar with such platforms. The conducted statistical test demonstrated statistical significance at a level of <0.001, allowing us to conclude that the majority of students are unaware that universities in Poland and around the world offer free educational courses. Furthermore, among the 61 individuals with knowledge of MOOCs, only 27 respondents have participated in such courses. The lack of statistical significance (p=0.0370) suggests that at least half of the students, despite having the knowledge, do not enroll in MOOCs.

Among the 27 individuals who initiated MOOC courses, only 3 did not complete them. The achieved statistical significance was <0.001, leading to the inference that a substantial majority of students do not abandon the courses and do successfully complete them. Students who discontinued their participation were asked to indicate their reasons, but due to the limited number of responses and the fact that each response was distinct, a statistical test could not be performed. Respondents pointed to the following reasons: language difficulties, challenging assessment tests, and excessively lengthy courses.

Subsequently, students were asked whether, in their opinion, the knowledge and skills acquired from MOOC courses contributed to their personal development. Interestingly, 25 individuals responded affirmatively, while only 2 responded negatively (p <0.001). This suggests that at least one student, despite not completing the course, declared that they gained valuable knowledge and skills that positively impacted their personal growth. The statistical test results for the above questions are presented in Table 2.

This outcome underscores the potential value of MOOCs in fostering student development, even for those who did not finish the courses. The statistically significant response pattern signifies that a noteworthy proportion of students perceive tangible benefits from engaging with MOOCs in terms of skill and knowledge acquisition.

In an open-ended question, students were also asked to provide a brief comment about the benefits gained from the course. All responses pertained to acquiring new knowledge, expanding academic horizons, or gaining additional competencies. Due to the similarity of the majority of responses, it was not feasible to extract distinct categories for statistical analysis. Instead, the decision was made to directly quote some of the more interesting responses: ✓

It broadened my horizons through a comprehensive analysis of aspects that interested me.

Students who participated in any MOOC course were also asked to indicate their motivation. An intriguing subject was significant for 14 individuals, lack of fees for 9, and easy accessibility for 4. The conducted statistical test did not reveal the assumed significance (p=0.062), hence it was concluded that all three reasons were equally important when deciding to participate in a course. The test results are presented in Table 3.

The most popular platforms among Polish students were the American platform Coursera and the Polish platform Navoica. Platforms like edX and Udacity were less popular. Interestingly, no student participated in a MOOC course on the Future Learn platform, and as a result, it was not included in the table despite being listed as an option in the survey. The results of the statistical test are presented in Table 4.

To obtain a more comprehensive understanding, students who were aware of the existence of MOOCs but never chose to participate in them were also asked about the reasons behind their decision. From all the responses, three categories were identified: lack of time, perception of course uselessness, lack of interesting courses, and lack of necessity for personal development. The conducted statistical test indicated that students most commonly cited a lack of time as the reason, and least commonly mentioned the uselessness of the courses (p<0,001). The test results are presented in Table 5.

Students were also asked whether the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on their increased interest in online education through MOOC courses. In this case, consideration was given not only to students who had taken part in a course but also to those who hadn’t but were aware of the possibility of such education. The conducted statistical test indicated that a significant majority of students believe that the pandemic period positively influenced their interest in free education through MOOC courses. The test results are presented in Table 6.

The last question was a supplementary question and concerned students’ predictions about future forms of education. All respondents answered this question, and almost unanimously, they indicated that the most plausible scenario is hybrid education, which combines both remote and traditional forms of classes. In this case, the statistical significance was <0,001, and the test results are presented in Table 7.

The results of research conducted in three academic centers in Poland have clearly shown that free forms of distance learning are not noticeable among Polish students. Due to the widespread availability of the internet, as well as a very high rate of English proficiency among students, it should be assumed that there were no barriers preventing the respondents from using this type of training.

The low level of interest clearly correlates with the extremely poor offer on the Polish market. There is only one platform operating here – Navoica, which is used by only 100,000 registered users.

It turns out that, despite the growing interest in free education in the remote form, the increase in users in Poland, despite the noticeable dynamics, is not even close to the size of the most developed educational markets in the world. On the other hand, the Navoica platform cooperates with a small part of Polish universities, which may also weaken the position of this knowledge transfer channel. Both of these phenomena will be conducive to strengthening traditional forms of education, in the short and medium perspective. These results, to some extent, correspond with the results of research on the factors influencing the continuation of participation in MOOC courses in China. They indicate that MOOCs offered by foreign educational institutions are much more popular, at least in China (Zhou, 2017).

The relatively low popularity of MOOC courses among Polish students can be attributed to the generally low popularity of remote education as a whole. While it did become a common practice during the closure of universities due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the years 2020–2021, this was generally seen as a temporary and pandemic-induced situation. Additionally, the fact that only one Polish-language platform is operational, and it was launched as recently as 2018, further points to a certain delay in this area. It’s worth noting that none of the Polish universities have initiated efforts to launch their own MOOC platforms, which might suggest a lack of initiative on the part of the universities themselves, as well as a potential lack of noticeable demand for such courses. Meanwhile, research conducted by The Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (AHEAD) at the University of Pennsylvania among university staff in the United States revealed that as many as 57% of respondents strongly agreed that MOOC courses could potentially be an effective tool for raising institutional profile (Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (AHEAD) at the University of Pennsylvania, 2014).

Among the students who claimed awareness of MOOC courses, only half of them actually decided to participate in such training. Moreover, the research results also suggest that many participants abandon the course before completion. Studies suggest that this might apply to up to 50% of users (Dang et al., 2022; Zhu et al., 2020). The findings from the present study, however, do not fully confirm this observation since only 3 out of 27 respondents did not complete the course. However, this relatively small sample size and the low popularity of MOOCs should be considered. It would be valuable to delve deeper into this phenomenon in the future, expand the study, and gather a larger research group.

The most frequently cited reasons for reluctance are the lack of time, and (among the reasons for quitting) the length of the course. According to many participants, MOOC courses tend to be too lengthy (Aldowah et al., 2020b; Macleod et al., 2015; Reich & Ruipérez-Valiente, 2019). The causes of this phenomenon might stem from viewing MOOC courses as an additional burden on top of regular studies. On the other hand, the prevalence of social media platforms encourages short forms of communication and visual content. This might contribute to difficulties in maintaining focus on a course that often spans several weeks. Researchers are therefore striving to identify practices that enhance user concentration based on participant feedback. One such idea might be breaking the course down into smaller units for easier assimilation or providing additional visual aids (Padilla Rodriguez et al., 2020). International observations also emphasize the importance of proper guidance before the start of the course, creating a learning-conducive environment, and delivering high-quality content (Gupta & Maurya, 2022; Lee & Song, 2022).

Although the results from this study showed that MOOC courses are beneficial for students, a definitive assessment of their utility would require a rigorous evaluation that goes as far as comparing participants’ knowledge before and after the course, as corroborated by other researchers (Hollands & Tirthali, 2014). However, analyses of data from platforms like Coursera conducted by American researchers confirm their effectiveness. According to their findings, 72% of respondents emphasized the noticeable career development benefits, while 61% reported benefits in terms of expanding their knowledge resources. The positive outcomes of completing MOOC courses were also noted, including job changes, starting one’s own business, or better preparation for higher education (Zhenghao et al., 2015).

International observations suggest that MOOC participants are usually highly motivated learners who often possess access to broadband internet and, in the majority of cases, hold a bachelor’s degree (Hollands & Tirthali, 2014). Motivation is a critical factor in any educational activity. In the case of MOOC courses, it plays a key role in achieving better results (Bingöl et al., 2019). For other researchers, the development of motivational processes is significant from an integrative standpoint (Skinner et al., 2009). Various factors, such as the influence of the environment, self-concept, the learning process itself, and performance, contribute to its formation (Lee & Song, 2022).

The author’s own research demonstrated that students were more interested in MOOC courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. This aligns with an analysis published in 2021 that evaluated the increase in activity in enrolling for free online courses from March to June 2020. The analysis covered two foreign platforms, Coursera and Udemy, and it demonstrated a remarkable 91% growth in MOOC course participants. During that period, a significant increase in the number of participants was noted (Impey & Formanek, 2021). A similar trend is observable in Poland. Research conducted by the Center for Information Processing – Polish Research Institute (OPI PIB) revealed that by December 2021, over 63,000 individual accounts were created on the Navoica Platform, with nearly 36,000 certificates confirming course completion issued (Państwowy Instytut Badawczy, 2021).

The major shift experienced by universities worldwide in transitioning to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated significant changes not only in technology but also in established habits related to traditional forms of education. It highlighted the adaptability of the academic environment and further highlighted issues related to digital exclusion and student wellbeing (Bashir et al., 2021).

Innovative university management, cost considerations, accessibility for students, and classroom capacity issues are driving the search for solutions, one of which seems to be combining traditional forms of education with remote options. This requires recognizing student needs, modernizing educational programs, and possibly reconsidering the academic calendar. Other recommendations include enhancing collaboration between universities in the case of low enrollment in certain study programs or organizing remote internships and placements in companies (Deloitte, 2021).

According to Polish students, education will be conducted in both traditional and remote forms in the future. Interestingly, this aligns with the views of other students and researchers, who see this hybrid model as very promising. It’s predicted that the future form of education will be a hybrid, understood as an “intelligent combination of both traditional and fully online education models” (Docking, 2022). This conviction is also built on data indicating that the number of students anticipating this change increased from 77% in the fall of 2021 to 89%. It’s possible that hybrid education at universities might be officially introduced as early as 2025 (Fourtané, 2022; Quality Matters, 2022).

The aforementioned study undoubtedly does not exhaust the issues related to MOOC courses, not only due to the relatively small sample size in relation to the overall population but also because there is a lack of research regarding the influence of demographic characteristics on individual respondents’ responses. Information regarding the impact of age or place of residence on awareness of free MOOC courses could potentially highlight additional limitations faced by users. It is certainly worthwhile to explore this matter in future MOOC research while endeavoring to gather as many responses as possible. A good idea may involve expanding the study to encompass leading public and private universities in Poland.

Furthermore, the author’s research unequivocally demonstrated that the majority of Polish students are unaware that they can participate in free MOOC courses. This finding is surprising, given the widespread popularity of such courses worldwide. It is undoubtedly worthwhile to thoroughly investigate the underlying reasons for this situation. Is it due to the inadequate promotion of MOOCs by universities and the platforms offering them, or is the lack of engagement in additional knowledge acquisition methods among Polish students the issue? It appears that such research is necessary not only to understand the root causes but also to formulate recommendations for promoting MOOC courses in the Polish education market.

Naturally, another aspect to consider is the lack of information regarding the acceptance of MOOC certificates, not only at universities but also among employers. Perhaps it is worth considering broad studies on attitudes toward MOOCs, not only among students but also among academic staff and university rectors.

Another area worth delving into in future research is undoubtedly the desired topics of MOOC courses. It is valuable to collect information from students regarding their areas of interest so that courses designed in the future can be tailored to meet their needs rather than being seen as haphazard educational “products”. Perhaps aligning these courses with current trends in the job market will positively influence the interest of Polish students in participating in MOOC courses. Interestingly, the author’s research did not reveal a high dropout rate from initiated MOOC courses. This may be directly related to the fact that a relatively small group of students undertakes them, possibly characterized by a sufficiently high level of motivation. Nevertheless, due to clear signals from foreign research, it is also worthwhile to make efforts to study the motivation of participants and methods of sustaining it so that participants can complete the course and obtain a relevant certificate, aligning with the findings and trends observed internationally.

The aforementioned suggestions represent only a small fraction of what is worth exploring in the context of MOOC courses offered by leading universities in Poland and around the world. Undoubtedly, there are numerous research avenues that warrant investigation to increase the popularity of free forms of education among students and continuously enhance the quality of education. This appears to be particularly crucial in the era of the digital revolution, which was significantly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and has gained momentum with the rapid development of artificial intelligence.

Personal networks and bonds our students form while at the university are probably the most valuable part of their education (Cusumano, 2013). It may mean that decision to join the university is not only caused by the need for access to knowledge but is (also) driven by the natural and truly humane desire of establishing close relations with university-mates.

Another statement of the above author was that “Stanford, MIT, Harvard et al. have already opened a kind of Pandora’s box, and there may be no easy way to go back and charge students even a moderately high tuition rate for open online courses” (Cusumano, 2013).

I would strongly support an opinion of G. Fischer that, nowadays, due to the strong contribution of MOOCs, we experience lasting discourse about the future of the education in general. The unfinished discussion focuses on the current and prospective future problems of learning, teaching, and involving the wide spectrum of education stakeholders (Fischer, 2014).

The next step should be an inquiring search for a possible way in which MOOCs may evolve, creating the new channels of knowledge’ spreading. The product, like MOOC, is surely worth deeper scientific and research interest as it is a kind of a critic model of the current higher education system, mostly based on traditional way of teaching, with it’s all restrictions and barriers, mostly regarding to the limited number of participants.

It turns out, however, that literature studies on world literature lead to similar conclusions as well as the research part. Well, it turns out that many researchers of the subject point to the important role of relationships in the education process, the one based on the established pattern of the “student–teacher” relationship, where the transfer of knowledge is supported by building intergenerational bonds. Another asset of traditional education and higher education systems is peer-building, which is essential for mental health as well as for further personal and academic development. Undoubtedly, modern tools, such as platforms for free MOOC courses, are a great convenience, if only because of their availability and free of charge. Despite everything, it seems that these types of courses will be a great supplement to the content provided in the traditional form. In this regard, the results of the research conducted on groups of students from three academic centers in Poland confirm the adopted assumptions. Unfortunately, the percentage of students taking MOOCs at all turned out to be appallingly low. Perhaps they were not sufficiently promoted, but it seems that the availability of the Internet supported by the lack of a language barrier should favor the popularization of free forms of additional education. Perhaps, however, Polish students trust more traditional, institutionalized forms of education and study, as such, which provide the opportunity to obtain a diploma conferring a specific and recognizable professional title – Bachelor (in Poland, equivalent to Bachelor is licencjat) and Master (in Poland, equivalent to Master is magister).