DIFFUSION THEORY AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR RESEARCHING THE ADOPTION OF MOOCS IN ACADEMIC SYSTEMS

Peter Schneckenleitner1, Michael Koch2
1Dr., University of Applied Sciences Kufstein, AUSTRIA, peter.schneckenleitner@fh-kufstein.ac.at
2BA, University of Applied Sciences Kufstein, AUSTRIA, stud.Michael.Koch@fh-kufstein.ac.at

Abstract

The goal of our research was to create a stable model and find a profound theory to quantify, analyze, and describe this eruptive process to enable us to compare MOOC adoption in different academic systems. We therefore set up a research scheme measuring overall course provision, market diversification, market concentration, and product pricing. The newness of the research model did not just require the application of a tailored model, but also demanded the provision of a suitable theoretical background that served as a basis for analysis. We decided to apply the most prominent innovation theory to our test study, Everett M. Rogers theory of Diffusion of Innovations (IDT).
To test our model we elevated and compared data about MOOC provision in the academic systems of Austria, Germany, and the USA. While the test showed that Germany and Austria seriously lag behind in almost any aspect of academic MOOC provision, we found that IDT provided useful approaches through its definition of adopter categories and adoption elements in large part. However, the IDT concept of adoption stages was not capable of describing the adoption process of organisations of the size of a national academic system (which we consider systems of systems). We therefore decided to suggest the term adoption span, an extension of the existing theoretical concept. The adoption span can cover not just one stage, but a whole range of adoption stages. With this independent extension of IDT we were able to cover all stages of adoption the national academic systems were in. Thus, we did not just provide an applicable research model for worldwide comparison of MOOC adoption in national academic systems, but also suggested a new term for the description of adoption processes in systems of systems that we hope will soon be discussed among scholars.

Keywords: IDT, Diffusion of Innovations, MOOC, Massive Open Online Courses, adoption span.


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CITATION: Abstracts & Proceedings of ADVED 2016- 2nd International Conference on Advances in Education and Social Sciences, 10-12 October 2016- Istanbul, Turkey

ISBN: 978-605-64453-8-5