MOOC As an Enabler for Achieving Professional Competence: Problem-Solving Aspect

Abstract

The prerequisites for this research included the rapid development and constant modernization of massive open online courses (MOOCs) and their dissemination in higher education, in particular, in the preparation of medical practitioners of various specialties. The present investigation was conducted among two groups of students of I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (experimental and control, 48 and 46 people respectively). For the control group, a standard MOOC with a training design characteristic of the vast majority of similar courses was proposed. The experimental group took the MOOC with additional learning strategies. Results showed the introduction of collaborative learning and decision-making assignments in e-education could overcome the challenges of MOOCs or at least significantly reduce their negative impact on the learning process. The share of experimental group participants who completed the training course and passed all the tests was 78.26%, while in the control group, their part was only 39.58%. The study findings can be widely applied when designing new MOOC curricula or improving the existing courses.