A Questionnaire for Measuring Self-Regulated Learning in Massive Open Online Courses

Literature in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) highlights the importance of students' self-regulation ability for succeed in reaching their learning objectives. The questionnaire is one of the most widely used instruments for measuring self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies in online environments. However, questionnaires available in the literature have some limitations when applied in MOOCs: (1) they do not consider those strategies that have been related with academic achievements in MOOCs; (2) the response rates are low due to their large number of questions, which limits the usage of the collected data; and (3) they do not capture the idiosyncrasies of the actual MOOCs technological environment given that statements of existing questionnaires are based on instruments developed in the 90s. To overcome these shortcomings, this study presents the MOOC-SRL, a questionnaire to measure SRL in MOOCs. This questionnaire is built upon an analysis of existing SRL questionnaires used in traditional face to face, online learning and on a review that analyzed which SRL strategies relate to successful learning outcomes in MOOCs. This questionnaire was validated through an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis developed over a sample of 4,627 (N = 4,627) learners of 6 different MOOCs. The final questionnaire consists of 22 items to assess 5 SRL strategies in MOOCs: Self-efficacy, Goal setting, Study environment management, Organization and Help-seeking.