‘I am proud of myself’: Student satisfaction and achievement on an Academic English MOOC

This paper reports on a detailed thematic analysis of learners' evaluative comments at the end of a five-week academic writing MOOC run by a university in the UK which used a novel content+process MOOC approach. The authors wanted to identify whether this innovative approach to a MOOC course worked in terms of student satisfaction and achievement in mastering both the content and process of critically-based academic writing in second language (L2) English. The MOOC use of peer feedback, and limited availability of detailed expert feedback from educators and mentors, were the primary sources of negative evaluation. However, in general, they found an overwhelming delight in taking the course, demonstrating a clear sense of pride, achievement, and satisfaction of mastering an unfamiliar and difficult skill that many saw as crucial to their future life plans.